The Trial Inside a Locked Courthouse
Chapter 04 - The Trial Inside a Locked Courthouse
Smoke began filling the lower floors, but Daniel quickly determined that it was artificial, released through the ventilation system to cause panic.
Julia had triggered the lockdown remotely.
Senator Vale appeared on a hidden video call to William.
“You have ten minutes,” Vale said. “Destroy Daniel’s copy and tell the grand jury there is no evidence.”
William remained calm. “You pushed the wrong woman.”
Vale smiled. “No. Julia did.”
The call ended.
Daniel traced the signal to a maintenance room beneath the courthouse. Police found Julia there with a laptop, gasoline cans, and a device connected to the building’s server controls.
She held a lighter in one hand.
“You don’t understand,” she told her brother. “Vale owns judges, police, everyone. I did what I had to do.”
“You pushed a pregnant woman,” Daniel said. “That was a choice.”
Julia threatened to ignite the fuel unless they deleted the video.
At that moment, Rachel’s face appeared on every active screen in the courthouse.
Daniel had rerouted her secure hospital testimony into the building’s emergency broadcast system.
Rachel spoke directly to the grand jury, police, reporters, and Julia.
“I was afraid,” she said. “But fear is how people like Senator Vale stay powerful. So I am telling the truth where everyone can hear it.”
She described the financial crimes, threats, and Julia’s attack.
While Julia stared at the screens, Detective Brooks moved closer. Daniel grabbed the lighter from his sister’s hand, and officers arrested her.
Vale was captured at a private airfield before he could leave the country.
The grand jury heard Daniel’s video and Rachel’s testimony. Charges were filed for corruption, conspiracy, attempted murder, witness intimidation, and obstruction of justice.
But the stress triggered Rachel’s labor again.
Her hospital feed suddenly cut out.
William raced back to the hospital.
When he arrived, doctors were already performing an emergency delivery.
Hours passed.
At last, a surgeon came into the waiting room.
Rachel had survived.
Her baby boy had been born early.
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But he had not cried.
William looked through the nursery glass as doctors worked desperately to make the tiny child breathe.
