“Do it,” said Hiro.AJ hit the call button and heard a soft hello.
“Please don’t hang up, Marilyn.I’m with Legacy Security”
“I know who you are.Leave me alone.My father is the guilty one in this.He killed my mother, he bribed me to stay and do these things for him, with him.It’s all him!”
“We both know that’s not the entire truth.Cain is not innocent but he didn’t kill your mother.”
“Wh-what?What are you talking about?I know he did!”
“Listen, Marilyn.His wife killed Ellen.Your mother tried to speak with her about asking for a loan to buy a house, for you.She got angry and told her no, then told her to meet with her at the park on the river.That’s where she killed your mother.Not Cain.He might have known about it but he didn’t pull the trigger.”
There was silence and they wondered if she’d disconnected but they could hear the sounds of the car moving, then suddenly, silence.
“Marilyn?”
“I’m here,”she said softly.“He’s responsible for all of this.I was doing what he asked me to do.I was proving that our government is inept, unable to control the downfall happening around them.I built this system. I did this!”
“And it’s genius,” said AJ.“I mean that sincerely.My friends and I built the system that stopped yours.We should know.Your work was good but not for good.Those things never end well.Turn around, Marilyn.Turn around and testify to what your father did and the courts will take that into consideration.”
Again they were met with silence.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that.He has to pay.”
The line went dead and then the computer disappeared from AJ’s screen.
“Get her back,” said Ben.
“I’m working on it.Drive.Drive back to D.C.,” he told them.
“AJ?Back to D.C.?Why?” asked Kiel.
“Because she’s going to kill her father.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Marilyn removed the hard drive to her computer and tossed the rest of it out the window on the side of the interstate.If she could salvage the hard drive and what was on it, she’d be able to start again.
If not, she’d recreate it all.
Turning on the radio, she turned to the all-news station, listening for updates on the arrest of her father.He would be held in federal protection, probably without bail at this point.
“In other news today, Senator Cain Hampton will be formally charged in federal court later this morning.The hearing, set for 11:30 a.m., will simply be to assess the charges and hear his plea.This will be a long process and likely to have others fall with him.”
“11:30,” she repeated to herself.“I should be able to get there just in time.”
Knowing that she needed to stay under the speed limit, she drove carefully and casually back towards D.C.One thing Cain had been right about, was the tenacity and skill of the Legacy team.Whoever was handling their tech truly understood their world.
Connecting to a laptop virtually, that you had no business or personal connection to, wasn’t child’s play.It was difficult and required extreme skill.For that alone she would respect them.But respect didn’t matter at this point.She needed to keep them away just long enough for her to do what needed to be done.
She made several phones calls, hoping that people wouldn’t think she was crazy.On her second laptop, she downloaded the zip files of communication she’d kept over the years from Cain.They would see everything.As she pulled into the parking spot across from the federal building, she hit send.And waited.
After parking in the underground garage, the team made their way to the floor where Cain’s hearing was being held.Ben and Kiel spoke with the Marshalls, trying to convince them to take him out a different way, but they wouldn’t listen.
“They don’t give a shit, brother.They could care less if this guy dies.Either that, or they think his daughter isn’t capable of killing him,” said Ben.
“Either way, let’s watch and follow them out,” said Tanner.
Cain pled not-guilty as they expected, in spite of the mounds of evidence the courts cited.For fear of running, he was held without bail for the time being.When the courts notified him that his wife was found dead earlier that morning, he said nothing, just staring straight ahead.
