Chapter 6 - THE BAITThe holding cell at the Fort Meade Federal Facility was freezing, lit only by a single, buzzing fluorescent tube overhead.
The heavy steel door unlocked with a loud clack, and the pneumatic latch hissed open. I stepped inside, closing the door behind me with a deliberate, echoing thud.
Ryan was huddled in the corner of the metal bunk, shivering in his tailored suit. His tie was gone, his shirt collar was unbuttoned, and the arrogant, smug expression he used to wear around our house was entirely gone, replaced by the hollow, watery eyes of a cornered rat.
He looked up as I approached.
"Valerie..." he whimpered, scrambling backward until his spine hit the cold concrete wall. "Please... I’m sorry. Mom made me do it. She told me we were going to be rich—that we’d never have to worry about money again. I didn't want to hurt you—"
"Save the performance, Ryan," I said, standing over him with my arms folded across my chest. "You didn't just want to hurt me; you wanted to destroy my career, strip my pension, and sell classified military intelligence to a convicted felon living in Geneva."
Ryan swallowed hard, his throat working convulsively. "What... what happens to me now?"
"Military tribunal," I said flatly. "Treason, espionage, wire fraud, conspiracy, and impersonation of a medical officer. Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, aiding an enemy entity during an active national security operation carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment without parole. Or worse."
Ryan let out a shrill, hysterical gasp, throwing himself forward onto his knees and grabbing the hem of my trousers.
"No! No, please! You can’t let them do that to me! I’m your husband! We were married in a church! We took vows!"
I looked down at him with absolute, freezing detachment. I reached down, grabbed him by the expensive lapels of his suit jacket, and hauled him up to eye level, forcing him to look directly into my eyes.
"You gave up your right to invoke our marriage the moment you let your mother hold the clippers to my head," I whispered, my voice dropping to a dangerous, icy register. "You want to live? You want to avoid spending the next thirty years eating cold porridge in a maximum-security military prison in Leavenworth?"
Ryan nodded frantically, tears streaming down his hollow cheeks. "Yes! Yes! I'll do anything! Anything you want!"
"Good," I said, releasing him so hard he stumbled back against the bunk. "Because you are going to pick up your burner phone, call Julian Sterling’s handler in Geneva, and tell him that the security pass renewal form has been successfully signed, sealed, and delivered."
Ryan stared at me in horror. "You... you want me to keep talking to them?"
"I want you to walk right into the trap we’re setting for them," I said, pulling a small, encrypted recording device from my pocket and placing it on the cold steel table. "You’re going to tell them that the Colonel is fully incapacitated, that her mental breakdown is all over the local news, and that you’re ready to upload the final operational schematics of the Strategic Intelligence Command to their secure server tonight at midnight."
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"And if I refuse?" Ryan whispered, trembling uncontrollably.
"Then I walk out that door, hand this file to General Sterling, and let the military prosecutors throw away the key before dinner," I replied, turning toward the heavy steel exit. "You have thirty seconds to decide whether your mother’s obedience lessons are worth spending the rest of your life behind bars."
