Marcus pointed his gold pen at the vellum deed in my lap:
“Arthur Vance needed the master cryptographic key card.”
“He needed the sovereign lineal proxy that only Arthur Bennett’s direct biological descendants could execute.”
“When you refused to surrender the family trust three years ago, Arthur directed Sterling-Vance Bio-Pharma to formulate Compound V-09—the sufentanil-chlorpromazine patch. He instructed Patricia to drug your morning tea, produce synthetic neurological blackouts, and present the conservatorship petition to Judge Hanley at ten o’clock this morning. Once you were certified permanently incapacitated, Daniel would inherit the underlying fee-simple deed as your guardian, transferring Conduit Nine directly to Valkyrie for four hundred million dollars in carried interest.”
“And tonight…?” I asked.
Vice Admiral David Mercer checked his chronometer:
“At zero-two-hundred hours this morning, Clara…”
The Admiral tapped his heavy gold signet ring against the titanium case:
“…Chief Justice Arthur Sterling-Vance convened an extraordinary, closed-door emergency midnight session of the Supreme Court inside the West Conference Room beneath One First Street.”
