“Mister Speaker, what do you have to say after seeing the footage Donatello Moretti has released.”
“No comment at this time. Congress needs to work together to figure out what’s going on,” he said.
Another reporter chimed in. “So, you’re saying the entire United States government took the word of an unregulated and unchecked organization? You realize that this may be grounds for a human rights violation. Every member of Congress who voted in favor of the collection facilities may have to answer for crimes against humanity at a U.N. tribunal.”
The speaker of the House’s face went deathly pale as though he’d only now thought about the deep shit that he and the rest of Congress were in. “Uh… no comment. No comment. Out of the way.”
“This is amazing,” Diego said as he laughed and changed the channel.
Another report showed a man sitting across from a reporter. The reporter gestured to her guest. “We have here retired Attorney General Anthony Yates. Mr. Yates, what is the fallout of these allegations against the Monroe Group?”
Yates sighed and shook his head. “This is unprecedented, as you know. If these videos are authenticated, then we have a huge mess on our hands. Viola Monroe, as the chief executive officer, chairman of the board, and majority owner, will, of course, be the main target of not only the FBI but also Homeland Security, as well as Interpol, if I had to guess. If the rot in the companygoes all the way through, we will see prison sentences handed out like candy. The president may take steps to bend some anti-trust laws to fully dissolve the foundation. This is bad. I can’t even think of anything in history that compares. We are in uncharted waters.”
My family and friends continued to watch the news, and they celebrated—as well they should. I couldn’t fully join in their happiness. I was the alpha. I had to live in the future as well as the present. If I knew anything about Viola, then I knew that this wasn’t the end. Even if she was going down, she’d do everything in her power to take us with her. She was going to strike back. I understood as well as anyone what an animal was like when it was backed into a corner. She was going to be even more dangerous than she’d been before this. We had to be ready for that.
108
MADDY
The news reports that followed were chaotic, to say the least. We all stayed up late into the night, watching. All the media outlets who’d been ready to condemn all of shifter-kind were now back-peddling so fast that I couldn’t help but laugh at them. Apparently, online message boards were lighting up with people coming out in support of us. The few words of dissent that were still demanding we be locked up were quickly shouted down.
One overarching question kept popping up on every blog, newscast, and article. Where was Viola Monroe? Felipe had checked the stock exchange the following day, and the shares for The Monroe Group and all their known subsidiaries were crashing. It seemed that no one wanted to be associated with the foundation anymore. There was even word that South Korea and Australia were cutting ties with massive multi-billion-dollar national medical facility contracts they’d signed with Viola’s company. This was better than anything we could have done alone. She was literally hemorrhaging money.
Nico, Abi, Gabriella, Sinthy, and I were in the living room the morning after Donatello’s bombshell interview, watchingthe disaster play out on TV. The chairman of the House ethics committee of Congress was being interviewed on a national morning news show. I smiled from ear to ear as I watched him squirm.
“Listen, Janet,” he said to the host. “The Monroe Group has hidden these activities. I can assure you that no member of Congress ever had an inkling that these things were happening.”
The host leaned forward, giving him a disbelieving look. “Mister Chairman, you’re telling me that the multi-trillion-dollar United States government, the most powerful country in the world, was tricked by a company with less than one percent of the budget of just the armed services?”
The chairman’s face went red with embarrassment. “You have to understand that’s still a lot of money. Billions and billions of dollars to line pockets, bribe, and cover up?—”
“No one in Congress ever questioned their findings on the shifter virus, though. Who was in charge of oversight? The CDC?”
“We… um… what we really need to do is focus on helping the shifters who have been displaced, as well as bring murder charges on Viola Monroe for the deaths of the poor people affected by this sham crisis.”
“And what about civil suits the families might decide to bring against Congress? You were, whether you want to admit it or not, complicit in this hoax.”
The congressman pulled his microphone off his lapel and stood. “We’re done here. I have more important things to do. Thanks for your time.”
“This is amazing,” Sinthy said as she stared at the screen.
Nico was looking at his phone and suddenly looked up to point at the TV. “Go to channel thirty-three. Hurry.”
Abi clicked the remote and brought up the channel. On the screen, we saw dozen news vans and at least twodozen reporters, cameramen, and boom mic operators standing outside some kind of facility. Nico nodded. “Looks like Donatello leaked the location of the shifter research facility to the news outlets before he disappeared. This is the place where they were testing the poison.”
On screen, we watched as the group of reporters banged on the doors, calling out for anyone to come out and answer questions. Eventually, one of the cameramen tried the door and found it unlocked. The mass of media members streamed into the building and started rushing down the halls, looking for something that would get their networks the ratings they were desperate for.
All they found in the entire building were a few emaciated and dead shifters in cells. The whole place was deserted, and every computer looked like it had been destroyed in haste. Massive degaussing magnets lay strewn about where they’d erased the hard drives. No other evidence was found.
After the images of the dead shifters spread, the alliance groups became even more outraged and were calling for the arrest of every member of the board of The Monroe Group, all their employees, and of course, Viola herself. The problem was—no one could find her. The closest they came was when one of Viola’s cousins, a low-level executive within the royal organization, was arrested on the beaches of Jamaica. He’d been unaware of the chaos erupting around their little game and got caught with his pants down. Literally, since he was taken into custody on a nude beach. Most of his body had been blurred out on the news report.
Videos from the BBC showed Interpol raiding the castle in Germany where Gabriella and I had been held. They found the underground cells there. It was the same as the American facility. All their proof had been erased, and it was like a ghost town. Not a soul in sight anywhere. Viola was the most wantedperson on the planet, but it was like she’d vanished into thin air. I had no idea what she was doing for money since every account she had was now frozen. Even the Swiss National Bank had frozen all accounts associated with anything having to do with the royals.
After that first twelve hours of furious reporting and interviews, things settled into a long-term investigation. We all tried our best to live our lives while we waited for word about Viola. None of us really believed we could fully relax until she was caught. We ventured out to town a few times, and for the most part, we were met with downcast eyes and ashamed looks. It seemed most members of the community were embarrassed that they’d fallen for the hoax. There were still a few who gave us dirty looks as we shopped, but those people had probably been bigots before all this went down and were now upset that we weren’t being locked up.
As for the poison crisis, the president addressed the nation and informed the public that any shifter who thought they or a pack member had been a victim of the poison should go to a special poison control center where they could be evaluated and treated until an antidote could be found. All medical bills related to the poison would be covered by the government. He’d gone on to say that everyone needed to be aware of how serious this poison was and that we all had to be vigilant in case any rogue members of The Monroe Group decided to inject more victims.
The state of emergency had been lifted, which really didn’t sit well with the anti-shifter movement. They were raising hell left and right, but the more information that came out, the smaller and less vocal their groups became. Especially after three independent computer labs confirmed that Donatello’s videos were authentic. There would always be people who would continue to believe crazy and outlandish theories. It was strange because what we were witnessing was exactly whatconspiracy theorists always claimed—a dark underground cabal of billionaires pulling strings and trying to change the world for their own gain. I guess they weren’t happy because the villain in this story was actually pushing an agenda they agreed with.
