Chapter 6: An Unlikely Ally
To expose Eleanor Sterling, they needed more than digital files; they needed an untainted platform that Eleanor’s wealth couldn’t buy.
"Julian Hayes," Maya declared, staring at the contact list on Arthur’s drive.
Julian was a Pulitzer-winning investigative journalist who had retired into reclusion after his exposés on pharmaceutical cartels nearly cost him his life. Arthur had been his primary confidential source for years.
Samuel drove Maya through the industrial outskirts in a battered van, arriving at a secluded farmhouse surrounded by dense pine trees. Julian greeted them at the front porch with a shotgun leveled at their chest until Samuel spoke the code word: "Phoenix."
Inside, the house was lined with floor-to-ceiling filing cabinets and offline servers. Julian, a man in his late fifties with silver hair and sharp, skeptical eyes, reviewed the flash drive data for three uninterrupted hours while Maya sat quietly sipping black tea.
"This is ironclad," Julian finally breathed, taking off his glasses and rubbing the bridge of his nose. "It connects the board members, the clinic director, and Eleanor Sterling in a coordinated conspiracy of corporate homicide and kidnapping."
"Can you publish it?" Maya asked.
May you like
"Publishing an article won't stop them, Maya," Julian warned. "Eleanor owns three major media conglomerates. She will bury the story before it hits print and have you declared legally dead. We need a live, un-censorable stage."
"Tomorrow is the Annual Sterling Gala at the Metropolitan Hotel," Maya realized. "The entire city press and international investors will be in that ballroom."
