Chapter 18
The Senator, a man with tired eyes and a perfectly tailored grey suit, looked at the papers we had spread across his desk.
“This is a massive diversion of federal funds,” Rachel said, pointing to the columns of numbers.
Senator Hayes adjusted his glasses, looking at the digital signatures that bore my name.
“I can offer you a secure room at the capitol, Claire,” he said, his voice quiet.
“I do not need a room, Senator,” I said. “I need the oversight committee to enforce the subpoenas.”
“We cannot do that,” Hayes said, leaning back in his leather chair.
I adjusted my glasses, looking for any sign of hesitation in his face. “Why not?”
“The Vance family lawyers filed an emergency injunction an hour ago,” Hayes said.
“A federal judge in Delaware signed the order, blocking every subpoena we issued for their internal corporate ledgers.”
The room went entirely silent, the only sound the low hum of the traffic on Constitution Avenue.
“That is a stall tactic,” Rachel said, her voice sharp. “We have the routing numbers right here.”
“A temporary injunction is still an injunction, Rachel,” Hayes said.
“They are buying time to clean the servers, and we cannot touch them until the Delaware court rules on the appeal.”
He looked at me with a steady, cautious gaze. “My advice to you, Claire, is to keep a low profile.”
“For how long?” I asked.
“Until the committee can clear the legal hurdles,” Hayes said. “Do not go near your agency office.”
I did not answer him.
We left the Dirksen building and walked back to the street, the autumn air cold against my face.
The thirty-eight-dollar parking fee at the federal courthouse was a small price for the silence we found in the garage.
We drove back to Rachel’s brick office building, neither of us speaking until we were inside.
Rachel rubbed her temples as she reviewed the financial documents on her mahogany table.
“Every single donor on the Vance Veteran Initiative list is a subsidiary of Vance Defense Solutions,” she said.
May you like
She laid out three separate corporate registration files, the paper crisp and new.
“They are donating to their own charity to wash the money they took from the defense contracts,” I said.
