Chapter 32 - Face to Face
Marcus Vance was older, but he was built like a bull and trained in decades of hand-to-hand combat. He shoved Dylan off him with brutal strength, rolling to his feet and pulling a combat blade from his tactical belt.
"You think you’re a soldier?" Marcus snarled, blood dripping from a cut above his eye. "You’re a failure who couldn't even make it through basic without crying for your father! Your father was weak, Dylan. He died in the sand because he cared more about his men than winning the war. And you’re just like him!"
"My father died serving his country!" Dylan roared, stepping into a low combat stance. "You're selling yours out to the highest bidder!"
Marcus lunged with a lethal upward thrust aimed at Dylan's throat. Dylan parried with his left forearm, feeling the steel blade slice through his sleeve and bite into his flesh, but he didn't give an inch. Gritting his teeth through the blinding pain, Dylan trapped Marcus’s wrist with his left hand, delivering a crushing right elbow strike directly into the General’s jaw.
Marcus staggered, his head snapping back.
Mia stepped up, her weapon aimed directly at Marcus’s chest, but her hands were trembling with rage. "Drop the knife, Marcus. It’s over. We killed your uplink."
Marcus wiped the blood from his mouth, laughing a cold, ragged laugh that sent chills through the bridge. "You think it’s over, Mia? Look at the transponder board."
Dylan turned his head toward the central console. The main screen was flashing a terrifying sequence: **AUTOMATED BALLISTIC LAUNCH SYSTEM — ACTIVATED. TARGET: SAN DIEGO NAVAL BASE.**
"I wired the ship’s two anti-ship cruise missiles into the system," Marcus grinned, his eyes wild with fanatical madness. "If the uplink didn't clear, the missiles launch. When they hit San Diego, the transponder code will register as your stolen tactical IDs. You won't just be traitors—you’ll be the monsters who incinerated three thousand American sailors."
"You sick bastard," Mia whispered, her finger tightening on the trigger.
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"Shoot me!" Marcus challenged, spreading his arms wide. "The sequence is hard-coded to my biometric heart monitor. If my pulse stops, the missiles launch instantly!"
***
