"He Knocked a Waitress Unconscious in Front of Everyone—Then the Mafia Boss Stood Up and Locked the Doors / Chapter 29 / 60

Chapter 29 - The Shattered Horizon

The sheer weight of Silas Marcone tilted the ascending helicopter violently to the port side.

The pilot struggled with the collective controls, the aircraft wobbling dangerously fifty feet above the crashing waves of the Atlantic.

"Shake him off!" Sterling screamed, grabbing an assault rifle and leaning out the open cabin door to fire straight down at Silas.

Silas swung his legs upward, locking his boots into the skid, using the momentum to kick violently against Sterling’s rifle. The weapon flew from the Colonel's hands, spinning into the dark abyss below.

Silas pulled himself up into the open cabin doorway like a demon rising from the sea.

Sterling drew a combat knife, slashing wildly. The blade caught Silas across the shoulder, slicing deep into muscle, but Silas didn't even flinch. He seized Sterling by the collar of his heavy overcoat, drove his forehead into Sterling’s nose with a sickening crunch, and pinned the older officer against the bulkhead.

"The airstrike code, Arthur!" Silas roared over the thundering turbines. "Transmit the cancellation abort!"

"Never!" Sterling spat blood into Silas’s face. "The Blackwatch doctrine does not compromise with rogue assets! You die with me, Silas!"

From the rig’s helipad below, I watched the aircraft spinning out of control. My heart was in my throat. I couldn't lose him. Clara couldn't lose her father.

"Silas!" I screamed into the storm, knowing he couldn't hear me over the howling wind.

Inside the cockpit, Silas reached down, grabbed the tactical case containing the genetic files, and hurled it out into the black ocean waves.

"No!" Sterling screamed in absolute horror, watching twelve years of black-budget research vanish into the sea.

In that split second of distraction, Silas grabbed the emergency flight transponder from the bulkhead, punched the red abort-override key on the military radio console, and screamed the Blackwatch master bypass phrase:

*"Alpha-Seven-Zero-Nine! Cease fire! Target neutralized!"*

The radio crackled back instantly through the pilot's headset: *"Order acknowledged. Strike package returning to carrier."*

Sterling lunged at Silas with the knife, driven completely mad by the loss of his files. Silas caught his arm, twisted the blade from his hand, and stared into the eyes of the man who had haunted his past.

"You're discharged, Colonel," Silas said coldly.

With one monstrous heave, Silas threw Sterling backward through the open doorway. The Colonel fell into the dark Atlantic, swallowed instantly by the roaring forty-foot waves.

Silas lunged into the cockpit, pressing his sidearm to the terrified pilot’s temple.