Chapter 17: The Federal Interrogation Room
The fluorescent lights of the federal holding facility buzzed with an irritating, high-pitched frequency that felt like a drill bit pressing directly into my skull.
I sat at a cold stainless-steel table in the center of the interrogation room, wearing a soft gray blanket draped over my shoulders.
Across from me sat Agent Vance, his shirt collar unbuttoned, dark circles staining the skin beneath his eyes.
The titanium flash drive sat squarely in the center of the table, connected via a secure, encrypted bridge to a portable federal mainframe.
"The upload protocol completed successfully three hours ago," Agent Vance said, his voice exhausted as he pushed a stack of printed financial reports across the table.
"Every major news outlet, international banking cartel, and regulatory commission across the globe has downloaded the archive. Ruiz Global Holdings’ stock has officially crashed to zero. Asset freezes have been enacted in forty-two countries."
"And Madame Ruiz?" I asked quietly, resting my hand gently over my swollen belly.
"Placed under house arrest at her private Swiss estate pending extradition," Vance replied, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"Interpol caught her trying to board a private flight to an unrecognised island nation just thirty minutes after the broadcast hit."
"What about Marcus?" Alejandro asked, standing by the mirrored observation window with his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes fixed on the door.
"Marcus vanished from the radar the moment that stealth chopper lifted off," Vance said grimly.
"Our radar logs show the aircraft didn't cross international borders. It landed at a classified private airstrip fifty miles north of here—a facility owned by a shell corporation that doesn't even exist in the Department of Defense database."
The door to the interrogation room slowly swung open.
A tall, silver-haired man in a crisp Department of Justice suit stepped inside, holding a thick, red-stamped manila folder.
He didn't look at Agent Vance.
He didn't look at Alejandro.
His eyes locked directly onto me.
"Mrs. Ruiz," the DOJ official said formally, placing the red-stamped folder down on the steel table right beside the flash drive.
"I am Assistant Attorney General Miller. First of all, let me congratulate you. The evidence you and your husband uncovered has dismantled one of the most powerful criminal cartels of the twenty-first century."
"Thank you," I said evenly, sensing the heavy, conditional pause in his voice. "Is there a 'but' coming, Mr. Miller?"
Assistant Attorney General Miller offered a tight, professional smile that didn't reach his eyes.
"The archive you uploaded contained hundreds of gigabytes of encrypted files, Mrs. Ruiz," Miller continued, opening the folder to reveal a single, high-resolution satellite photograph.
"Most of it was financial fraud and corporate corruption. But there was one sector—a heavily encrypted sub-folder labeled Project Genesis—that triggered an automatic national security lockdown from the Pentagon."
Alejandro instantly stepped away from the observation window, closing the distance to the table in two rapid strides.
"Project Genesis?" Alejandro demanded, his voice dropping into a dangerous register.
"What does a corporate corruption archive have to do with the Pentagon?"
Miller looked up slowly, meeting Alejandro’s fierce gaze with a calm, chilling seriousness.
"Project Genesis wasn't a corporate project, Captain Ruiz," Miller said softly.
"It was a joint bio-defense initiative funded by the federal government thirty years ago—and managed directly by Dr. Julian Vance and Madame Ruiz."
My breath caught in my throat.
"My... my father?" I whispered.
"He didn't just uncover illegal arms trades," Miller said, sliding the satellite photograph across the table toward us.
"He engineered the genetic lineage required to control it."
I looked down at the photograph.
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It wasn't a building or a bank account.
It was a blueprint of a sprawling, underground medical facility hidden deep beneath a remote mountain range—and stamped boldly across the top of the blueprint was the exact birth date of my unborn child.
