KEY IDENTIFIER: MERCER-ARTHUR-010
CLASSIFICATION: STRATEGIC SOVEREIGN ESCROW // TITLE 50 CONTINUITY
TITLE: CONDUIT TEN // THE CAPITAL COMMAND SPUR
SLIP.
I laid the heavy titanium key flat across the nape of Marcus Hale’s neck:
TINK.
“I called you nine times from our bathroom floor four hours ago, Marcus,” Chancellor Natalie Eleanor Mercer whispered softly.
My voice had no trembling wife's hesitation left.
It carried forty decibels of compressed, sub-zero polar diamond that made the falling rain itself seem to freeze in mid-air:
“I told you I was bleeding. I told you I was losing our baby.”
“And you told me you needed another two hours before coming home.”
I leaned down until my clear dark hazel eyes filled my former husband's entire field of vision:
“You were right about one thing, Marcus.”
“Your time was worth millions.”
“The audit is complete.”
“And that little four-million-dollar diamond ring you put on Vivian's finger tonight...”
