Chapter 7 - The Safehouse Breach
The armored Ford Explorer tore through the wet asphalt of the Chesapeake backroads, its headlights off as Vance navigated by night-vision optics alone. Officer Bell sat in the passenger seat, his knuckles white as he clutched a shotgun across his lap, while I sat in the back, staring blankly at the blood-stained cuff of my tactical shirt.
“Where are we going?” I asked, my voice cutting through the hum of the engine. “The local hospital has Lily. I’m not leaving my daughter.”
“We aren't going to the local hospital,” Vance replied without looking back, his eyes glued to the digital map console. “That facility is compromised. When Derek’s handlers realized the hit squad failed to secure the drive, they redirected local assets. We’re taking her to a military-grade black site thirty miles inland.”
My heart seized. “You moved her?”
“Protocols, Major,” Vance said sharply. “You think we’d leave a high-value intelligence asset—your daughter—in a civilian ward after an active assassination took place at your home? Colonel Vance authorized the transfer twenty minutes ago.”
Bell twisted around in his seat, looking at me with deep sympathy. “Hannah, it’s for her safety. If the syndicate wants those files, they’ll look for her wherever you are.”
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the small black thumb drive I had salvaged from the Pelican case. The plastic casing was cold against my thumb. Derek was dead, the house was a crime scene, and my child had been whisked away into a shadow network I couldn't fully trace.
Twenty minutes later, the SUV slowed to a crawl, turning down an unmarked gravel road shrouded by dense pine trees. A heavy chain-link security gate swung open automatically as our transponder pinged the sensor, revealing a fortified concrete bunker nestled against the side of a sloping hill.
Uniformed military police in full combat gear immediately swarmed the vehicle as we parked inside the secure bay.
“Major Nolan!” A crisp, commanding voice echoed off the concrete walls. Colonel Vance—my commanding officer—stepped forward from the shadows, his face lined with grim exhaustion.
“Colonel,” I said, stepping out of the SUV and snapping a tight salute. “Where is Lily?”
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“She’s inside the medical wing, sleeping under heavy guard,” Colonel Vance said, returning the salute briskly. He turned his gaze to Agent Vance and Officer Bell. “And I suggest you brief us immediately. Because according to our perimeter monitors, we just picked up three unmarked vehicles tailing your vehicle for the last five miles.”
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