Calder gestures toward the building. "Let's talk inside."
Harlow's already set up a portable table. Rhys stands near the entrance, watching the perimeter like a man who's lost too much to chance anything.
Calder doesn't waste time. "Show me."
I spread Emma's files across the table: printouts Harlow made from the digital copies. Her personal notes with coded annotations. Patient intake observations documenting patterns no one should miss. Injuries she'd catalogued consistent with prolonged abuse. Jackie Nielsen's testimony is queued up on my laptop, her voice ready to detail exactly what Lyle Haywood did.
Calder studies everything with precision, taking notes and asking questions as she cross-references dates against names. When Jackie's testimony plays, describing Haywood coachingher on what to say to other agents, how to keep the girls quiet, Calder's expression goes flat.
"How long have you suspected him?" I ask when the recording ends.
"Years." Calder closes one of Emma's files with careful control. "We've had suspicions. Tips that went nowhere. Complaints filed and then mysteriously withdrawn. Multiple Internal Affairs investigations."
"And?" Marc's voice is hard.
"Shut down. Every single one. Someone higher up the chain made them disappear." Calder looks up, meets my eyes. "Someone with enough authority that asking questions became a career-ender."
My stomach tightens. "How high?"
"High enough I couldn't get answers without painting a target on my back." She taps Emma's files. "Which is why this matters. This isn't anonymous tips or recanted complaints. This is documentation and testimony from a dead nurse who kept records Haywood couldn't destroy."
"There's more," Rhys says from the door. "Something Cara's been tracking. A pattern in how these investigations die."
Calder's attention sharpens. "What kind of pattern?"
"A code name that keeps surfacing: 'The Marshal.' Someone even higher than Haywood with enough reach to shut down federal investigations across multiple field offices."
Ice spreads through my veins.
"I've heard the name," Calder says carefully. "Whispers about cases that should have closed months ago but stay open because someone's redirecting resources. Trafficking rings that operate with impunity because local field offices get orders to stand down. Nothing concrete, nothing I can prove."
"But you believe it's real," Marc says.
"I believe there's someone protecting Haywood. Whether it's one person or a network, I don't know. But yes—I believe it's real."
Marc processes this, weighing what it means to go up against corruption that reaches higher than we imagined.
"What are our options?" I ask.
Calder's answer is blunt. "Two. I open a formal Internal Affairs case against Haywood. By-the-book investigation, proper channels, everything documented. It'll take time. Months, maybe longer. And the moment I file paperwork, Haywood knows. He'll have time to destroy evidence, intimidate witnesses, call in every favor from whoever's protecting him. Given the fabricated warrant he's already issued for your detention, Sela, he's clearly willing to use federal resources to silence you."
"What's option two?"
"I coordinate with DOJ's Public Corruption Unit. Bypass FBI internal politics entirely. They have authority to move fast: freeze assets, bring federal charges, execute warrants before Haywood knows we're coming. High risk, but if we move right, we can have him in custody before he can react."
Marc's jaw works. "If The Marshal is real and he has connections in DOJ?—"
"Then we're tipping our hand," Calder finishes. "Yes. But I know people in Public Corruption who are clean. People who've made careers out of burning dirty agents. If I bring them this evidence, they'll move."
"How fast?" I ask.
"Fast, if I call in the right favors."
I look at Marc. He's watching me, waiting, refusing to make this decision alone.
"Do it," I say. "Contact DOJ."
Calder's eyes narrow. "You understand what you're agreeing to? The moment we move, Haywood becomes even more dangerous. He won't just use legal channels. He'll use contractors, threats, everything at his disposal to silence you before DOJ can file charges."
