Chapter 11 - The Informant Margaret Needed to Silence.
.Victor Saye had spent seven years being described as a fugitive because that fiction had protected him from the people he exposed.
Admiral Mercer explained only what the new authorization allowed.
Saye had discovered that a private logistics network was selling access to sensitive movement schedules.
He agreed to cooperate with investigators.
Operation Lantern was built around extracting records and protecting witnesses before the compromised network could identify them.
Ava had been part of the security and investigative team.
Margaret's business interests appeared in the financial trail, but at the time there had not been enough admissible evidence to charge her or anyone in the Bellamy family.
The investigation remained open.
The courtroom listened in stunned silence.
Daniel asked whether Saye's relationship with Ava had been adversarial.
Mercer answered carefully.
"At first, yes."
"And later?"
"He became a protected source."
That explained the marina photograph.
Owen had not secretly met a criminal.
He had met a protected source who believed the old financial network had become active again.
Margaret stared at the defense table.
"This is absurd."
The judge warned her to remain silent.
Mercer continued.
Owen contacted federal authorities shortly before his death, but he had not lived long enough to complete a formal statement.
His death was still medically classified as natural.
Nothing presented in court changed that.
But the financial documents he preserved had become important evidence in a reopened inquiry.
Daniel asked the question Margaret feared most.
"Why would anyone want Lieutenant Commander Monroe's classified citation?"
Mercer looked at the medal case.
"Because older classified citations often include internal reference numbers."
Ava closed her eyes briefly.
She understood.
The number beneath the center medal could lead an insider to the archived personnel index for Lantern.
Margaret had not wanted proof that Ava served.
She wanted the map hidden behind that proof.
Daniel turned to Margaret.
"You sued her so she would have to bring the medals into court."
Margaret's attorney objected.
The judge sustained the objection because Daniel was testifying instead of questioning.
But Margaret's reaction answered the room anyway.
She looked toward the display case with naked desperation.
Mercer added one final fact.
The archived index had been accessed recently using Harold Crane's retired credentials.
The access occurred the same day Margaret's private research firm paid him.
Franklin Pike, now seated in the gallery under subpoena, covered his face with one hand.
His former client had used his law firm to create a discovery process aimed at protected material.
The court broke for recess.
Outside the jury's presence, Margaret demanded immunity before answering further questions.
The judge reminded her that this was not a criminal court and she could invoke applicable rights if advised by counsel.
Margaret looked suddenly smaller.
Ava stood near the window with Admiral Mercer.
"Sir, why did authorization take so long?"
Mercer's jaw tightened.
"Because Crane was not the only compromised access point."
Ava turned.
"Who else?"
Mercer handed her a sealed page.
Ava read the name and felt the air leave her lungs.
The second access point belonged to someone Owen had trusted completely.
His financial manager.
Caleb Ross.
May you like
The man currently serving as executor of Owen's estate.
And the man who would control the Bellamy trust if both Ava and Margaret were disqualified.
