Chapter 11 - The Cost of Fighting Back
The bullet shattered the terminal but missed the hard drive beneath it. Claire tackled Richard before he could fire again. Nora kicked the pistol across the floor, and Nia kept recording until federal agents burst through the basement door.
Richard was arrested for attempted murder, arson, assault, and obstruction. The charges multiplied over the next week as investigators seized accounts, properties, and servers belonging to Carter Civic Development.
But David’s name appeared in every headline.
SENATOR’S SIGNATURE LINKED TO SECRET TARGETING PROGRAM.
POSSIBLE ROLE IN OVERSEAS BOMBING SCHEME.
David’s office denied wrongdoing. His opponents demanded his resignation. The Senate ethics committee opened an inquiry before the Justice Department had finished verifying the archive.
“They are treating the forged documents as if they are evidence of intent,” Nia said.
“Because my name is on them.”
“Your name is also on the papers requesting the investigation.”
“That does not matter to people who want a simple villain.”
David stood in a committee hallway surrounded by cameras. He had not slept more than three hours in four nights. Max was still at Lena’s clinic, recovering from smoke inhalation and a worsening heart condition.
A reporter shouted, “Senator, did your son die protecting an operation you helped create?”
David stopped.
The question hung in the marble corridor.
“My son died trying to expose a crime,” he said. “If my name was used to hide that crime, I will help uncover every person responsible, including anyone who benefited from my ignorance.”
That answer cost him politically. It also earned him a quiet nod from the committee chair.
The first real setback arrived that night.
Lena called from the clinic.
“Max collapsed,” she said.
David drove through a storm. When he reached the treatment room, Max lay beneath an oxygen hood with an IV in his leg. His eyes opened, but he did not lift his head.
“He had another arrhythmia,” Lena said. “His heart is failing.”
David sat beside the table and placed his hand near Max’s paw. “Can you save him?”
“I can keep treating him. I cannot promise how long.”
Max’s paw moved until it touched David’s wrist.
David bowed his head. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For dragging him into this.”
Lena looked toward the collar locked inside an evidence bag. “He was in it before you knew what it was. The only thing you can do now is stop letting other people decide what his life means.”
At dawn, federal agents came to the clinic with a warrant for the collar.
“The evidence belongs to the government,” Agent Samira Cole said.
David knew Cole from the Oak Creek investigation. She had refused to accept Richard’s first account of the sidewalk assault. Her eyes were tired, but direct.
“Max is a patient,” Lena said.
“We are not taking the dog. We are taking the collar.”
David signed the release.
Cole hesitated. “The archive has a missing segment.”
“What segment?”
“The authorization chain after Halpern.”
“Who had access?”
“Your office.”
David felt the floor shift beneath him.
Cole handed him a photograph of a security camera. It showed a woman entering his Senate office six months after Owen’s death.
The woman was Nora Vance.
“She removed a physical drive,” Cole said.
David looked through the glass at Max, who was breathing beneath the oxygen hood.
The one person who had warned him about the conspiracy had also taken evidence from his office.
May you like
Cole’s voice softened. “If Nora betrayed you, Senator, this case may be bigger than Richard Carter.”
Behind them, Max’s heart monitor began to alarm.
