Were eight armed tactical operators from the **United States Marshals Service // Special Operations Group**, their suppressed carbines held at high-ready retention, their Level IV ceramic torso plates bearing the gold lettering:
**USMS // SPECIAL ASSET ENFORCEMENT**
And walking between them, wearing an un-ironed dark-charcoal trench coat over an un-buttoned civilian suit, carrying an unsealed, red-labeled legal folio bound in dark-blue calfskin…
Was **Detective Sergeant Marcus Vance**.
The Colorado State Trooper who had handed me the defibrillator pads on the gravel of Route 6 three hours ago.
Except Marcus Vance was no longer wearing his state patrol uniform.
Pinned to the lapel of his civilian coat was the gold five-pointed star of the **United States Department of Justice // Criminal Division Special Task Force**.
Marcus stepped into the boardroom.
He did not look at Nick.
