Chapter 4 - THE SYSTEM STRIKES BACKBy the time I reached Mercy General, two state trooper vehicles and a dark tinted SUV were parked right in front of the emergency entrance.
I bypassed the front desk and walked straight into Lily's room.
Standing around her bed were three men in suits, Chief of Campus Police Miller, and a sharp-featured woman in a navy trench coat—Senator Evelyn Hale herself.
Lily was crying quietly, her hands trembling as she clutched the thin hospital blanket.
"What is the meaning of this?" I demanded, my voice cutting through the room like a blade.
Senator Hale turned around, evaluating me with icy condescension. "Mr. Walker, I presume? I am Senator Evelyn Hale. We are here to handle an unfortunate misunderstanding involving your daughter."
"Misunderstanding?" I walked over and stood directly between them and Lily's bed. "She has six fractures in her jaw, a concussion, and internal bleeding."
"She was involved in a drunken altercation at an off-campus party," Chief Miller interrupted, stepping forward with his hand resting on his holster. "We have statements from several witnesses claiming your daughter initiated a physical dispute with several students. Due to the high-profile nature of the individuals involved, we are taking her into protective custody for questioning."
They weren't just covering it up. They were framing her.
"She can't speak," I said, my voice dangerously calm. "Her jaw is wired shut."
"She can write," Senator Hale said coldly. "And she will sign a statement agreeing that this was a mutual conflict, or she will be charged with aggravated assault and felony defamation against my son and his peers."
She leaned in, lowering her voice so only I could hear.
"Listen to me, Mr. Walker. You are a low-level shopkeeper. I control the state judicial committee. My friends run the police union. If you fight this, your daughter will spend her twenties in a women's correctional facility. Take the five hundred thousand dollars my lawyer has waiting in the hallway, take your daughter, and leave this state."
I looked at the Senator. Then I looked at Chief Miller.
"Chief," I said. "How long have you been on Senator Hale's payroll?"
Miller’s face flushed red. "Excuse me?!"
"I'm just curious," I pulled out my phone, pressing a single key. "Leo, stream it."
Suddenly, the large monitor on the wall—the one meant to display patient vitals—flickered. The screen shifted from heart rates to a crystal-clear audio-video feed.
It was an audio recording from twenty minutes ago, playing loudly through the room's speakers:
“Make sure the father signs the NDA,” Senator Hale’s voice echoed clearly from the monitor speakers. “If the girl complains, have Miller plant the cocaine in her dorm room. I won't let a nobody ruin Brandon’s Harvard application.”
Senator Hale’s breath hitched. She went dead pale. "Where... where did you get that?!"
"That's not all," I said.
The monitor shifted again. Now it showed real-time financial tracking documents.
"Chief Miller," I said, reading off the screen. "An offshore account in the Cayman Islands under your wife's maiden name just received a transfer of forty thousand dollars at 1:15 AM. Unfortunately for you, that account was just seized by the International Financial Crimes Enforcement Network."
Miller backed away, his hand falling off his gun. "What... who are you?"
"I am the man you should have researched before you broke into my daughter's room," I said.
The doors to the room burst open. Four men in dark grey suits entered. They weren't cops. They carried the discreet, lethal posture of private military contractors.
"Clear the room," I ordered.
In less than ten seconds, my contractors physically stripped Chief Miller and the Senator’s lawyers of their badges and phones, shoving them out into the corridor.
Senator Hale stood frozen, shaking with rage and growing horror.
"You think you can play dirty with me?" she hissed. "I will have federal marshals here in an hour!"
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"Call them," I whispered, stepping right up to her face. "Tell them The Ghost says hello."
Her eyes went wide as saucers. The name hit her like a physical blow. She staggered back, caught by her aide, before sprinting out of the room in total terror.
