Chapter 8 - UNDER SWORN OATH
The doors to Grand Jury Room B swung open with a heavy wooden thud.
Twenty-three citizens turned their heads in unison. At the front of the room, the court reporter sat frozen over her machine, while the grand jury foreperson—a sharp-eyed woman in her fifties—looked between me and the clock on the oak-paneled wall. It was exactly 8:58 AM.
"Commander Ethan Grant, United States Navy," I announced, stepping up to the witness stand with steady, measured strides. "Reporting as summoned under subpoena number 44-Bravo."
For the next fifty minutes, the room was entirely silent except for the clicking of the stenographer’s keys and the sound of documents sliding across the evidence table. I laid it out piece by piece: the falsified speeding citations, the six orchestrated stops by Sheriff Vance's department, the encrypted server logs showing direct coordination between Deputy Maddox and Sterling’s logistics hub, and the serial numbers of stolen surface-to-air telemetry units discovered in Vance’s private evidence safe.
Norris sat beside the federal prosecutor, his voice trembling at first, but gaining strength with every word as he corroborated the systemic extortion of highway drivers and the deliberate targeting of military convoys.
"They had a quota," Norris testified, looking directly at the grand jurors. "Sheriff Vance told us that any Navy vehicle carrying secure transponders had to be delayed at all costs. We were paid fifty thousand dollars in cash per quarter to look the other way while Sterling’s unmarked haulers moved through our back roads."
The grand jurors were scribbling furiously. Shock and outrage rippled through their faces.
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Suddenly, the red emergency beacon in the ceiling began to flash. A harsh, blaring klaxon ripped through the chamber. The automated fire suppression shutters began descending over the reinforced windows.
Over the intercom, an urgent automated warning barked: *"Code Red. Structural breach in lower parking garage. All personnel must evacuate via the north stairwell immediately."*
