Chapter 27 - The Crucible of the Grand Hall
"If the tribunal directs its attention to line forty-two of Document Alpha," Mateo began, pacing calmly before the bench like a seasoned veteran of the bar, "you will see the mathematical proof Julian Vance claims was authored in 2009 by my late grandfather."
Mateo pinched the screen, zooming in on the dense calculus cipher.
"Now," Mateo continued, "look at the chemical spectrographic analysis conducted four hours ago by the National Forensics Laboratory under emergency order."
A second window popped up on the giant displays, showing a colorful spectrograph graph.
"The blue ink used on the original document contains a patented plasticized polymer known as 'Cyan-V4.' This polymer was patented by the Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation in Tokyo in November 2016. It was commercially released in North America in March 2017."
Mateo turned to face Julian Vance, his gaze like twin daggers of ice.
"Mr. Vance, would you care to explain to this military tribunal how my grandfather managed to travel eight years into the future, purchase a ninety-nine-cent discount pen, and return to 2009 to forge a secret biological treaty document?"
Stunned silence fell across the chamber.
Julian’s lead attorney frantically whispered in his ear, his face draining of all color. Julian sat rigid, his jaw working silently, his smug composure completely obliterated.
"Furthermore," Marcos stood up, opening his Blue Folder, "we audited the secure Department of Defense server that logged this filing. The root access token used to upload this document forty-eight hours ago belonged to an encrypted terminal at the Philadelphia Naval Yard. We ran a trace on the authorization key."
Marcos looked straight at Álvaro Miller.
"The authorization key was purchased through an offshore account in the Cayman Islands registered under the corporate entity 'Apex Phoenix Holdings.' And the sole beneficiary of that account..."
Marcos pressed a button. A bank transfer record flashed onto the screens, displaying Álvaro Miller’s passport photo, signature, and home address.
"...is Álvaro Miller," Marcos concluded, his voice ringing with absolute finality. "Our deadbeat father. Paid five million dollars by Vance Dynamics to perjure himself and commit treason against the United States."
"Lies!" Álvaro suddenly shrieked, leaping to his feet in total panic, knocking his leather chair backward. "Julian told me it was clean! Julian said the federal marshals would protect me! I didn't forge the ink! Julian’s hackers did it!"
May you like
"Silence!" Judge Hayes slammed her gavel down three times, the wood cracking like gunshots. "Marshals, secure Mr. Miller immediately!"
Two armed federal marshals flanked Álvaro, pinning his arms behind his back before he could take another breath.
