Chapter 5 - The Ambush on Deck 2
Before Mercer could respond, the heavy steel door of Recovery Bay 4 vibrated as a loud, metallic thud echoed from the corridor outside.
On the room's wall-mounted security monitor, the camera feed showing the main medical hallway suddenly went black. Static filled the screen.
"They're here," Mercer said, drawing his sidearm.
Commander Avery looked frantically around the room. "Admiral, this is an active Navy vessel! They can't just open fire on a military medical bay!"
"They didn't come to negotiate, Commander," Erin said, pulling her IV line out of her neck with a sharp wince. She swung her legs off the side of the bed, her face contorted in agony as her bare feet hit the cold floor. "Vance's team doesn't leave witnesses. They'll claim it was a terrorist breach and classify the entire deck."
"You can't walk, Erin," Avery insisted, reaching for her. "Your vascular graft will tear!"
"If I stay in this bed, I'm a corpse, Doctor," she snapped, standing up unsteadily and leaning heavily on her daughter's shoulder. "Maisie, grab my boots from the locker."
Maisie ran to the metal supply cabinet, pulled out her mother's worn leather combat boots, and brought them over. Erin slipped her feet into them without tying the laces. From the left boot, she pulled out a small, tarnished silver cylinder no larger than a thumb drive. She pressed it directly into Mercer's hand.
"That's the raw data from Silent Horizon," Erin gasped, sweating profusely from the exertion. "Every transaction. Every name. Every offshore account Vance used."
Mercer gripped the drive tightly, sliding it into his inner pocket. He looked at Avery. "Commander, take Maisie and hide in the secondary oxygen storage room at the back of the bay. Lock it from the inside."
"What about you, sir?" Avery asked, his voice shaking.
Mercer adjusted his grip on his pistol. "I'm a Vice Admiral on my own flagship. Let's see how brave these mercenaries are when they have to shoot a three-star flag officer."
BOOM!
The heavy steel door of the recovery bay blew inward with a deafening blast of flashbang energy. White smoke and blinding light flooded the room.
Mercer dropped to one knee, bringing his sidearm up, and fired three precise shots through the smoke. A heavy grunt echoed as the lead operative in black tactical gear slammed backward against the doorframe, his body armor absorbing the non-lethal impact of the 9mm rounds.
"Go! Move!" Mercer yelled toward Avery and the child.
Avery grabbed Maisie, pulled her through the rear door of the bay, and slammed the reinforced security latch shut.
Two more black-clad operatives burst through the smoke, their silenced submachine guns raised. "Drop the weapon, Admiral!" one yelled, his voice electronically scrambled through his helmet visor. "Standing down is your only option!"
Mercer didn't drop his weapon. He kept it aimed straight at the lead operator's visor. "You are aboard the United States Ship Jefferson Crown, son. You are committing high treason on federal property."
A tall man in a dark civilian suit stepped through the smoke behind the operatives. He had silver hair, cold gray eyes, and held a silenced pistol calmly at his side.
General Vance.
"Hello, Nathaniel," Vance said smoothly, his tone entirely devoid of emotion. "I hoped it wouldn't come to this. You were supposed to be a spectator today."
"You killed your own troops in Kunar, Arthur," Mercer said, his voice echoing in the smoke-filled room. "And now you're bringing mercenaries onto an aircraft carrier."
"I am protecting the stability of the command structure," Vance replied coldly. "Erin Whitlock is a rogue asset who stole classified intelligence and faked her death. She's a threat to national security."
"She's a Chief Petty Officer who saved four men while bleeding out in a trench!" Mercer roared. "And you tried to vaporize her!"
Vance sighed, shaking his head. "Where is the drive, Nathaniel?"
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"Safe," Mercer said. "In five minutes, my automated flag comms will broadcast the contents of that drive directly to the Chief of Naval Operations and the Department of Justice."
Vance's eyes narrowed. He raised his weapon, aiming it directly at Mercer's chest. "Then I have four minutes to clean this room."
