Chapter 16 - The Tactical Safe Harbor
The interior of General Thomas Vance’s maritime salvage warehouse looked less like a hideout and more like a high-tech command bunker disguised as an industrial scrap yard.
Ranks of glowing monitors lined the far wall, displaying encrypted satellite feeds, maritime traffic data, and encrypted military comms channels. The air smelled of ozone, gun oil, and old paper.
General Vance—a towering man in his late sixties with iron-gray hair and piercing eyes—closed the heavy steel door behind us and immediately threw the master electromagnetic jammer switch.
“Scramblers are active. We’re entirely off the grid,” Vance announced, walking over to the medical cot Marcus had quickly set up for Daniel.
Daniel was awake now, watching the strange monitors with wide, curious eyes. Vance knelt beside him, his stern face softening into a warm, grandfatherly smile.
“So, you’re the famous Daniel Moretti,” Vance said gently, offering his hand. “Your father used to talk about you every time we debriefed a mission. Said you were a better astronomer than half the satellite reconnaissance team.”
Daniel shook the old general’s hand with surprising solemnity. “I found the Andromeda Galaxy last week.”
Vance let out a low, booming laugh. “Well, then you’re definitely a Moretti. Sharp eyes run in the family.”
I stepped up beside Vance, dropping my heavy tactical vest onto a steel table. “Thomas, we don't have much time. The rogue faction inside the Department isn't just tracking us—they engineered a synthetic aerosol agent to poison Daniel at Lenox Hill, and when that failed, they sent a black-ops cleanup crew.”
Vance’s smile vanished instantly, replaced by a cold, hardened fury.
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“I know about the faction, Gabriel,” Vance said quietly, walking over to the central console. “They call themselves Project Aegis. They’ve been quietly hijacking black-budget defense contracts for years, using synthetic bioweapons and illegal surveillance. And your late wife, Sofia... she discovered their master ledger before she passed.”
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