789 "When I Walked Into Court in My Navy SEAL Uniform to Fight My Parents Over My Grandfather’s Farmhouse, They Thought They Had Won—Until the Judge Opened a Secret File That Exposed a 25-Year Government Conspiracy." / Chapter 15 / 30

Chapter 15 - THE ESCAPE VECTOR

The progress bar on the console hit 99%.

Data Transfer Complete. Master Archive Exported.

I slammed my fist against the manual eject button, snatched the data card from the port, and tucked it securely into my inner pocket.

Through the thinning haze of nitrogen vapor, I spotted Arthur Sterling sprinting toward the reinforced steel emergency elevator at the back of the lab, his tailored suit jacket flying behind him as he hammered the call button with a shaking hand.

"Sterling!" I roared, pushing off the floor and sprinting across the slick epoxy.

The elevator doors slid open with a rapid pneumatic hiss just as I cleared the final server rack. Sterling dived inside, his fingers frantically smashing the close-door button as the heavy stainless-steel panels began to slide together.

I dove headfirst across the threshold, sliding across the polished floor of the elevator car just as the doors slammed shut with a dull thud.

Sterling scrambled backward, slipping slightly on the slick metal floor before hitting the back wall of the car, his chest heaving as he stared down the barrel of my carbine.

The elevator jerked upward, shooting through the vertical transit shaft toward the surface at breakneck speed.

"You're out of moves, Commander," Sterling panted, adjusting his lapels with a trembling hand, though his eyes still burned with defiant arrogance. "Even if you kill me right here in this car, the moment these doors open on the ground floor, a dozen tactical teams will turn you into swiss cheese. You're standing in the heart of federal power."

"I'm not going to kill you, Sterling," I said, keeping the muzzle steady on his sternum while stepping close enough to smell the expensive cologne masking the sweat of fear on his skin. "Killing you is too easy. It makes you a martyr for a system that needs to be burned to the ground."

"Then what do you want?"

"I want my father's name cleared," I said quietly. "And I want every single name connected to Project Janus laid out in front of a federal grand jury."

Sterling let out a bitter, raspy laugh. "A grand jury? Nathan, the people who sit on those committees are the ones who fund projects like Janus. You can't put the intelligence apparatus on trial without collapsing the entire government."

"Then watch me try," I replied.

DING.