Chapter 16 - The Interrogation of the Mole
Arthur and Vance intercepted the delivery truck before it could reach the main gate. Vance blocked the road with a utility tractor, while Arthur stepped out from the brush, his sidearm drawn but lowered at his side.
The driver, a young man from the neighboring town named Cody, panicked when he saw Arthur. He slammed the truck into reverse, but Vance had already blocked his retreat with a steel tire-spike strip.
"Step out of the vehicle, Cody," Arthur said, his voice as calm and unyielding as granite.
The young man tumbled out of the truck, his hands shaking violently as he hit the gravel. "I didn't have a choice, Mr. Miller! I swear! They have my sister in San Antonio! They told me if I didn't drop the tracking beacon near the generator house, they’d kill her!"
Vance knelt beside the boy, his scarred face close. "Who are 'they,' Cody? Give us a name, or a face, or a phone number. Right now, your sister isn't the only one in danger. There are a hundred children in this valley."
"I don't know names!" Cody sobbed, pulling a burner phone from his pocket. "A man in a gray suit met me at a diner off Interstate 35. He gave me the phone and the beacon. He said the strike team was already in position at the old limestone quarry three miles out. They’re just waiting for the beacon to lock onto the center’s power grid."
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Arthur took the burner phone, his mind processing the information with tactical precision. The limestone quarry was an abandoned, deep-cut excavation site that sat directly above the refuge center's water table. If the enemy was there, they weren't just planning an assault—they were planning a catastrophic infrastructure failure.
"Vance, secure Cody and get David to contact the federal marshal detail in Austin to locate the sister in San Antonio," Arthur ordered. "You and I are going to the quarry. It’s time to take the fight off our land."
