He Came Home Early and Found a Pet Collar Around His 6-Year-Old Son’s Neck. His New Wife Called It “Discipline”—Until Her Own Mother’s Phone Revealed What They Had Planned Before the Party Even Began. / Chapter 66 / 80

Chapter 66 - The Judas Protocol

Before they could move toward the extraction vehicle Cole had parked near the riverbank, the sudden screech of tires echoed from the street level above the tunnel grating.

Daniel froze.

The sound of heavy tactical boots slamming onto wet cobblestones echoed down the ventilation shafts. Red laser sights pierced the darkness through the rusted iron grates above their heads, sweeping across the damp brick walls.

"Motion detected in Sector Four!" a distorted voice shouted through a tactical radio from above. "Containment team, breach the access hatch! The Sovereign wants the asset alive. Kill the father!"

Cole cursed, immediately bringing up his suppressed MP5. "How the bloody hell did they track us down here? I swept this route twice!"

Daniel didn't answer. His mind was calculating at combat speed. He looked up at the grate, then at Cole's tablet.

"Briggs," Daniel snarled, the realization hitting him like a shockwave. "General Briggs. You used the Hereford armory keycard."

Cole’s face paled. "Briggs gave me the authorization codes himself. He said he was running an off-the-books extraction to help you get the boy out of the country."

"Briggs was the commander who signed off on the medical procedure after my shrapnel wound ten years ago," Daniel said, his voice dropping into a deadly whisper. "He wasn't helping you, Marcus. He was tracking you."

A flashbang grenade dropped through the ceiling grate.

"Down!" Daniel roared, throwing his entire body over Mason and pressing the boy flat against the muddy ballast.

*BANG!*

A concussive roar of blinding white light and deafening sound shattered the tunnel. The air pressure slammed into Daniel’s fresh surgical wound, tearing two of the staples and sending a hot stream of blood down his ribs.

Through the ringing in his ears, Daniel saw the heavy steel access door at the end of the tunnel blow inward with a shower of sparks. Three syndicate operators in urban tactical gear and night-vision goggles surged through the smoke, their suppressed assault rifles raised.

"Target acquired! Two hostiles, one child!"

Daniel didn't wait for his vision to clear. Muscle memory took over. He rolled off Mason, drawing the Kimber .45 in a single, fluid motion.

*Crack! Crack!*

Two rounds struck the lead operative in the throat and face, bypassing his armor. The man collapsed like a cut puppet.

Cole opened fire with his MP5, the muffled staccato of 9mm rounds ripping through the second operator’s chest plate, driving him back into the masonry.

The third operator dove for cover behind a cast-iron support pillar, leveling his carbine directly at Mason, who was scrambling toward the shadow of a drainage pipe.

"Mason, stay down!" Daniel roared.

Daniel didn't have a clear angle. Without hesitating, Daniel lunged forward, throwing himself directly into the line of fire.

A 5.56mm round caught Daniel in the left shoulder, spinning him around and smashing him against the brick wall. The impact knocked the wind from his lungs, tearing the fresh surgical site wide open.

Through the crimson haze of pain, Daniel saw the shooter stepping out to finish him.

*Click.*

A metallic clink echoed through the tunnel.

The shooter hesitated, looking down. Mason was standing five feet away, behind the iron grate, holding a heavy military smoke canister he had pulled from Cole’s open duffel bag. The boy had yanked the pin with Emily’s silver lighter.

"Daddy said burn," Mason whispered.

A dense cloud of gray-white phosphorus smoke erupted in the operative's face, blinding him and choking his lungs. The man screamed, staggering backward, clutching at his burning eyes.

Daniel pushed off the wall, closed the distance in two strides, and drove his combat knife straight upward beneath the man’s ballistic helmet, into the base of his skull.

The operator went limp. Daniel ripped the knife free and let the body fall.

Silence returned to the tunnel, heavy, suffocating, and reeking of cordite and burning phosphorus.

Cole rushed forward, scanning the access shaft above. "More are coming. The entire grid is compromised. Briggs will have the whole city locked down in ten minutes."

Daniel leaned against the wall, clutching his bleeding shoulder, his breath coming in ragged gasps. He looked down at Mason, who was standing quietly in the settling smoke, holding the empty smoke canister pin in his tiny hand.

"Good job, buddy," Daniel panted, his hand reaching out to squeeze the boy’s shoulder.

Mason didn't flinch from the blood on Daniel's hand. He simply nodded. "Where do we go now, Daddy?"