Chapter 21 - An Encrypted Signal Triggers A Classified Protocol
Midnight descended over Manhattan as a violent summer thunderstorm rolled across the Hudson River, lightning illuminating the sky.
Claire sat alone in her penthouse study, sipping chamomile tea while reading a global economic dispatch on her private tablet.
Suddenly, the screen glitched violently, its bright display turning pitch black before flashing a single crimson warning code.
CLASSIFIED DIRECTIVE: PROJECT CENTURION ACTIVATED.
Claire frowned, standing up from her leather chair as her private satellite phone began to vibrate with a low, rhythmic hum.
She answered the call, placing the dark device to her ear without saying a single word into the heavy, static silence.
A distorted voice echoed through the speaker: “Ms. Whitmore... Marcus Vance wasn't acting alone at the base seven years ago.”
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“He was following orders from a shadow committee inside the Pentagon... and they have just located your father’s original vault.”
The line went dead with a sharp click, leaving Claire standing in the dark room as a new, far more dangerous storm began to gather.
