I knelt down, intending merely to slide the bag upright so it wouldn’t obstruct the floor.
Then my eyes locked onto the document lying on top of the pile.
It was not an airline boarding pass. It was not a tourist visa.
It was an unsealed, certified chancery brief printed on twenty-four-pound legal vellum, bound in dark-blue archival leather, stamped with the raised red-wax dry seal of the DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY // SPECIAL ADMIRALTY CHANCERY:
CRIMINAL DOCKET: 2026-CR-00914-TREASON & AGGRAVATED MEZZANINE USURPATION
IN RE: CONDUIT TEN // THE GREAT LAKES SOVEREIGN DEFENSE REDOUBT
TARGET ASSET: PARCEL TEN // THE MERCER SOVEREIGN HEADQUARTERS
TRANSFEROR: FORMER CHIEF JUSTICE ARTHUR STERLING-VANCE
BENEFICIARY: MELISSA STERLING-VANCE (DAUGHTER / FACTORING AGENT)
CONSIDERATION: $70,000,000,000.00 USD (SEVENTY BILLION CARRIED DEFENSE RESERVES)
STATUTORY DEADLINE: MIDNIGHT, OCTOBER 26, 2026
My heart slammed against my ribs with concussive, volcanic force.
Conduit Ten.
Arthur Sterling-Vance.
Seventy billion dollars.
The names were not abstractions to me.
My grandfather was Chief Master Surveyor Arthur Mercer Senior—the legendary civil engineer who had surveyed the deep subterranean defense arteries of North America under Title 50 War Powers during the Second World War. My late father, Dr. Robert Mercer, had spent thirty years defending that sovereign estate before his passing.
