Chapter 42 - The Frequency of Betrayal
The phosphorous flare ignited with a deafening hiss, swallowing the bridge in a blistering wall of white smoke and blinding magnesium glare.
"Fire! Cut him down!" Marcus roared over the crackle of gunfire.
Automatic rounds chewed through the concrete barrier where Daniel and Mason had stood only half a second before. Shards of asphalt and pulverized rock sprayed through the air. Daniel hauled Mason beneath his arm, moving with the brutal, kinetic efficiency of a man running on pure adrenaline and fatherly instinct. He lunged behind the massive steel girder supporting the western suspension cable.
A piercing, ultra-high-frequency hum sliced through the damp air.
Mason screamed, clamping his hands over his ears, his body convulsing violently. The collar sitting on Vanessa’s lap was transmitting an acoustic payload designed to target the inner ear implants placed during Mason's forced medical checks at St. Jude’s.
"Mason! Look at me!" Daniel dropped to his knees, shielding the boy’s trembling frame with his own torso as stray rounds pinged against the iron behind them. "Look at my eyes, buddy! Block it out!"
"It hurts, Daddy! It burns in my head!" Mason sobbed, blood beginning to trickle from his left nostril.
"I know, Mason. I know. Hold onto me. Wrap your arms around my neck and don't let go, no matter what happens."
Through the thick curtain of chemical smoke, the heavy tread of tactical boots echoed on the bridge deck. Two PMC operatives, outfitted with thermal visors, rounded the girder. Daniel surged upward from the shadows. He caught the first contractor by the throat, driving the man backward into the second with bone-shattering force. Daniel stripped the sidearm from the fallen guard's holster in a single fluid motion, putting two rounds into the chest plates of each operative before they could recover.
"Daniel!" Vanessa's mechanical voice echoed across the span, amplified by the transport's speaker system. "You can't outrun your own blood! Mason belongs to the Sovereign trust! Emily knew it, Victor knew it, and now you will die knowing it!"
Daniel grabbed the dead contractor’s heavy breaching satchel. Inside were two high-yield thermite charges meant for industrial demolition. He set the timers for five seconds, slammed them onto the main tension cable anchors, and pulled Mason into a dead sprint toward the bridge railing.
"Daddy, what are we doing?!" Mason cried.
"We’re getting out of here," Daniel whispered, his voice unwavering despite the terrifying drop beneath them.
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The thermite ignited. A dazzling gout of white-hot fire sheared through the steel cables. The suspension bridge bucked violently, tilting forty degrees into the abyss as the northern support snapped with the sound of a cannon shot.
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