Chapter 6 - The Counter-Operation
By Saturday morning, the fourth-floor pediatric suite had been quietly converted into an improvised command post.
Nora was awake, eating a bowl of oatmeal, and chatting cheerfully with a pediatric nurse who had no idea that the quiet man sitting in the corner was directing a federal counter-intelligence operation from his phone.
Daniel stood by the window, looking out over the rain-slicked courtyard of the medical center.
“The trap is set,” Daniel said into his encrypted satellite phone. “Meridian Defense Solutions thinks I’m distracted by my daughter’s medical crisis. They expect me to take emergency leave starting Monday morning to care for her.”
On the other end of the line, Special Agent Vance—now operating out of an unmarked van parked three blocks away—responded immediately.
“And that’s exactly what we want them to believe, Admiral. Let them think you’re vulnerable. Julian Vance has scheduled an emergency private meeting with the Senate subcommittee chairman for Monday afternoon to push through an emergency injunction suspending your logistics contract due to ‘family medical incapacity’.”
“Let him walk into the hearing,” Daniel said coldly. “We’ll be waiting.”
“Affirmative. NCIS cyber-units have already mirrored Meridian’s internal server logs. We have the complete financial trail linking Julian Vance directly to the biotech lab that bred the vector used on Nora.”
Daniel looked back toward the hospital bed.
Nora was laughing softly as she colored in her unicorn sketchbook, completely unaware of the invisible war being fought to protect her. The raw terror of Tuesday night was gone, replaced by the bright, resilient innocence of a seven-year-old child who believed her father could fix anything.
“Sarah,” Daniel said, using her first name for the first time.
“Go ahead, Admiral.”
“When this is over... thank you.”
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There was a brief pause on the line, the static of the encrypted channel humming softly before Sarah’s calm, steady voice came through.
“Save the gratitude for the courtroom, Admiral. We have a corporate predator to bag.”
