This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice.

The rain hammered against the windows of the Washington Post building as investigative journalist Sarah Chen stared at the encrypted email that had arrived in her secure inbox three hours ago. The message was brief, cryptic, and potentially explosive: "Senator Morrison's defense contracts aren't what they seem. Check the Meridian Group. Lives depend on exposure. Trust no one in the Capitol."

Sarah had been covering defense spending irregularities for six months, following a paper trail that seemed to lead nowhere but had cost two sources their careers and one his life in what authorities called a tragic car accident. Now someone new was reaching out, someone who claimed to have evidence that would expose a conspiracy reaching into the highest levels of government.

The sender identified himself only as "Patriot" and had included a series of document numbers that corresponded to classified defense appropriations. Sarah's fingers drummed against her desk as she weighed the risks. Her editor, Tom Harrison, had already warned her twice about pursuing stories that made powerful people uncomfortable. The newspaper's board was growing nervous about the legal costs and political pressure her investigations generated.

But this felt different. The precision of the information, the specific reference to Senator Morrison—the chairman of the Senate Defense Appropriations Committee—and the mention of the Meridian Group, a private military contractor she'd been quietly investigating, suggested this wasn't another dead end.

Sarah's secure phone buzzed. The caller ID showed only a series of numbers she didn't recognize.