Chapter 29 - The Wolf at the Door
"Arthur, wait—" Miller reached out, but I was already moving.
I struck the friction cap of the first flare against the stone wall. A blinding, searing crimson light erupted in the dark tunnel, hissing violently as red smoke billowed into the cavern.
"Harrison Bell!" my voice roared through the vaulted concrete chamber, echoing like thunder off the bedrock. "Your bill is thirty years overdue!"
I hurled the burning flare fifty feet through the air. It landed with a shower of sparks directly onto the wooden staging platform between Vance and Harrison Bell.
Chaos erupted instantly.
"Intruders!" Vance shouted, drawing his sidearm. "Perimeter security, engage!"
The four armed guards near the containers spun around, their rifles coming up toward the drainage tunnel. But before they could acquire a target, Harlan and his loggers hurled three heavy iron pry-bars through the darkness, shattering two of the high-powered halogen floodlights and plunging the cavern into swirling shadows and blood-red smoke.
Gunfire ripped through the chamber, rounds ricocheting off the limestone ceiling.
"Go, Miller! Move!" I shouted.
Miller sprinted through the perimeter shadows toward the central command console, using the chaos to plug his receiver directly into the transmitter port.
I moved with single-minded focus toward the platform. A guard rounded the second container with a rifle raised, but I drove the steel head of my sledgehammer into the concrete at his feet, sending a spray of fractured stone into his eyes. Before he could recover, I stepped inside his reach, stripped the rifle from his grip with an old mechanic’s lock, and threw the weapon into the dark water of the sump pit.
Harrison Bell retreated toward the rear exit tunnel, his face pale with sudden, terrified recognition. "You... Reed? You're supposed to be dead!"
"You've been trying to kill the Reeds for thirty years, Harrison," I growled, stepping onto the wooden platform as smoke swirled around us. "You killed Thomas because he wouldn't take your dirty money. You sent your grandson Julian to destroy my shop because you thought an old man in grease-stained overalls wouldn't fight back."
Vance stepped between me and Bell, his service pistol leveled directly at my forehead. "Stand down, old man. You are interfering with a classified military operation. I have executive clearance to execute you on the spot."
"Clearance from who?" a clear, sharp voice rang out from the darkness.
May you like
Lily stepped into the glow of the red flare, holding her phone high above her head. The screen showed a pulsing green transmission bar.
"The federal server just confirmed receipt of all six container logs, General," Lily announced, her voice unwavering. "Live footage, serial numbers, chemical manifests, and your direct authorization signatures. Transmitted to forty-eight news outlets and the office of the United States Attorney General."
