Chapter 22 - The Trap Springs Shut
Commander Hayes stepped up to the open back of the transport truck, pulling a manifest from his coat pocket to inspect the crates. Gallo’s local foreman stood beside him, nervously wiping sweat from his forehead despite the chilly lake breeze.
"Everything’s there," the foreman muttered. "Exact count. Just like Voss's personal inventory."
"Voss won't even know it's missing until his next quarterly audit," Hayes replied with a cold, humorless laugh. "The old man is losing his grip."
"Is that a fact, Commander?"
The deep, resonant voice cut through the fog like a blade. Hayes froze, his hand dropping instinctively toward his holster.
From the shadows behind the gantry cranes, Adrian Voss stepped into the amber light, his pale gray eyes fixed entirely on Hayes. Behind him, Marcus and a dozen heavily armed elite operatives fanned out in a seamless tactical semicircle, blocking every exit from the yard.
Hayes's face drained of color, but he forced a tight, arrogant smile. "Voss. I heard you were hiding out in your suburban estate, nursing your wounds."
Adrian didn't say a word. He didn't have to. Instead, he slowly raised his right hand, making a single, sharp hand gesture—the universal sign to drop weapons.
Hayes’s men scrambled for their rifles, but they were too late. Marcus opened fire with a burst of suppressive fire into the asphalt, while Emma dropped from the gantry structure directly behind Hayes's sedan, cutting off their vehicle escape route.
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"Don't even think about it," Emma said, her suppressed sidearm leveled squarely at Hayes's chest.
Hayes slowly raised his hands, his eyes darting frantically between Adrian and Emma. The trap had snapped shut, and the Vanguard Syndicate had just walked right into the jaws of the beast.
