Chapter 7 - The Arrest at Table Twelve
The heavy double oak doors at the back of the banquet hall were suddenly thrown open with a sharp, heavy thud.
Stepping through the entrance were four uniformed officers from the Massachusetts State Police, accompanied by Detective Marcus Thorne and Lead Special Agent Sarah Lin from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Public Corruption Task Force.
They did not look toward the stage.
They marched in unison down the side aisle, stopping directly before Table Twelve where Julian Hayes and Arthur Mercer sat paralyzed in their chairs.
"Julian Hayes, Arthur Mercer," Special Agent Lin announced, unrolling an unsealed federal grand jury indictment stamped with the gold seal of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. "Pursuant to Cause Number 26-CR-9941, you are both under arrest for enterprise racketeering under the RICO Act, grand corporate larceny, securities fraud, and the felonious forgery of sovereign state maritime deeds."
Arthur Mercer scrambled to his feet, knocking his chair onto the carpet. "Sarah Lin! I am the Chief Compliance Officer of the State Banking Commission! You have no legal authority to arrest me in a public banquet hall!"
"Your office in the State House was raided by federal marshals forty minutes ago, Mr. Mercer," Detective Thorne replied with freezing clinical detachment. "Your administrative deputy surrendered the encrypted server logs detailing the six point four million dollars in kickbacks Julian wired to your offshore account in Nassau."
Julian Hayes did not stand up.
He sat motionless as two state troopers stepped forward, pulling his arms back, clicking heavy stainless-steel handcuffs around his wrists over his velvet tuxedo jacket.
CLICK. CLICK.
The metallic snap echoed across the silent room.
As Julian was hauled to his feet, his hollow, bloodshot eyes caught mine where I stood on the raised stage beside Adrian and Anthony Carter.
I did not look at him with hatred, nor did I flinch. I sat tall in my spirit, my posture calm, dignified, and regal, watching the man who had tried to drown my dignity in a street puddle being dragged away into the dark where he could never harm another human soul.
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Candace fell to her knees on the carpet, weeping with the raw, ugly agony of a woman who had realized that her vanity had left her completely alone in the ruins of a broken conspiracy.
As the state police cruisers began their long, screaming wail down Boylston Street, the five hundred guests rose to their feet in a spontaneous, roaring tribute that filled the ballroom with light, honor, and everlasting sovereignty.
