Chapter 1 - Command Is Yours
Rear Admiral Evelyn Vance reversed Jaxson Miller’s shove before anyone on the wet steel deck understood what was happening.
His boots lost traction.
His shoulder turned.
One second he was towering over her, and the next he was face-down on the deck with one arm secured behind him in a controlled restraint.
Ocean spray crossed the rail. Sparks flashed from the crane arm overhead. Armed ship-security sailors rushed from the open hatch with their weapons lowered but ready.
Miller twisted beneath Evelyn’s grip.
“Get her off me!”
Evelyn did not look at him.
Her eyes moved toward the cable above the cargo deck.
“That crane line is rigged to fail.”
Senior Chief Marcus Brody stopped so abruptly that the security team nearly collided with him.
Something in Evelyn’s tone had changed.
The trembling contractor from the mess deck was gone.
Brody raised one hand.
“Hold. Nobody touches her.”
A sharp metallic snap rang above them.
The crane assembly jerked. Sparks scattered harmlessly behind a steel barrier as sailors recoiled from the sound.
Evelyn kept Miller restrained.
“Miller knew before the alarm sounded.”
His panic became visible.
Brody stepped closer and studied Evelyn’s posture, her grip, and the authority she had stopped hiding.
Then he straightened.
“Admiral Vance… command is yours.”
The crew went silent.
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The old contractor Miller had thrown onto the deck was now the highest-ranking officer aboard the ship.
And she already knew someone had tried to sabotage it.
