Chapter 192: Rush to the Pacific Ocean
Chapter 192: Rush to the Pacific Ocean
David stared at the screen for a long moment without answering.
Lon looked like he'd aged years in the span of seconds. "I owe you an apology. Your parents' deaths — that's the greatest failure of my life..."
"Don't."
David cut him off.
Lon went still. His lips parted, then closed again, waiting.
David held the comm device steady, his voice calm. "Grandfather."
The word hit like a current.
Lon froze — hand lifting, then dropping back to his side — his eyes going red. "Say it again."
"Grandfather."
Lon closed his eyes. He exhaled slowly, like something that had been locked in his chest for years finally broke loose.
When he opened them again, the composure was back where it belonged. "All right. The Brown family's dark-web access — highest clearance — it's yours now."
The screen shifted. Encrypted nodes lit up one after another: banking, arms networks, port authorities, satellite grids, medical research labs, private security firms, energy reserves — all of it unfolding at once.
"Where's Douglas?" David asked.
"Eleven degrees north, one fifty-seven west. A decommissioned U.S. military resupply island. Douglas is there. So are Benjamin's people."
The coordinates flashed on screen. Aerial imaging showed anti-air batteries ringing the island, a sonar net, and a missile array disguised as weather buoys.
Mia's voice cut in, dry as ever. "That's more firepower than some capital cities. Seriously."
Lon looked into the camera. "Mia — please look after him."
Mia gave a single nod. "Always."
David pocketed the comm device. "I'm going."
---
Thirty minutes later, the Brown family's dark-web network went fully live.
New York. Summit Enterprises Ltd command center. Freya stood in the middle of the main floor, the wall of screens behind her scrolling global transactions in real time.
"Cut every contractor tied to that island. Food, medical, fuel, coolant, undersea cable maintenance — all of it. Gone."
Her deputy hesitated. "They're running three layers of proxy—"
"Then buy the proxy companies." Freya didn't blink.
Three minutes later, the Pacific base's supply chain started coming apart. A Tokyo warehouse refused to ship. A Singapore insurer pulled out. A Hawaii resupply vessel rerouted. A Chilean coolant supplier froze its accounts.
---
On the other side of the operation, Mia sat in the modified bay of the craft, her pink hair twisted up in a loose knot.
"I'm inside their satellite defense layer. It's military legacy code stitched together with Soul Sanctum protocol — like fixing a nuclear plant with duct tape."
Hassan's voice came through the channel. "Unmanned supply drone is airborne. Energy warheads are loaded."
Devereaux checked in next. "Mercenary fleet is in the outer ring. Six armed patrol boats, two electronic warfare vessels, three attack birds. Boss — the water's ours."
David stood at the rear of the cabin, securing the crimson long-blade across his back. "Don't let a single boat leave that island."
Devereaux's grin was practically audible. "Not even the sharks get through without ID."
---
The Pacific was black and still.
The stealth assault craft skimmed the surface at full speed, the island ahead nothing but a dark outline against darker water.
Mia's voice counted down in his earpiece. "Satellite blind window in ten. Nine. Eight. Seven..."
David stood at the bow.
---
The satellite blackout hit.
On the island's radar screens, an entire section of ocean simply vanished.
The assault craft punched into the near-shore zone — and the coastal radar lit up anyway.
"Anomaly detected!"
"Shore guns, rotate and target!"
Three concealed heavy artillery pieces threw off their camouflage and swung their barrels toward the water.
David raised his hand.
The air above the surface twisted. The first gun barrel wrenched itself into a knot of scrap. The second mount's bolts sheared off clean — the entire turret pitched into the ammunition store and detonated in a wall of fire.
The third cannon fired.
The shell cleared the muzzle and stopped dead in midair.
David turned his wrist. The round reversed course, threaded back into the barrel, and the resulting explosion lifted the sea surface like a struck drum.
---
The craft hit the beach.
The moment David's boots touched sand, the base's full alarm system screamed to life. Floodlights swept the shore. Bunker-mounted heavy machine guns opened fire along the line.
Every round stopped half a meter from his body, caught flat against a telekinetic barrier.
David kept walking.
The bullets reversed. They punched back through the gun ports — and the bunker muzzles blew apart one by one.
"Hostile breach! Target is David!" Three armored vehicles burst out of the tree line at the rear of the beach.
David drew the blade.
One sweep of dark red light split the first vehicle down the center line. The second lifted off the ground, then came down hard on the roof of the third.
The explosion lit the jungle's edge like a flare. Devereaux's crew hit the beach from both flanks.
Mia killed the internal security cameras and said, simply, "Main road is clear. Central command tower is at the island's core."
David cleared the burning wreckage at a run and hit the base.
The first chain-link barrier peeled back on both sides. The second blast door took the impact and caved — the whole panel rocketed off its frame and flattened four soldiers beneath it.
In the corridor beyond, a dozen guards leveled their weapons. David came in low, driving the flat of the blade through body armor, putting each of them into the wall with a single punch.
He didn't slow down. Every person in his path went down. He didn't stop for any of them.
---
Outside the command tower, four heavy combat drones rose into position. Their rotating cannons began cycling up to charge.
Mia's voice was sharp. "Electromagnetic pulse cannons. Don't let them finish charging."
David drove the blade into the platform.
The surface buckled upward. The drones lurched off-balance. Shredded steel plating whipped up and hammered all four machines together.
He closed his fist.
All four drones compressed into dense metal spheres and dropped into the ocean.
---
At the tower entrance, one last line of soldiers held their ground.
The lead officer raised his weapon and shouted. "Sherman — you are attacking a federal installation!"
David didn't even slow his stride.
A single telekinetic wave rolled through the line. Every soldier in it slammed into the tower wall and went limp.
He walked to the armored door. Half a meter of reinforced steel, engraved with the Soul Sanctum's dark gold insignia.
"Give me ten seconds and I can crack their—"
David kicked the door.
The entire slab tore free, sailed across the interior, and ground to a halt twenty feet in, shattering against the central tactical table.
Mia was quiet for exactly one second. "That's one way to knock."
---
David stepped into the command room.
The ring of screens along the walls still glowed. The floor was littered with documents, shell casings, blood, and a few bodies that hadn't made it out.
At the far end of the room, raised on a platform at the center of it all, stood an enormous life-support pod.
Douglas was inside it.
His body floated in blue fluid, chest cavity open, spine threaded through with black tubing, half his face replaced by a metal framework. His eyes were wide open and staring.
Behind the pod stood a figure.
The figure wore dark gold armor from head to foot. Blue light burned behind both eyes. One hand rested flat against the outer wall of the pod.
Mia's voice went tight. "Energy readings are wrong. Whoever that is, they're reading way above Liam's level."
The figure spoke. "I am Peter. Arbiter of the Soul Sanctum."
Inside the pod, Douglas worked his jaw with what looked like the last of his strength. His lips shaped two words.
Save... me...
David's grip tightened on the blade without thinking.
Peter raised his hand.
Gravity in the command room spiked. The floor buckled inward. Metal fragments pancaked against the ground.
David's boots sank half an inch into the deck.
He didn't step back.
Peter regarded him without urgency. "David. Your judgment begins now."