Chapter 10 - The Breach at the Bulkhead
The green phosphor glow of the night-vision goggles cast sharp, ghostly highlights across the damp concrete walls as Colonel Vance assessed the tactical layout. Two heavily armed sentries stood shoulder-to-shoulder just thirty yards down the narrow corridor, their suppressed carbines resting casually across their chests. They were disciplined, but the close quarters and the echoing acoustics of the tunnel worked entirely to the attacking team's advantage if executed with absolute precision.
"No lethal force unless fired upon," Vance whispered into the comm-link, her voice calm and absolute. "We need them alive to testify against Thorne. Reynolds, you take the left. I'll take the right. Miller, stay back at the junction and cover our retreat."
"Understood, ma'am," Reynolds murmured, slipping his carbine safety off with a faint, metallic click.
Vance counted down silently on her fingers: three, two, one.
They moved with sudden, explosive speed. Before the two sentries could process the sudden shift in the green shadows, Vance and Reynolds closed the distance in three silent strides. Vance slammed the heavy butt of her carbine into the right-hand guard’s shoulder, simultaneously sweeping his legs out from under him. The guard hit the slick concrete with a heavy thud, his weapon flying from his grasp.
Simultaneously, Reynolds tackled the left-hand sentry, pinning him against the damp wall and driving his forearm gently but firmly across the man's throat to cut off any attempted shout. Within four seconds, both guards were zip-tied, disarmed, and sitting flat against the tunnel wall, gasping for breath in the damp air.
"Clear!" Reynolds hissed, checking the pulse of the downed guards.
Vance stepped past them, walking up to the massive steel bulkhead door at the end of the corridor. A digital keypad glowed faintly on the wall beside the heavy locking mechanism, casting a blue light across the rusted metal. The keypad had been recently engaged; a sequence of numbers was still faintly illuminated by residual heat signatures on the plastic buttons.
"He's inside," Vance said, studying the security panel.
"Can you bypass it, Colonel?" Reynolds asked, stepping up beside her with his rifle raised.
"Thorne changed the master override code when he locked down the base," Vance replied, her fingers hovering over the plastic keys. "Standard protocol allows for a three-attempt administrative lockout before the internal circuit triggers an electrical purge."
Miller crept up from the junction, pointing a small tactical datapad toward the wiring housing beneath the keypad. "Ma'am, let me look at that. When I was assigned to the engineering depot, Captain Henderson had me run diagnostic checks on these exact legacy panels. There's a manual bypass relay hidden behind the faceplate."
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Vance stepped aside, watching as Miller pulled a multi-tool from his belt and expertly unscrewed the rusted service panel. Sparks showered gently onto the wet concrete as Miller severed a green data wire, bypassing the digital lockout entirely. With a heavy, pneumatic hiss, the massive steel bulkhead began to grind open, revealing the cavernous, brightly lit interior of the Sector Four underground armory.
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