Twenty-eight days after the coffee shop reconciliation, Ral stood outside the International Criminal Court in The Hague with Louis beside him and Vincent providing moral support from his wheelchair. The European tribunal had moved with unprecedented speed, motivated by the scope of Marcus Anderson's testimony and the international attention the case had generated."You do not have to do this," Louis said for the third time that morning. "Your written statement would be sufficient.""I need to face him," Ral replied, adjusting the tie that felt like a noose around his neck. "Not for revenge. For closure. There is a difference."Vincent wheeled closer with the blunt honesty that eighteen years of friendship had earned him. "Boss, closure is therapist talk for getting the last word. If that is what you need, I support it. Just do not pretend this is about healing when it is about confrontation."The accuracy of Vincent's assessment was irritating, but Ral had committed to honesty above a

The brick crashed through their apartment window at two in the morning, sending glass exploding across the bedroom floor. Ral was out of bed and moving before Louis could process what had happened, his body reverting to prison survival instincts despite six months of therapy."Stay down!" he commanded, positioning himself between her and the broken window while scanning for additional threats.Wrapped around the brick was a note written in block letters: "MARCUS SENDS HIS REGARDS. YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM US. NOW WE TAKE EVERYTHING FROM YOU."Louis crawled across the floor to her phone, calling 911 with hands that trembled despite her attempt at composure. "Someone just attacked our apartment. Yes, we are both unharmed. No, they are gone."Ral examined the note with the cold detachment he had hoped to leave behind. Marcus was imprisoned at The Hague, but his network was still operational. The hundreds of indictments had created desperate people who blamed Ral for their exposure and wa

Forty-eight hours into their seventy-two-hour window, Louis sat in a secure conference room with representatives from The New York Times, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, and twelve other international publications. Her laptop displayed the coordinated publication schedule that would go live simultaneously across four continents in exactly eighteen hours."This is the most comprehensive exposure of intelligence corruption in modern history," said Marcus Chen, the Times' investigative editor. "But you understand that the moment we publish, you become the most wanted person in America by some very dangerous people?""I understand," Louis replied with a calmness she did not entirely feel. "Which is why we have arranged protective custody through Interpol and the International Criminal Court. The moment publication goes live, key witnesses including myself will be transferred to secure facilities in Europe."Rebecca Anderson-Sterling addressed the room from her position beside Louis, her founda

Two hours before publication, while James Anderson lay in surgery fighting for his life, Tony Martinez discovered something that made his face go pale under the command center's fluorescent lighting."Boss, we have a massive problem," Tony said, his fingers flying across keyboards with increasing urgency. "Someone has been accessing our secure servers for the past eighteen hours. They have copies of everything we planned to publish."Ral moved to Tony's station, reading the access logs with growing dread. "How is that possible? We had military-grade encryption and multiple redundancy protocols.""Because the breach did not come from outside," Tony replied grimly. "It came from inside. Someone with authorized access has been feeding information directly to the network we are trying to expose."Vincent wheeled closer with his weapon suddenly visible in his lap. "Who had authorized access to the secure servers?"Tony pulled up user logs showing every person who had touched the publicatio

Ral looked directly into the camera lens, aware that millions were already watching the unauthorized broadcast spreading across social media platforms faster than any network could suppress it. Behind him, Tony monitored viewer numbers that were climbing exponentially while Vincent coordinated with Marcus Webb's infiltration team at The Hague."My name is Ral Anderson, and I need to tell you about a murder that never happened, a conviction that was a lie, and a war that should have ended fifteen years ago," Ral began, his voice steady despite exhaustion and grief. "Seventeen years ago, I was convicted of killing my parents, James and Catherine Anderson, in their family estate. The evidence was overwhelming, the jury unanimous, and I was sentenced to life in prison."Louis monitored comment sections where reactions were already forming. Half the viewers were skeptical, dismissing this as exactly the conspiracy theory Sarah Mitchell had warned them about. The other half were genuinely l