Beyond it, the faint sound of the brass band in the ballroom could still be heard.

“She’s out there,” Michael said. “She thinks we’re just talking.”

“She thinks she’s won,” I said.

Drummond moved his hand back to the tablet.

“There is another matter,” the General said.

He looked at me, his eyes grave.

“Your team in cybersecurity managed to unseal a secondary set of archives from the Virginia State Police database,” Drummond said.

I felt my breath catch.

“The accident report?” I asked.

“Yes,” Drummond said. “And the insurance fraud investigation that followed.”

Michael looked between us, confused.

“What accident? Dad’s car crash?” he asked.

“The official report said it was brake failure on a wet road,” I said.

“That is what the public record says,” Drummond agreed. “But the unsealed files show something else entirely.”

He tapped a command on the tablet.

A transfer screen appeared, showing a file queue labeled ‘EXHIBIT D – RECONSTRUCTED CRASH DATA.’

“The system is linked to the main projector in the ballroom,” Drummond said.

“Why would that be on the ballroom projector?” Michael asked, panic rising in his voice.