Chapter 15 - THE FINAL EXTRACTION: WHY ARCHON AND VICTOR STERLING JUST AWAKENED THE WRONG WARRIOR
By 4:00 AM, our kitchen had been transformed into an impromptu tactical command center.
Ethan—my former unit’s master cyber-warfare specialist, whom I had called in immediately after hanging up with the General—sat at our dining room table surrounded by three ruggedized laptops, his fingers flying across the glowing keyboards with terrifying speed.
Miller was now securely locked in our reinforced basement utility room, his tactical gear stripped and cataloged as military evidence.
“Got him,” Ethan whispered, his eyes glowing with reflection from the terminal screens. “Archon’s satellite relay isn't routed through Eastern Europe, Major. It’s pinging from a private server farm located twenty miles away in an industrial park right outside Washington, D.C.”
I stood behind Ethan, my hand resting on the back of his chair, watching the real-time geographic trace paint a glowing red dot across the digital map.
“Is JSOC tactical transport en route?” I asked, sliding my tactical vest over my shoulders and checking the dual magazines on my tactical rig.
“Birds are in the air right now,” Ethan nodded, hitting the final execution enter-key on his console. “Special Operations team alpha is descending on the server farm as we speak. But... Major, there’s something else.”
“Spit it out, Ethan.”
“Victor Sterling and Archon are both on-site at that facility right now. They’re running a complete data wipe of all black-ops personnel files before the federal indictments drop tomorrow morning.”
I reached down, picked up my suppressed Sig Sauer P226, checked the chamber one last time, and slid it snugly into my thigh holster.
“Looks like we have a meeting to attend,” I said, walking toward the front door.
I paused by Lily’s bedroom door, pushing it open just an inch to watch her sleeping peacefully, completely unaware that her mother was about to step into the shadow war once more to secure her future forever.
“Keep sleeping, sweetheart,” I whispered into the dark. “Mommy has some unfinished business to take care of.”
I walked out into the cool November dawn, climbed into the waiting black JSOC transport SUV idling silently at the curb, and pulled the door shut.
The quiet suburban life was wonderful.
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But when the wolves came knocking at the door, Major Maya Vance was always ready to remind them why they should have stayed in the dark.
15.5s
