Chapter 8 - Shadows in the Terminal
-1040-
The fallout of the Voss collapse sent shockwaves through international shipping lanes, but the domestic investigation was far from over.
Two days after the raid, Commander Vance briefed me in my temporary command office set up inside the Seattle naval base. The room was dominated by massive digital displays showing real-time satellite tracking of cargo vessels across the Pacific basin.
"Admiral, we have a complication," Vance said, tapping a red-flagged data point on the main tactical map.
I turned away from the window, walking over to the console. "What kind of complication?"
"One of the primary container ships registered under a Voss subsidiary—the Voss Enterprise—refused to dock at the Port of Tacoma as ordered," Vance explained, bringing up the vessel's transponder log. "Instead, it altered its course mid-ocean, turned off its AIS transponder, and is currently idling in international waters about forty miles off the coast of Vancouver Island."
My eyes narrowed. "Who's the captain?"
"A man named Marcus Vance—no relation to me," Vance said grimly. "And according to our intelligence files, he isn't just a commercial shipping captain. He was a disgraced former lieutenant commander in naval logistics who dishonorably discharged ten years ago. Right around the time Conrad Voss started expanding his clandestine logistics network."
"He's carrying something Conrad didn't want the feds to find," I stated flatly.
"Exactly, ma'am," Vance replied. "Classified cargo manifests indicate there's a secondary payload on board—not guidance chips, but physical hardware related to an experimental submarine acoustic dampening system stolen from a naval research lab in San Diego six months ago."
This wasn't just corporate corruption anymore. This was active military espionage at sea.
"If that container ship reaches foreign territorial waters, we lose the hardware, and the state-sponsored buyers vanish," I said, walking to the master communications desk. "We can't let that happen."
May you like
"What are your orders, Admiral?" Vance asked, his posture stiffening.
"Order a Coast Guard cutter to intercept and deploy a boarding team immediately," I commanded, my voice ringing with absolute authority. "And scramble a helicopter detachment from Whidbey Island. I'm taking personal command of this interdiction."
