Chapter 17 - The World Watches in Silence
Claire reached over to the small military-grade laptop sitting on the corner of the table. Without breaking eye contact with Margaret, she pressed the spacebar.
The room filled with the crackle of static. Then, through the hiss of white noise, came the deafening sound of sustained machine-gun fire, mortar impacts, and men screaming in agony.
And then, a voice broke through.
Young. Terrified. Gasping for breath through a punctured lung.
*"Mayday, Mayday... this is Viper One-Actual... all radios offline... the MDS units are melting down... they fried the grid..."*
Margaret gasped, clutching her chest, her eyes wide with unadulterated horror. "Ethan..."
*"If anyone is hearing this..."* Ethan’s voice coughed violently, wet and ragged. *"Tell Claire... tell my sister... it wasn't her fault. She told them the gear wasn't ready. She warned the board. Mom... Mom knew. The serial numbers were flagged by Claire two months ago. Mom pushed them through anyway. Mom... why did you do this to us? Claire... forgive me. I love you—"*
The transmission abruptly ended in a deafening, thunderous roar of an explosion, followed by flat, empty static.
Claire hit the spacebar again. The silence returned, ten times heavier than before.
Margaret was shaking so hard she had to lean against the wall to keep from collapsing. Her knees buckled slightly. Tears—real, ugly, terrified tears—smeared the black mascara down her cheeks.
"No..." Margaret whimpered, shaking her head in frantic denial. "No, no, no... that's a fabrication. That's classified! Where did you get that?!"
"The Pentagon unsealed it ten minutes ago," Claire said coldly, picking up Ethan’s dog tags and sliding them into her dress pocket. "And at this very moment, Senator Vance is playing that exact audio file on the Senate floor."
Margaret’s head snapped up. Her breath caught in her throat. "What?"
Claire picked up the TV remote and turned on the wall-mounted screen.
On the screen, Senator Vance stood at the podium in the United States Senate chamber. His face was grim, his eyes burning with fury. Behind him, massive digital screens displayed Margaret Montgomery’s face, alongside the casualty list of Ethan’s platoon.
*“...Therefore,”* Senator Vance’s voice boomed through the speakers, *“the Department of Justice, in coordination with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has issued an immediate federal indictment for Margaret Montgomery on charges of corporate manslaughter, treasonous negligence, and defrauding the United States Armed Forces.”*
Before Margaret could even scream, the heavy door of the room burst open.
Four armed Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, flanked by base military police, flooded into the room.
May you like
"Margaret Montgomery," the lead special agent announced, unholstering a pair of steel handcuffs. "Keep your hands where we can see them. You are under arrest."
***
