2024-10-15 10:39:07
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CHAPTER 674
The silence beneath the bridge was short-lived. Just as the SUV’s engine settled into a low, submerged hum, a rhythmic sound cut through the gloom.Clack.Clack.Clack.The echoes bounced off the massive concrete pillars."Rappels," Marek hissed, killing the interior lights. "They aren’t waiting for us to come to them. They’re coming down."Through the cracked sunroof, Tedmond saw them: four dark silhouettes descending rapidly on high-speed cables, like spiders dropping from a ceiling. Vanguard’s elite, clad in matte-black tactical gear and gas masks, were almost inhuman in the dim light."Marek, the bank! Get us onto solid ground, or we’re sitting ducks!" Tedmond ordered, reaching for the heavy assault rifle clipped to the ceiling."I’m trying, but the silt is like vacuum-packed grease!" Marek roared, tires spinning and throwing plumes of black river water against the bridge supports.The first Vanguard soldier hit the roof with a bone-jarring thud. A second later, a combat knife
CHAPTER 673
The tires screamed as Marek hurled the heavy SUV into a sharp turn, diving off the smooth interstate onto a jagged, unlit service road. The transition was brutal, the vehicle’s high-tech suspension fighting against loose gravel and rain-filled potholes."Hold onto your noodles," Marek grunted, massive arms flexing as he wrestled the steering wheel.Lottie didn’t complain. The induction burner was already stowed. She checked the slide on her submachine gun with calm efficiency. "That officer back there," she said, voice tight. "He wasn’t just checking our plates. He was looking at me. Not like a cop looks at a suspect, like a man looks at a ghost."Tedmond leaned forward, eyes locked on the navigation screen as it recalculated their route through the backroads. "What does that mean, Lottie?""It means," she whispered, "that if the Syndicate is using my old file to track us, they aren’t just hunting the Washingtons anymore. They’re hunting a traitor. And traitors don’t get 'process
CHAPTER 672
The hum of the heavy SUV’s tires against the asphalt was the only constant in a world that had turned gray and blurred. Inside the cabin, the space was cavernous, more like a mobile command center than a civilian vehicle. Despite the looming shadow of Oakhaven, the atmosphere had taken on a bizarrely domestic quality.Lottie hunched over a small, portable induction burner balanced precariously on a storage crate. She stirred a pot of instant noodles with mismatched chopsticks, brow furrowed in concentration as the steam curled around her face."You know," Lottie said, voice competing with the rattle of the road, "I can’t stop thinking about Hugo. We just left him there with Thomas and Albert. Do you think he’s shaking in his boots, or already trying to pick the locks on the wine cellar?"Marek, whose massive frame seemed to fill the driver’s seat, kept his eyes locked on the horizon. He adjusted his grip on the leather-wrapped wheel. "Hugo’s like a cockroach, Lottie. Drop a build
CHAPTER 671
"Jeffrey didn’t ask you to be a shield, Thomas," Albert said softly. "He asked you to be a compass. You’ve guided Master Tedmond through storms that would have swallowed lesser men. You haven’t failed. You are the reason he still knows which way is home."Albert’s gaze drifted toward the monitors humming in the distance. "We are the pillars of a house under siege. We cannot crumble, for if we do, the roof falls on them. Master Tedmond knows you worry. That is why he mocks you, it’s the only way he knows how to acknowledge that he needs you."Thomas wiped a hand across his eyes, letting out a dry, shaky laugh. "He has a hell of a way of showing it. ‘Speak some sense into me,’ he said.""And you shall," Albert replied, a ghost of a smile touching his lips. "But for now, we have work to do. If they are to reach Oakhaven, they will need every satellite we can hijack. Shall we?"Thomas straightened, fire returning to his eyes. "Yeah. Let’s get to work. If that idiot gets a scratch becau
CHAPTER 670
Tedmond let out a dry, small chuckle, a sound that softened the edges of his grim face, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes. "I’ll be fine, Thomas. It was just a thought.""It was a stupid thought!" Thomas barked, jabbing a finger at him. "You listen to me, Tedmond. You go to Oakhaven, you find your mother, and you bring your narrow-minded, road-tripping self back here. Because when you do, I’m going to lecture you—seriously. I’ve got a list of every reason why you’re a tactical moron, and I’m reading it aloud."Tedmond gave a single, sharp nod, a silent promise. "I’ll look forward to it."He slid the door shut, the van rumbling forward into the gray rain, leaving Thomas standing in the garage with clenched fists and a storm of worry behind his eyes."You heard the man," Marek rumbled, shifting the van into gear. "He wants to lecture a live man, not a ghost. Let’s move."The tires crunched over wet gravel as the van slid into the thick morning mist. Thomas stayed in the garage lon
CHAPTER 669
Lottie spent the next few minutes firing off questions, the rapid-fire kind meant to probe, to trip a man’s resolve.She asked about temptation, the long nights on the road, the distance between them. Tedmond answered each one with a clinical, unwavering loyalty that bordered on the sacred. His responses weren’t rehearsed; they were facts, as immutable as the laws of physics.Finally, Lottie stopped. She leaned back, a genuine, softer smile touching her face. “Damn, Tedmond. Your wife sure struck gold. I’m actually looking forward to meeting her someday, just so I can tell her she picked the last honest man left on the planet.”Tedmond’s brow furrowed into a deep, protective frown. “You are not meeting my wife.”“Why not?” Lottie asked, hands sliding to her hips. “I think we’d get along—”“The car is ready!” Thomas’s voice boomed through the intercom, echoing from the basement and shattering the tension. “And if you aren’t down here in sixty seconds, I’m letting the tires out mysel
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