Chapter 10 - The Sovereign Strike and the Three-Minute Takedown
I walked through the double doors of the ballroom one final time, heading toward the kitchen exit where Table Nineteen still sat in the shadows.
I picked up my old, worn military duffel bag that I had tucked beneath the table when I arrived. Beside it lay the cheap paper name tag that Charlotte had made for me: Audrey Langston — Government employee.
I peeled the adhesive sticker from my dress, looked at it for a moment, and smiled.
In a way, Charlotte had been completely right. I was a government employee. I was a servant of the people, sworn to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. There was no shame in that title. In fact, it was the greatest honor of my life.
I laid the paper sticker gently on the center of Table Nineteen, grabbed my bag, and walked out through the terrace doors toward the waiting Black Hawk helicopter.
The cool mountain downdraft kicked up again as the twin turbines roared back to life. Major General Callahan held the passenger door open for me.
Before I stepped inside, I looked back at the grand resort.
Charlotte was standing under the terrace lights, looking utterly broken, clutching her designer shawl around her shoulders as the wind whipped her hair into a tangled mess. She had spent a lifetime chasing illusions of grandeur, and in one single night, every illusion had been stripped away, leaving behind only the cold mountain air and the echo of her own hollow choices.
I climbed into the cabin of the Black Hawk. The crew chief secured my harness and handed me a flight helmet with an integrated tactical headset.
“Ready on your command, General,” the pilot announced over the comms.
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“Take us up, Captain,” I replied. “Take us home.”
The Black Hawk lifted smoothly off the turf of Briarwood Mountain Resort, banking hard into the clear, starry Colorado sky. Below us, the flashing police lights and the glittering chandeliers of the ballroom shrank into tiny, insignificant specks of light against the vastness of the Rocky Mountains.
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