They’d pulled the pin on a grenade and swallowed it.

Chapter 8 — Bleeding Out on the Public Stage

Three hours later, the world was on fire.

Dawn broke over Washington, the clouds bruised purple and gray. I stood on my balcony with a cooling cup of black coffee. Inside, the television played loud.

Every major network had interrupted its morning broadcast.

The Inspector General had opened a formal inquiry before sunrise. The Senate committee had voted to refer. By 07:40 the Bureau had filed a criminal complaint and a magistrate had signed arrest warrants, and the polished faces of Harrison and Patricia Vance were on every screen, stripped of their glamorous context.

Beneath them scrolled the words that would redefine their legacy: TREASON. DEFENSE FRAUD. ASSASSINATION INQUIRY.