“Good,” Albright said. “Colonel, Major, you will remain in this room.”

Two armed guards in dress uniforms stepped through the doorway, their brass buttons gleaming under the chandeliers.

They took positions on either side of Cole and Vanessa.

Vanessa’s hand trembled as she reached for her purse, but a guard intercepted her arm.

“Hands where we can see them, Major,” the guard said.

I pulled my coat tightly around my shoulders.

The heat in the room felt suffocating.

I needed to get back to my apartment.

If Cole knew about the digital logs, his associates did too.

The encrypted drives my father left behind were still hidden in the floorboards of my study.

I walked past Cole without looking at him.

“You won’t survive this, Eleanor,” he hissed as I reached the door.

I kept walking.

The ballroom outside was still loud, the sound of clinking glasses and laughter drifting through the heavy oak doors.

The civilian guests had no idea what had just transpired in the private suite.

I hurried down the carpeted corridor toward the side exit, my heels clicking softly against the marble tiles of the lobby.