Chapter 12 - The Midnight Deadline
“We need to get to the federal building right now,” I said, grabbing my jacket.
“We can’t just walk in,” Savannah warned, standing up and grabbing her phone. “If Bernice has judges and local precinct captains on her payroll, the moment we file a formal complaint locally, a warning flag goes up in her network. We need a direct, unmonitored digital tunnel to the U.S. Attorney’s office.”
“How do we get that?”
“Arthur Vance,” she said, naming the aging financial advisor I had visited earlier that morning. “Your father’s former partner has the federal clearance required to bypass local police routing.”
Within ten minutes, we were in an encrypted town car heading downtown through the rainy night streets. The rain beat a frantic rhythm against the windows as the towering glass facade of the federal district courthouse loomed ahead in the distance.
As we pulled up to the security gates, my phone rang.
It was an unknown, restricted caller ID.
May you like
I hesitated, then pressed accept.
“Christopher,” a sharp, cold voice whispered through the speaker. It wasn't Bernice. It was a man. “If you step foot inside that federal building with Margaret Vance’s digital testimony, your wife’s medical records—and the security clearance for her private trust funds—will be leaked to every tabloid in the country. Turn the car around.”
