Chapter 5 - THE CROWN HID THE TRUTHBriggs did.
At the emergency hearing the following morning, he admitted everything.
The harassment.
The illegal strikes.
The humiliation.
His cooperation with Vale.
No excuses.
When investigators asked why he had done it, Briggs answered simply.
“Because I was weak.”
Then came the surprise.
Before being kidnapped, Briggs had copied Vale’s files.
He had hidden the microdrive somewhere nobody would search.
Inside the ridiculous pink tiara left in Avery’s locker.
Investigators recovered it.
The drive contained payments, military routes, weapons transfers, aliases, and assassination records.
One folder was labeled:
MITCHELL / RED WITNESS.
Avery opened it.
Another name appeared.
ADMIRAL THOMAS MITCHELL.
Her father.
Dead for six years.
Except the final line said:
ALIVE — PROTECTED ASSET.
For Avery, the room disappeared.
May you like
Her father had never died.
Someone had simply needed the world to believe he had.
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