Chapter 6 - The SetupBefore Rachel could utter a word of defense, the heavy iron gate at the end of the maintenance tunnel burst open. Red laser sights danced across the concrete walls.
"Drop your weapons and hand over the child!" a stern, commanding voice echoed through the tunnel.
Stepping through the shadows was a man in an immaculate military dress uniform, accompanied by four heavily armed private security contractors. It was General Vance Harrison himself.
"Rachel, you did well leading us straight to them," Harrison said with a chilling smile.
I felt my heart drop into my stomach. I turned to look at Rachel in utter betrayal. "You led them to us?"
Rachel fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face. "I had no choice! They have Maya! They have Marcus's wife locked in a private medical facility! Harrison promised he would kill Maya if I didn't get the child to him tonight!"
Arthur didn't look back at his sister. His gaze remained locked on Harrison, his body standing like an impenetrable wall between the armed men and the baby strapped to his chest.
"Harrison," Arthur said, his voice terrifyingly calm. "You betrayed your country. You murdered your own men. And now you're hunting a two-pound baby."
"I am securing national stability, Sergeant Vance," Harrison said smoothly, taking a step forward while pulling a high-tech medical scanner from his coat pocket. "That baby carries information that could dismantle foreign alliances and destroy political careers—including mine. Hand her over. I'll ensure she is raised in a comfortable... isolated facility. Resist, and everyone in this tunnel dies right here."
"You want the micro-marker?" Arthur asked slowly.
"Yes," Harrison replied, raising his hand, signaling his mercenaries to hold their fire.
"Then come take it yourself, General," Arthur said. "Man to man."
Harrison scoffed, adjusting his military gloves. "You're a broken veteran with permanent nerve damage, Arthur. You can barely hold a fork without your hands trembling. You think you can stop me?"
"My hands might tremble, Harrison," Arthur whispered, his eyes flashing with lethal intent. "But my aim doesn't."
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In one lightning movement, Arthur reached into the back of his belt and pulled out a heavy industrial flare gun he had grabbed from the linen bay supply box.
Before Harrison's men could pull their triggers, Arthur fired the flare directly into an overhead high-pressure gas line running along the tunnel ceiling!
