The rain hammered against the windows of the Mayflower Hotel as Sarah Chen adjusted her wire for the third time. Her hands trembled slightly as she checked her watch: 11:47 PM. In thirteen minutes, she would either expose the greatest political conspiracy in American history or become another casualty in Washington's endless war for power.

Sarah had worked as a senior analyst for the Congressional Budget Office for eight years, long enough to recognize when numbers didn't add up. What she had discovered three weeks ago in a misfiled appropriations report would shake the foundation of American democracy if it ever saw daylight. The problem was ensuring she lived long enough to see that happen.

The hotel bar was nearly empty except for a few late-night stragglers nursing their drinks and drowning their sorrows in aged whiskey. Sarah's contact had chosen this location carefully—public enough to discourage violence, private enough for sensitive conversation. She spotted him immediately: Marcus Webb, investigative journalist for the Washington Herald, sitting alone in a corner booth with his back to the wall.

Webb had built his reputation exposing corruption in the defense industry, but what Sarah was about to share would dwarf anything he had previously uncovered. She approached his table with calculated casualness, sliding into the opposite seat as if meeting an old friend for drinks.

"You look nervous," Webb observed, his weathered face creased with concern. At fifty-two, he had seen enough political scandals to recognize genuine fear when it sat across from him.

"I have every right to be," Sarah replied, her voice barely above a whisper. "What I'm about to tell you will put both our lives in danger."