Chapter 12 - INSIDE THE GOVERNMENT
That changed everything.
Meridian was not only protecting itself.
Someone inside the agency was helping.
Maya's suspension suddenly made sense.
The ethics complaint against her had accused her of improper contact with witnesses in an unrelated maintenance case. The complainant was anonymous.
Priya traced the approval chain.
It ended at Deputy Administrator Nolan Pierce.
Maya knew him well.
He had attended Jonah's funeral.
He had hugged Claire.
He had told Maya, "Sometimes accidents are just accidents."
She drove to Washington under federal escort.
Pierce met her in a conference room, smiling sadly.
"Maya, you've been through a lot."
"Don't."
"Don't what?"
"Talk to me like I'm grieving and therefore stupid."
His smile disappeared.
She placed copies of the access logs on the table.
"Why were you inside Jonah's case file at 11:42 last night?"
Pierce looked at the papers.
Then at her.
"You should have stayed suspended."
The room went still.
Maya's federal escort shifted near the door.
Pierce leaned back.
"Victor Langston has protected this agency from budget cuts for fifteen years. You think this system runs on purity?"
Maya stared at him.
"No. I think it runs on people trusting us not to kill them."
Pierce smiled once.
"Then you still don't understand the system."
May you like
Pierce walked to the window before answering, buying time. Washington traffic crawled below like veins of red light. He said every regulator eventually learned compromise or became useless. Maya asked whether Jonah's children were part of the compromise. Pierce flinched. That tiny reaction hurt more than denial would have. He knew their names. He had eaten at their table after the funeral. Corruption, Maya realized, rarely required monsters. Mostly it required people willing to explain themselves one decision at a time.
He reached beneath the table.
