“The foyer ambush on Parcel Nine was terminated four hours ago.”
“The communications logs have been decrypted by naval intelligence.”
“The sixty billion dollars in diverted defense reserves was frozen in Zurich.”
“The five hundred dollars your nephew threw at my feet has been logged as capital felony evidence under Title Eighteen.”
“And I came to Washington to return your family’s conveyance petition.”
CHAPTER 9: THE AUDIT ON THE BLACK GRANITE
I walked down the twenty-foot center aisle of the West Conference Room.
My leather boots left dark, geometric tread marks across the greenstone floorboards:
*crunch… tack… crunch.*
Barnaby walked beside me, his paws striking the stone in synchronized cadence.
Admiral Mercer walked on my right flank, his father’s chronometer watch ticking steadily on my wrist:
*tack… tack… tack.*
