Chapter 7: The Arrest of the Titans
At 9:00 AM the following morning, the financial district of Lower Manhattan was brought to a standstill.
A fleet of ten federal law enforcement vehicles surrounded the glass headquarters of Sterling BioCorp on Park Avenue. Television news crews swarmed the revolving doors as federal marshals and IRS criminal investigators marched into the executive lobby.
Richard Sterling was led out in steel handcuffs, his bespoke wool coat draped awkwardly over his wrists, his face contorted in snarling, helpless rage as camera flashes illuminated his arrest.
Victoria Sterling was intercepted at JFK International Airport attempting to board a private charter to Zurich. Her designer luggage was seized, her diplomatic passports confiscated, and she was escorted into a police van under the full glare of international media.
The headlines across the world exploded with the magnitude of the scandal:
*“STERLING BIOCORP INDICTED: BILLION-DOLLAR PEDIATRIC FRAUD EXPOSED BY FORMER CHIEF MONITOR.”*
The stock of the pharmaceutical giant collapsed ninety-four percent in forty-eight hours, wiping out twelve billion dollars of predatory capital and forcing the immediate national recall of forty compromised medical products.
In the quiet of a federal safehouse in upstate New York, Stephen watched the television news broadcast in silence, sitting on the edge of a plain twin bed, holding his head in his calloused hands.
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The empire of mirrors had fallen.
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