Chapter 13 - Confronting the Serpent
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"We have enough to arrest him for corporate espionage," Detective Miller stated, pulling out her radio.
"No," I interrupted firmly. "Not yet."
General Vance looked at me with curiosity. "What are you thinking, Colonel?"
"If we arrest Sterling now, his lawyers will claim the badge swipe was stolen or duplicated," I explained coldly. "We need him to confess on record. And I know exactly how to break him."
An hour later, I pulled up to the gated mansion of Richard Sterling in the suburban hills of Virginia.
I didn't bring a SWAT team or a fleet of police cruisers. I walked up the stone steps alone, wearing my full dress blue uniform, holding a manila folder under my arm.
I rang the doorbell.
A moment later, the heavy mahogany door opened. Richard Sterling stood there in a silk robe, holding a glass of scotch. When he saw me, a slick, condescending smile spread across his face.
"Emily," Sterling purred smoothly. "Or should I say, Colonel Carter? What a surprise. I assumed you were busy dealing with your Inspector General investigation."
"Can we talk, Richard?" I asked calmly. "Inside."
Sterling chuckled, stepping aside to let me enter his opulent foyer. "Of course. Though I doubt there's much to discuss. Your career is essentially over, my dear."
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"You set this up," I said, stopping in the center of his marble hall. "You manipulated Madison, gave her false confidence, and used her loud mouth to draw all the attention while you snuck into the Pentagon terminal at 7:28 p.m."
Sterling’s smile faded slightly, but his eyes remained arrogant. "You can't prove a word of that, Emily. You're just a disgraced officer trying to save her skin."
