Chapter 75 - The Silent Frequency
I cleared the lip of the catwalk at two hundred feet, rolling beneath the safety rail as a pair of Iron Gate contractors rounded the corner of the structural pylon.
They were wearing full maritime combat gear—rebreathers, heads-up display helmets, and suppressed submachine guns. But they were expecting an assault from the air or an amphibious fleet, not a single operative scaling the sheer wall through a gale.
Before the first sentry could raise his weapon, I drove the butt of my carbine into the side of his helmet, shattering the composite visor, and swept his legs out from under him. He went over the rail without a scream, swallowed instantly by the black ocean below.
The second man lunged, swinging his rifle barrel toward my chest. I sidestepped, trapping his arm beneath my elbow, and drove my combat knife upward through the unarmored junction of his neck and shoulder. He choked, stiffened, and collapsed onto the grating, blood pooling around my combat boots.
I stripped his tactical comm-link, jamming the earpiece into my ear, and dragged his body behind an air-intake housing.
The tactical frequency was absolute chaos.
*“Command, this is Battery Three! Coastal radar confirms the Seventh Fleet has scrambled fast-interceptors out of Oceana, ETA eighteen minutes!”*
*“This is Vance,”* a voice cut through the static—smooth, arrogant, but frayed at the edges with manic desperation. It was my brother. *“Let them fly. The primary launch sequence for the deep-water transceivers is already at ninety-four percent. Once the first cluster clears the silo, the kinetic back-blast will collapse the shelf. Nothing within forty miles will survive. Initiate the final biometric lockdown on the central terminal. I’m heading to the escape pod bay now.”*
*“Understood, Director Vance. Central elevator secured. The mother's transponder has ceased movement at the water line. Shall we deploy the automated depth charges?”*
A pause. Then Vance's voice, devoid of hesitation or humanity: *“Deploy them. If she failed to secure the extraction boat, she's an operational liability. Clear the perimeter.”*
I tapped my earpiece, speaking directly into the open frequency. "Still discarding family when they become inconvenient, Vance?"
The radio fell dead silent for three agonizing seconds.
May you like
Then, Vance's breathless laugh echoed through the wire. "David? You really are like a roach, aren't you? Survived the ballroom, survived the highway, survived the river. But you're on my platform now, little brother. And unlike that dinner party in Virginia, the generals aren't here to protect you."
"I don't need generals," I whispered, sliding a fresh magazine into my carbine. "I have your location."
