Chapter 17 - The bloodline of treason
"Victoria," Amanda gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. "She was at the gala. She was sitting at the head table next to Richard. She toasted to our family's honor!"
"She wasn't toasting our honor," Evelyn said, piecing together the horrifying puzzle in seconds. "She was making sure Richard played his part. When Richard broke down and the general saluted me, Victoria realized the Vance family was no longer controllable."
The helicopter settled into a low hover over a wide logging clearing forty yards ahead. Four private security operatives in black combat gear rappelled down fast-ropes, landing with practiced precision, weapons drawn, fanning out in a semi-circle that completely cut off the trail to the rail spur.
Victoria Sterling stepped out of the cabin, lowered smoothly to the ground via a hoist harness. Even in the wilderness, she wore an immaculate wool coat trimmed with fur, looking at the dark forest with disgust.
"Captain Vance," Victoria called out over the idling whine of the turbine. "I have Marcus with me. The poor old man broke his hip trying to give you that key. Do you really want him to die out here in the frost because of your childish obsession with a twenty-year-old training accident?"
From behind the rock ledge, Daniel looked at Evelyn, his eyes wide. "They have Marcus. If they kill him, there's no legal link back to the trusts."
"They're going to kill all of us anyway, Daniel," Evelyn said softly. She reached into her flight suit and pulled out the brass key, then looked at the black telemetry sphere.
On the side of the sphere, hidden beneath a protective rubber seal she had just peeled back, was a tiny red toggle switch marked *DATA PURGE / OVERRIDE*.
Clara had left a note in the margins of the yellow pad: *The telemetry isn't recorded on magnetic tape. It's stored in a continuous flash loop powered by a lithium-thermal cell. If you trigger the override without the dock, it broadcasts the raw memory dump across the nearest ultra-high frequency band.*
"Daniel," Evelyn whispered, "take Amanda and stay behind this boulder. Do not move, no matter what happens."
"Evelyn, no," Amanda cried softly, catching her sister's sleeve. "She has an entire squad!"
"She has an audience," Evelyn answered with a cold, fierce smile. "And she forgets that every military radar unit from here to Quebec heard my distress call. They aren't the only ones listening."
Evelyn stood up from behind the rock, stepping deliberately into the blinding glare of the helicopter’s spotlight.
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The security team instantly leveled their laser sights onto her chest. Red dots danced across her olive flight suit, right over her mother's silver wings.
Victoria smiled, clasping her gloved hands together. "There she is. The brave little flyer. Drop the sphere, Evelyn. And maybe I'll let your sister keep a small trust fund to live on."
