Chapter 13 - Under the Gaze of Ghosts
Lucas was pinned by two heavy boots pressing into his spine. His hands were zip-tied behind his back with industrial plastic before he could clear the salt from his eyes. Clara was dragged onto the boards beside him, stripped of her wet blazer, and thrown against a stack of shipping pallets.
A man stepped out from the ring of tactical operators. He wore a crisp, tailored wool trench coat over a dark suit, his silver hair neatly parted. He carried an umbrella despite the clearing rain.
Marcus Vance. Lucas's estranged uncle, and the Chief Operating Officer of Apex Bio-Defense.
""You always were remarkably stubborn, Lucas,"" Marcus said, his voice dripping with quiet disappointment. ""I pulled strings to get you assigned to that courtroom escort. I gave you the chance to simply walk away, let the trial collapse, and take your retirement pension.""
Lucas spat a mouthful of blood and saltwater onto Marcus’s polished leather shoes. ""You murdered my unit. You poisoned your own blood.""
Marcus didn't flinch. He carefully wiped his shoe against the dock planking. ""Your unit was a necessary data set. In modern warfare, Lucas, soldiers are an expenditure. The defensive contracts we secured with that chemical data will protect entire armies for the next half-century. It was an equation. You were never meant to be on the casualty list.""
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""Where is Eleanor?"" Clara gasped from the pallet, her voice shaking with rage.
Marcus’s expression hardened into cold indifference. ""Eleanor failed to contain a simple legal hearing. Her usefulness expired the moment that train left the station."" He motioned toward the operators. ""Search them. Find the physical drive, verify the destruction of the data, and put both of them into the harbor.""
