Chapter 10 - The Last Order
Barrett fired again.
Alejandro pulled Samuel behind the headstone.
Elena ran.
Sofia returned fire from the tree line.
Daniel, still weak, helped Elena reach cover.
Barrett disappeared.
Samuel was bleeding heavily.
Alejandro pressed his hands against the wound.
“Stay awake.”
Samuel laughed weakly.
“You always were bossy.”
“Shut up.”
“Alejandro.”
“No.”
“Listen.”
Samuel grabbed his wrist.
“Atlas has a command center beneath Meridian headquarters.”
Daniel heard him.
“I know the building.”
Samuel coughed.
“Barrett will go there.”
“Why?”
“To erase the network and rebuild it under himself.”
Samuel handed Alejandro a small metal key.
“Stop him.”
Samuel survived long enough for paramedics to arrive.
His condition remained critical.
Alejandro had no time to wait.
They entered Meridian headquarters that night.
Daniel guided them through security.
Sofia disabled surveillance.
Marcus coordinated arrests nationwide as Maria's filtered archive began transmitting.
Names appeared.
Officials arrested.
Accounts frozen.
Facilities raided.
Atlas was collapsing.
But Barrett reached the command center first.
He locked Elena inside with him.
Alejandro arrived seconds later.
Through reinforced glass, Barrett held a gun against Elena.
“General.”
Alejandro raised his hands.
“Let her go.”
Barrett smiled.
“You sacrificed soldiers for your country. Surely you can sacrifice one more person.”
Alejandro's voice remained calm.
“She isn't a soldier.”
“No.”
Barrett looked at Elena.
“She's the key.”
He demanded the shutdown code.
Alejandro refused.
Barrett pressed the weapon closer.
Then Elena smiled.
Barrett frowned.
“What?”
“You still don't understand my mother.”
The monitors changed.
UPLOAD COMPLETE.
100%.
Maria had designed the system so once initiated, it could not be stopped.
Atlas's entire criminal network had just been transmitted to investigators around the world.
Barrett stared at the screens.
“No.”
Elena drove her elbow backward.
Daniel opened the emergency lock.
Alejandro entered.
Barrett fired.
Missed.
Alejandro tackled him.
Years of anger exploded into one moment.
He could have killed Barrett.
He wanted to.
Then Elena spoke.
“Dad.”
Alejandro stopped.
He remembered what he had told Sofia.
Don't give him the easy ending.
Alejandro stepped away.
Federal agents entered.
Barrett was arrested.
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And by sunrise, Atlas no longer existed in the shadows.
It existed on every major investigator's desk in the country.
