Chapter 6 - Shadows of Aegis
Thirty minutes later, the terminal was flooded with federal agents, FBI SWAT teams, and military bomb disposal units.
The airport perimeter was sealed under a Homeland Security Level Red directive. But inside a private, windowless interrogation room in the airport’s subterranean security complex, Liam sat across from the woman. Odin sat at his side, his dark eyes never leaving her face.
Special Agent Sarah Chen of the FBI’s Counter-Terrorism Task Force stepped into the room, tossing a thick dossier onto the steel table.
"Her name is Elena Vance," Chen said, looking at Liam with deep respect. "Former CIA logistics coordinator, went off the grid three years ago. We just ran the fingerprints from the shooters you neutralized. They were all active contractors for Aegis Dynamics."
Elena looked up, her wrists handcuffed to the table ring. "If you think you can protect me in a federal facility, you're delusional. Director Sterling has people inside the FBI, the Marshals, and the Pentagon."
Liam leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table. "Director Vance Sterling. The man who signed off on the Olympic Dam inspection report four years ago."
Elena nodded slowly. "Sterling doesn't just run defense contracting. He runs a black-market destabilization network. They trigger artificial disasters—floods, chemical leaks, power grid failures—to drive up the stock value of their subsidiary restoration companies and secure multi-billion-dollar government recovery contracts."
Liam felt a cold, sharp rage settle into his chest. His wife and daughter hadn't just died in a tragic accident. They had been murdered for profit. They were collateral damage in a corporate quarterly balance sheet.
"Where is Sterling right now?" Liam asked softly.
"He operates out of a private, heavy-security compound in the Cascade Mountains outside Seattle," Elena revealed. "The shipment for Washington D.C. is being loaded onto a private cargo plane at a private airfield twenty miles north of here in ninety minutes."
Agent Chen grabbed her radio. "I'll call in an FBI SWAT strike team—"
"No," Liam interrupted, standing up. "If SWAT rolls up with sirens flashing, Sterling’s spotters will see them five miles out. He’ll initiate the self-destruct protocol on that cargo plane and erase the evidence—along with the entire county."
Chen looked at Liam. "Beckett, you're a retired Navy SEAL. You don't have jurisdiction here."
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Liam reached down and picked up Odin’s leather leash. He clipped it to the dog's tactical harness—the same harness that carried his dead daughter’s silver medallion tucked into the side pocket.
"My jurisdiction," Liam said, looking Chen straight in the eye, "ended the day my family was killed. Right now, I'm just a father taking his dog for a walk."
