Chapter 8 - THE WARMTH INSIDE THE STORM
Agent Vance pulled off his heavy charcoal overcoat, wrapping the thick, warm wool around his sister's shivering shoulders. He pulled her close against his side, his arm shielding her frame from the driving wind as he guided her down the marble steps toward the running Suburban.
"You stayed in there four hours too long, Maya," Thomas said softly, his calm demeanor softening into genuine, protective relief as they reached the base of the stairs.
Maya pulled the warm charcoal coat tight around her chest, leaning her head against her brother's shoulder for a brief second as her body began to thaw.
"The manifests were buried deep in the sub-routines, Thomas," Maya murmured, her voice weary but filled with quiet satisfaction. "If I had pulled out early, he would have wiped the sector backups and blamed it on a server glitch. I needed his personal encryption key on the transfer log."
"He broke your lip," Thomas noted, his eyes narrowing as he looked at the blood on her face.
"He tried to break my arm," Maya corrected with a faint, dry smile. "He failed."
They reached the rear door of the black Suburban. The driver—a female tactical agent in dark gear—opened the heavy armored door, pulling out a thick wool blanket, a flask of hot coffee, and a medical trauma kit.
"Get her in the heat, Doc," Thomas instructed the agent. "We're clearing the base in two minutes."
Maya stepped up into the warm, leather-lined interior of the vehicle, sitting on the plush rear bench as the heavy climate-control system blew warm air over her freezing hands and feet. The paramedic immediately began cleaning the split on her lower lip, wrapping a warm blanket over her shoulders.
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Through the tinted rear glass of the Suburban, Maya watched as Commandant Sterling was forced into the back of the second federal sedan, his hands cuffed behind him, surrounded by four tactical agents.
The three-star general who had ruled Fort Holbrook with an iron fist for a decade was now just another high-value federal prisoner heading for a federal arraignment in Richmond.
