Chapter 78 - Broken Board
The armored SUVs formed a lethal semicircle around the base of the private jet, their high-beam headlights blindingly bright in the freezing Zurich fog. Four heavily armed diplomatic security operatives spilled out of the vehicles, their submachine guns raised and locked onto my position before I could even draw my sidearm.
"Drop your weapon, Commander! Hands on your head!" shouted the lead security officer, his voice amplified by tactical comms as he advanced cautiously across the tarmac.
I didn't move. My eyes remained fixed on Arthur Vance, who had already reached the top of the aircraft boarding stairs and turned around to look down at the scene with cold, bureaucratic detachment.
"It's over, Arthur," I said loudly enough for his detail to hear. "Ethan already dumped your master ledger, your offshore accounts, and your personal operational roster to every major international intelligence agency and independent media outlet across the globe. By the time your plane touches down in Washington, the Department of Justice won't be meeting you on the runway—an international arrest warrant will."
Vance’s expression finally shattered. The cool, impenetrable mask of the veteran director cracked, his eyes widening in sudden, unadulterated panic as he reached into his overcoat for his encrypted satellite phone.
Before Vance could punch a single digit, a blinding flash of green light erupted from the roof of the maintenance hangar fifty yards away. A high-pitched, warbling electronic squeal ripped through the freezing morning air—a localized EMP pulse engineered by Ethan to fry every unshielded digital circuit within a hundred-yard radius.
Instantly, the headlights of the armored SUVs flickered and died. The screaming turbines of the Bombardier Global Express wound down with a dying whine as its onboard flight computers suffered a catastrophic system reboot. The security guards stumbled, their tactical comms headsets emitting a sharp burst of static before going completely dead.
"Now, Elena!" I roared into my comms.
Across the tarmac, the nondescript white van burst out from behind the maintenance hangar, its engine roaring like a caged beast as it slammed directly into the flank of the lead security SUV, sending it spinning violently across the wet asphalt. The remaining guards scrambled in panic, losing their tactical advantage in the sudden darkness and confusion.
I didn't wait for them to recover. I spun on my heel, drawing my sidearm and firing two suppressive rounds into the concrete near their feet before sprinting toward the open sliding door of the van as it slid to a halt beside me.
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"Get in, get in, get in!" Ethan yelled from the passenger seat, hammering away at his laptop as the van's engine screamed under maximum acceleration.
I dove headfirst into the back of the van as Elena slammed her foot down on the gas pedal, tearing across the tarmac and smashing right through the secondary perimeter chain-link fence just as the airport alarm sirens finally began to wail in the distance.
