Chapter 5 - The Flight of the Paid Assassin
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While I was preparing for the wedding in Cleveland, federal investigators and private forensic intelligence operatives were closing the dragnet around Christian’s hired hitman.
The attacker—a thirty-two-year-old former nightclub bouncer named Derek Cole—had been hiding in a cheap motel outside Detroit, waiting for the remainder of his $100,000 payment from Christian’s offshore shell company.
At 3:00 AM on Saturday morning, tactical agents from the Indiana State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation breached the motel door.
Cole was pinned to the linoleum floor before he could reach his duffel bag.
Inside the bag, federal agents recovered:
The Burner Phone: Containing encrypted text messages from Christian Prescott explicitly stating: ‘Aim for the right side of her face. Make sure the scarring is permanent so she can never look at a camera again.’
The Cash Advance: $40,000 in banded hundred-dollar bills matching the serial numbers from Christian’s private Nashville liquidity account.
The Flight Manifest: A one-way ticket to Bogota, Colombia, booked under Cole’s alias, paid for directly by Christian’s production company.
Faced with federal charges of Interstate Murder-for-Hire and Aggravated Mayhem carrying life imprisonment, Cole broke down within fifteen minutes.
He signed a fifty-page sworn affidavit naming Christian Prescott as the sole mastermind who commissioned the chemical attack.
Simultaneously, federal marshals in Columbus executed a search warrant on Dr. Lawson’s private pharmaceutical clinic. Inside Lawson’s hidden safe, agents seized the compounding ledgers documenting forty-eight months of prescribed toxic anti-fertility compounds administered to Genevieve Vance under the guise of "prenatal maternal vitamins."
Dr. Lawson was cuffed and remanded without bail.
Chief Federal Prosecutor Evelyn Wright looked at the evidence binder in the command center and dialed Gabriel’s secure line.
“Mr. Miller,” Prosecutor Wright said. “We have everything. We can arrest Christian Prescott right now on his tour bus.”
Gabriel glanced at his watch. It was 11:00 AM on Saturday.
May you like
“With all due respect, Prosecutor Wright,” Gabriel replied with a slow, deadly smile. “Let him put on his tuxedo first. The bride has prepared the closing argument.”
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