Chapter 17 - Shadows in the Capital
That evening, the neon lights of downtown Washington flickered through the rain-streaked windows of a quiet café three blocks from the Capitol. Elena sat in a corner booth, nursing a black coffee, her trench coat draped neatly over the adjacent chair. The bell above the café door chimed softly, and General Robert Hayes stepped inside, shaking the evening drizzle from his shoulders before sliding into the seat across from her.
"You're making powerful enemies in the capital, Elena," Hayes said quietly, signaling the barista for a black coffee without breaking eye contact. "The legislative hounds don't like being cornered by an active-duty major who refuses to play their political games."
"I spent twenty years playing by my stepmother's rules, General, and it almost got me destroyed," Elena answered, her gaze drifting to the bustling street outside where car headlights streaked across the wet asphalt. "I'm not about to start playing by theirs now. If they want a fight over funding for disabled veterans, they picked the wrong officer."
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"They aren't just fighting for funding anymore," Hayes warned, leaning forward and lowering his voice. "Intelligence feeds from the base in Fayetteville indicate that Arthur Porter was approached yesterday by a private investigator working for a syndicate out of Richmond. They're trying to dig up personal records from your childhood, looking for anything—any technicality, any old family dispute—to file a retaliatory civil suit against you personally."
Elena felt a cold spike of adrenaline, but her expression remained completely ice-cold. "Let them look. Every single financial document, medical report, and legal filing from my past has already been scrubbed and verified by federal prosecutors. My father gave up any claim to my life the day he watched Linda shatter my arm with that metal chair."
