Chapter 17 - Operation Clean SlateBy midnight, the tactical operations center at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado was a blur of blue monitor glow and muffled commands.
My team had bypassed standard bureaucratic channels, working directly with naval intelligence cyber-units to trace the origin of the blackmail transmission. The IP address wasn't coming from a secure government terminal in Washington or a bunker in Virginia.
It was bouncing straight out of a private satellite uplink station located in a secluded coastal estate just outside of Manila.
“We have a lock on the transmission relay,” Sarah Vance announced, tapping her keyboard rapidly as streams of encrypted data scrolled across the central screen. “Whoever is sending those threats is using a proprietary encryption key that only senior logistics commanders have access to.”
“Which means someone currently active in the Pacific fleet is leaking operational secrets to protect their own skin,” I said, standing behind her chair with my arms crossed.
“Who?” Sarah asked, glancing up.
“Captain Richard Thorne,” I replied, recalling a name from the periphery of my father’s old corporate ledger. “He was Admiral Vance’s primary tactical liaison in the Philippines. When Vance went down, Thorne knew his name was next on the audit list.”
I reached down, typing the final override sequence into my console.
“Route a full digital freeze through the Pacific Fleet command server. Cut off their satellite uplink, lock down their local banking relays, and dispatch a tactical retrieval team to secure the Manila uplink station before they can wipe the hard drives.”
Within seconds, the monitors flashed red, then turned crisp green as the automated containment protocols executed across half the globe.
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Sarah leaned back in her chair, letting out a long breath. “It’s over for them. The whole syndicate is completely blind.”
“Not yet,” I said, turning away from the screens. “We still have to clean house at home.”
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