Chapter 20 - The Dead Man’s Protocol
Before Trevor could pull the trigger, three suppressed shots echoed through the server room.
Miller’s rounds took him in the chest, driving him backward into the server console.
Trevor slid down the front of the humming metal rack, leaving a thick smear of dark blood across the blinking transfer monitors.
The revolver clattered harmlessly to the concrete floor.
"Clear!" the team leaders shouted, moving forward to secure the perimeter and check the dying man's pulse.
"He’s done," Miller confirmed, checking Trevor’s carotid artery.
I didn't look at Trevor’s body.
I stepped over the shattered glass and lunged for the central console.
The progress bar was flashing: *TRANSFER AT 94%... 95%...*
I slammed my palm onto the emergency stop switch, but the terminal chimed with a harsh, mocking buzz:
*OVERRIDE DENIED. EXECUTIVE ENCRYPTION LOCKED BY USER: S-CHIEF.*
"S-Chief," Miller whispered, his voice turning ice-cold as he looked over my shoulder.
"That’s the Secret Service communications code for the President of the United States."
My heart slammed against my ribs with the force of an artillery shell.
President William Sterling.
The man who had pinned my general's stars onto my shoulders in the Rose Garden.
The man who had signed the authorization for my audit of Mercer Defense.
The audit hadn't been intended to expose corruption.
It had been designed to wipe out Arthur Mercer so William Sterling could take total, untraceable control of the Aegis Red operating system before his term ended.
Everything we had done—the court hearings, the media leaks, the financial audits—had played directly into Sterling’s hands.
He had used me as his personal weapon to execute a hostile corporate takeover of the country’s most lethal military infrastructure.
"Kate," Miller said, his hand gripping my tactical vest, his face completely pale.
"Look at the server log."
On the third monitor, a series of automated video feeds blinked to life.
They were surveillance cameras positioned inside the West Wing, streaming live via an encrypted black-budget satellite link.
The camera in the Oval Office showed President Sterling sitting behind the Resolute Desk, drinking coffee in the quiet hours before dawn.
Beside him stood the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Suddenly, the terminal in front of me beeped.
A live two-way communications channel forced itself open through our console.
The President looked up from his desk, turning his head directly toward the camera lens.
It was as if he were looking straight through the monitor, straight through three hundred feet of Virginia granite, directly into my eyes.
"You were always my finest officer, Katherine," President Sterling’s voice came through the bunker's speakers, calm, elegant, and chillingly devoid of emotion.
"Your mother would have been extraordinarily proud of how thoroughly you eliminated Arthur for me."
I gripped the edge of the console, my knuckles turning white.
"You killed her," I whispered into the communications mic.
"Abigail discovered the early designs of Aegis Red when Arthur left his briefcase at the farmhouse thirty years ago," Sterling replied casually, setting his coffee cup down on a silver saucer.
"She was a patriot."
"She was going to go to the newspapers."
"So I introduced Arthur to Eleanor, gave him unlimited capital, and made sure your mother was silenced."
"And now," Sterling continued with a faint, sorrowful smile, "your service to this nation is officially complete, General."
On the console, the transfer bar hit 100%.
*TRANSFER COMPLETE. PROTOCOL DEAD-EYE ACTIVATED.*
A loud, mechanical clanking echoed from the ceiling vents above our heads.
The smell of heavy industrial gas began hissing into the sealed bunker.
At the same instant, the red tactical lights on our helmets were eclipsed by a single, steady infrared laser dot.
The laser beam was not coming from my men.
It was shining through the high ventilation grates directly onto the center of my chest.
Behind us, the massive titanium blast door began to grind shut.
"General!" Miller yelled, raising his rifle toward the ceiling.
May you like
Through the communications speaker, the President of the United States whispered his final command.
"Goodbye, Katherine."
