Chapter 30 - Command Compromised
Within ten minutes of my transmission, the night sky over Lake Tahoe ruptured with the deafening roar of twin turboshaft engines.
Two MH-60S Seahawk helicopters, running without navigation lights, flared over the water, their powerful spotlight arrays pinning the *Avalon* in blinding beams of white light. Armed Navy SEAL boarding teams rappelled down thick ropes onto the bow and stern, clearing the vessel with swift, overwhelming efficiency.
Drake and Evelyn were forced to their knees, their hands zip-tied behind their backs as federal marshals and naval intelligence officers swarmed the bridge.
Master Chief Miller marched into the wheelhouse, his face grim, his sidearm holstered. He offered me a sharp salute before handing me a heavy wool naval watch coat.
"Boathouse is fully secured, Commander," Miller reported, his deep voice cutting through the hum of the ship’s radar. "County deputies have officially transferred your father and sister to the federal detention annex in Reno. They're being processed on preliminary conspiracy charges related to the perimeter breach. They're screaming for their lawyers, but given the classification of Deep Pine, they won't be seeing daylight for a very long time."
I draped the coat over my shoulders, leaning against the chart table. The exhaustion of the last seventy-two hours was beginning to settle deep into my marrow. "And Vanguard's corporate offices?"
"Raided twenty minutes ago by the FBI and NCIS," Miller said. Then his expression darkened, his jaw clenching. He leaned in closer, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper. "Commander... we have a critical problem."
"What is it?"
"The message sent to your terminal at Whispering Pines... the one implicating Admiral Harris."
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"I thought it was a spoofed transmission from Vanguard," I said, frowning.
"It wasn't," Miller murmured, pulling a classified situational report from his tactical jacket. "Admiral Harris was arrested thirty minutes ago at his quarters in San Diego by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. He wasn't being framed. He was Vanguard’s primary investor. And before the security detail breached his office, Harris transmitted an emergency scuttle protocol to an autonomous recovery platform hidden at the bottom of the lake."
