Chapter 18 - The High-Speed Extraction
The emergency rail cart was an old diesel-electric inspection trolley, stripped down to bare steel and two bench seats. Marcus hotwired the ignition switch with his combat knife, the engine coughing violently before roaring into life with a mechanical shriek.
The trolley surged forward into the pitch-black railway tunnel, wind whipping through our hair as the concrete walls blurred past.
Far behind us, a muffled secondary detonation signaled that the strike team had breached the inner vault—only to find it empty.
"Marcus, can you patch into the Strategic Command satellite relay from the cart’s radio?" I yelled over the deafening roar of the rails.
Marcus plugged his encrypted tactical tablet into the trolley’s vintage communication jack. "Frequency is clear! The bunker jamming doesn't penetrate this deep beneath the river basin!"
"Patch me directly to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Director of the FBI," I commanded. "Authorization code: Valkyrie-Seven-Niner. Broadcast on all secure military channels."
The radio crackled, and five seconds later, the groggy, alarmed voice of General Thomas Vance—the senior four-star Chairman of the Joint Chiefs—came online: *"General Whitaker? What is the meaning of this distress frequency? The Pentagon is reporting a catastrophic communications blackout at your station!"*
"General Vance, the Iron Vanguard has activated," I said, my voice steady despite the trolley violently swaying on the rusted rails. "They deployed an unauthorized Tier-One kill team against my command bunker at Belvoir. They attempted to assassinate me and my daughter to bury the Helmand files."
A collective gasp echoed across the open channel.
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*"Eleanor... are you telling me the files exist?"* Vance’s voice shook.
"I have the master encryption key, General," I said coldly. "And in forty minutes, I will be standing on the steps of the Capitol building. You have thirty minutes to mobilize the 3rd Infantry Old Guard and surround Capitol Hill with heavy armor. If anyone attempts to intercept me, I will consider it an act of domestic war and order all loyal units to fire at will."
