Chapter 48 - Severing the Cord
"Arthur, no!" I yelled, but the old General moved with a sudden, desperate burst of speed.
He lunged forward, throwing his entire weight not at Eleanor, but at the titanium support arm anchoring Julian's chair to the data-trunk. Eleanor shrieked in fury and pulled the trigger. The gunshot was deafening in the enclosed space. Arthur grunted, a dark circle blooming instantly across his left shoulder, but he didn't stop. He slammed his body into the main fiber-optic conduit, ripping the thick blue cables out of the launch console with bare, bleeding hands.
*CRITICAL ERROR: BIOMETRIC LINK SEVERED.*
*TARGETING SEQUENCE INTERRUPTED.*
"No!" Eleanor screamed like a wounded beast, turning her weapon back toward Arthur's chest.
I fired.
A single round from my carbine took Eleanor in the right shoulder, the impact spinning her around and sending her nickel-plated pistol skittering across the floorboards. She crashed against the ballistic glass, her eyes wide with shock as blood soaked through her designer trench coat.
I leaped across the console, caught her by the collar, and threw her down onto the deck, planting my knee firmly into the small of her back. With one swift motion, I flexed her arm behind her and clicked a set of steel tactical restraints around her wrists.
"It's over, Eleanor," I breathed in her ear.
"You fool!" she spat, blood foaming on her lips as she laughed hysterically against the floor. "You think unplugging the boy stops it? The solid rocket boosters were already armed! The ignition circuit is closed! You haven't saved anything—you've just locked us inside the oven!"
Through the massive glass floor, a blinding, solar-bright light flared to life.
The primary booster of *Eclipse-I* had ignited.
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The entire mountain began to shake with the fury of an earthquake. The sound was not a roar—it was a physical hammer that crushed the breath from our chests, vibrating our organs until my vision blurred into static. Millions of pounds of burning propellant pushed against the rocket's clamps, but because the targeting computer was severed, the automated silo roof remained sealed shut!
The rocket was firing directly against the closed, blast-shielded concrete roof of the mountain!
