“FEDERAL INQUEST! REMAIN STATIONARY! SPREAD YOUR HANDS FLAT OVER THE BALCONY RAILING! DO NOT REACH FOR BRIEFING FOLDERS OR WEAPONS!”
CHAPTER 4: THE AUDIT OF THE EMBALMING BAY
Marisol Bromel let out an ear-piercing, animalistic shriek, backing away from the railing toward the executive bathroom:
*“THAD! CALL UNCLE ARTHUR! CALL THE SUPREME COURT! THEY ARE DESTROYING THE PARLOR!”*
*CLACK.*
Two SOG tactical operators moved up the grand staircase in fluid, synchronized, terrifying mechanical velocity:
Their gloved hands caught Marisol by her cashmere sweater and Talia Brennan by her silk collar, spun their frames one hundred and eighty degrees against the upper mahogany wainscoting with three hundred pounds of linear kinetic leverage, and snapped double-locking stainless-steel transport restraints around their wrists with two definitive, echoing cracks:
*SNAP-SNAP.*
Talia wept into the wood, her designer skirt tearing along the hem:
“I am an attorney! I have statutory immunity under client representation!”
“You have zero immunity under Title Eighteen, Section Twenty-Three-Eighty-One: Capital High Treason, Counselor,” United States Attorney Marcus Cooper rumbled as he ascended the stairs:
