Chapter 275: Mission Completed, Farewell to the Past
The assault team had just emerged from behind their marble cover when, before they could even squeeze off a single round, a cylindrical object clattered to the floor in front of them.
"BOOM!" Their final glimpse of the world was a wall of orange flame. Shrapnel-torn flesh and blood splattered across the ornate ballroom under the blast's concussive force—even the CIA commander caught fragments of his own men.
Iron Man looked up to see the oversized Doctor Strange giving a thumbs-up from the rooftop across Michigan Avenue.
YouTube viewers were simultaneously nauseated and electrified by the footage, their adrenaline pumping despite the gore. If there was one complaint, it was that the actor playing Doctor Strange was seriously overweight.
If this really was a Marvel trailer, they'd be flooding social media demanding a fitter actor. Sheldon had already called Marvel Studios three times to lodge his complaint.
Unfortunately, all the lines were busy.
Marvel's customer service was completely overwhelmed—calls, complaints, and inquiries all related to Marvel's mysterious new "Avengers" footage. Strangely, none of the representatives had any clue what trailer people were talking about.
Was this some elaborate viral marketing campaign?
That seemed to be the consensus among all Marvel customer service reps.
This bizarre situation naturally caught the attention of various federal intelligence agencies. The CIA Director himself spotted several of his own operatives in the livestream and immediately ordered YouTube to terminate the broadcast. However, thanks to some sophisticated cyber-warfare, Ron's stream not only stayed online but shot to the top of trending searches, drawing even more Marvel fanatics and action junkies.
The CIA commander, however, wasn't concerned with superhero movies—he was solely focused on protecting the Vice President under his watch.
The situation inside the ballroom was unclear, but presumably still secure. However, the entire building was under coordinated assault from above and below by these unidentified "domestic terrorists." Without immediate intervention, the hotel's fall was inevitable.
The commander grabbed his radio and desperately called over the tactical frequency: "I need immediate reinforcement at the main entrance! Deploy another team! Teams One and Eight, still in the ballroom, extract the VP through the service exit immediately! All other units, hold your positions and buy us time!"
Credit where due—the CIA commander was tactically sound. He immediately recognized Ron's diversionary strategy and stopped playing defense. Instead, he reinforced the decoy engagement while secretly evacuating his principal. From a strategic standpoint, the Agency was executing flawlessly.
But did he really think Ron was that amateur?
As the two CIA escort teams emerged from the ballroom with Vice President Robert, they were immediately met with a devastating crossfire from three HK MP5 submachine guns, instantly cutting the unsuspecting detail in half.
The dead CIA agents couldn't fathom, even in their final moments, how the "terrorists" had infiltrated the rear exit.
The ballroom's architecture connected the main lobby to the rooftop via two passenger elevators, one freight elevator, and an emergency stairwell. The service exit only connected to the ballroom itself—there was no way hostiles could have reached it without passing through the main hall. How had they managed it?
Unfortunately, that mystery would remain unsolved. Ron certainly wouldn't reveal that after linking up with the retired operatives on the roof, they hadn't regrouped as expected.
Instead, the old-timers continued posing as hotel staff, apparently being "pursued" by Ron's terrorist cell. They then followed other panicking employees throughout the building and slipped into the ballroom.
Before the agents inside could lock down the venue, they'd already exited through the service door.
The chaos was so intense that there was no time for security sweeps, allowing Frank's team to smuggle MP5s inside undetected, setting up the perfect ambush at the rear exit.
This tactical maneuver was textbook misdirection—make the fake look real and the real look fake.
The surviving CIA escort members were armed only with sidearms, and despite their training, they were systematically eliminated within seconds by the lethal trio of Frank, Marvin, and Joe—old partners whose teamwork was flawless.
Only Vice President Robert remained, standing there in stunned disbelief. "Who the hell are you people?"
As the three figures approached, Robert backed away in terror, step by step, until he was pressed against the wall. Under the emergency lighting, the three figures finally revealed their faces.
The three men who had just annihilated two full CIA teams were geriatric!
Frank spoke coldly: "We're the people you ordered executed."
"I have no idea what you're talking about!" Robert tried to deny everything, but Frank's emotionless response silenced him.
"Guatemala. 1991."
Robert's mouth opened, but no words came out.
"I was there," Marvin added simply.
Meanwhile, the livestream split-screen between Frank's bodycam and the rooftop interrogation, giving viewers a close-up of Vice President Robert while simultaneously broadcasting Dunning's confession under Tej's "encouragement."
The two men, unaware of each other's simultaneous revelations, engaged in a virtual confrontation that sent shockwaves through America.
Nobody could have imagined that Robert Stanton—rising political star with a sterling reputation and potential presidential timber—harbored such a dark past.
This wasn't some minor scandal. Compared to Robert's crimes, previous presidential controversies were parking tickets!
This was genocide! The kind of war crimes only associated with history's worst dictators! What kind of monster had they elevated to the Vice Presidency? Where was America headed with such a man potentially one heartbeat away from ultimate power?
Consequently, the current president—who had selected Robert as his running mate—saw his own reputation crater in real-time.
Even if he claimed ignorance, he couldn't escape charges of criminal negligence in vetting. At that very moment, only Francis sat in his Georgetown study, watching the livestream and laughing with pure joy. With Robert's political destruction, he'd eliminated his strongest rival.
After receiving Frank's signal, Ron issued the withdrawal order. The assault teams on all floors simultaneously deployed smoke grenades and dropped several frag grenades with delayed fuses.
After neutralizing several agents brave enough to pursue through the smoke, the teams vanished like ghosts.
If the CIA commander had studied American literature, he'd definitely recall Emerson's classic line: "When the deed is done, I fade away, my work and glory hidden."
(End of chapter)
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