And the Colonel had signed off on the falsified safety reports to protect his promotion.

Suddenly, the landline phone on my desk rang, the sharp sound making me jump.

I hesitated, then picked up the receiver.

“Grace Mercer,” I said.

“You need to leave the building,” a voice said.

It was a woman’s voice, low and urgent, but I didn’t recognize it.

“Who is this?” I asked.

“They know you downloaded the files from the proxy server,” she said. “The defense firm has a court order being signed right now to seize your hard drives under national security protocols.”

“On what grounds?” I demanded. “These are evidence of a federal crime.”

“They are using the fake security breach on Aaron,” the caller said. “They are claiming you are in possession of stolen classified material received from a hostile actor.”

“This is Grace Mercer, I am an officer of the court—”

“They don’t care, Grace. They will have federal marshals at your door in thirty minutes.”

The line went dead.

I stared at the receiver, then slammed it down.