Chapter 14 - Ghosts of Newport
“The old naval transmitter at Fort Adams,” Lucas suddenly said, his voice cutting through the damp silence of the basement.
Both older men turned to look at him.
Lucas stepped closer to the light. “I’m a marine communications technician for the port authority, Dad. You know that. We run auxiliary tests on the old high-frequency arrays at Fort Adams twice a year. The military abandoned the primary dish, but the civil defense emergency broadcast cables are still hardwired into the federal maritime safety net. It operates on an analog relay. It can’t be remotely shut down from the Pentagon.”
Michael stared at his son, an expression of profound pride breaking through his battle-hardened demeanor. “The analog override. They never updated the bedrock infrastructure from the Cold War.”
“Exactly,” Lucas said. “If we can patch Callahan’s terminal into the transmitter room at the fort, we can push the Acheron’s black box audio directly into the transceivers of every vessel in the Atlantic Fleet. Every cruiser, every carrier, every submarine listening to the emergency guard channel will hear it simultaneously.”
Callahan looked at his watch. “It’s 0300. The fleet changeover watch happens at 0500. That’s when the radio rooms across the entire Eastern seaboard are fully manned for the morning operational brief.”
“Two hours,” Michael said, checking the magazines on his captured rifle. “Fort Adams is heavily guarded by private security contractors now, working under the guise of historic preservation and coastal radar maintenance. Sterling bought that facility three years ago.”
“Then we break in,” Lucas said, his voice hardening, surprising even himself.
May you like
Michael reached out, his calloused, grease-stained hand resting heavily on Lucas’s shoulder. “You don’t have to do this, Lucas. You can walk out the back door. Callahan can get you a ticket out of the country.”
“You gave up twenty-four years of your life sitting in the dark so I could exist,” Lucas said, meeting his father’s gaze without flinching. “I’m not spending the next twenty-four hiding from the men who killed my mother with a broken heart. We finish it.”
