DANIEL REEVES: "At a private office near the airport. He was preparing to leave the city."
GENERAL MICHAEL HARRINGTON: "Has he been approached?"
DANIEL REEVES: "The investigative team is there now."
EVELYN CARTER: "Did they recover the briefcase?"
Daniel nodded.
DANIEL REEVES: "Yes. It contains several procurement documents and an external storage device."
Evelyn looked toward the general.
EVELYN CARTER: "That may contain the original correspondence."
GENERAL MICHAEL HARRINGTON: "Let's wait for the investigators to confirm what they have."
The call ended.
For the next hour, the team waited for the first report.
At approximately 1:15 a.m., the investigative team leader returned.
INVESTIGATIVE TEAM LEADER: "General, Price has been located and is cooperating with the initial process."
GENERAL MICHAEL HARRINGTON: "What did you recover?"
INVESTIGATIVE TEAM LEADER: "The briefcase contained copies of the revised assessment, payment schedules, and a storage device with correspondence involving Richard Lawson and Gregory Shaw."
Evelyn stepped closer.
EVELYN CARTER: "Anything about the original report?"
INVESTIGATIVE TEAM LEADER: "Yes. There is a message in which Price instructs Shaw to remove the original laboratory results from the shared archive before the final committee review."
DANIEL REEVES: "Did he explain why?"
INVESTIGATIVE TEAM LEADER: "The message says the original report would create unnecessary objections and delay the contract."
Evelyn shook her head slightly.
EVELYN CARTER: "And the signature?"
INVESTIGATIVE TEAM LEADER: "There is another message discussing Colonel Mitchell's old report. Price writes that the signature can be used to support the revised approval."
The general closed his eyes briefly.
GENERAL MICHAEL HARRINGTON: "Did Price admit to writing the messages?"
INVESTIGATIVE TEAM LEADER: "He confirmed that the email account belonged to him, but he has not provided a complete statement."
EVELYN CARTER: "What did he say about Richard Lawson?"
The team leader opened his notes.
INVESTIGATIVE TEAM LEADER: "He said Lawson was aware that the original assessment had failed. He also said Lawson had repeatedly requested an expedited approval."
Evelyn looked at Daniel.
DANIEL REEVES: "So Lawson knew the equipment had failed."
INVESTIGATIVE TEAM LEADER: "According to Price's preliminary account, yes."
GENERAL MICHAEL HARRINGTON: "And the financial arrangement?"
INVESTIGATIVE TEAM LEADER: "Price said he was told that consulting payments would be distributed after the contract became active. We are still verifying the recipients and the amounts."
Evelyn returned her attention to the investigator.
EVELYN CARTER: "Did he mention the incident at the ceremony?"
The team leader nodded.
INVESTIGATIVE TEAM LEADER: "He said Lawson was furious about the procurement review and believed that your continued involvement would prevent the contract from moving forward."
Evelyn remained silent.
The general looked at her.
GENERAL MICHAEL HARRINGTON: "That gives us a possible motive, but the evidence must still be examined independently."
EVELYN CARTER: "Agreed."
The investigative team leader continued.
INVESTIGATIVE TEAM LEADER: "There is one more thing. Price says Lawson contacted him shortly after the confrontation and demanded that the security recording be removed."
DANIEL REEVES: "That explains the attempted export."
INVESTIGATIVE TEAM LEADER: "Price claims he did not personally initiate the request. He says someone in the facility director's office acted on Lawson's instructions."
EVELYN CARTER: "Who?"
The investigator checked his notes.
INVESTIGATIVE TEAM LEADER: "A staff member named Kevin Brooks."
Evelyn looked toward the general.
GENERAL MICHAEL HARRINGTON: "Has Brooks been located?"
INVESTIGATIVE TEAM LEADER: "He has been contacted and asked to provide a statement."
Evelyn nodded.
EVELYN CARTER: "Preserve the terminal records and any messages between him and Lawson."
The team leader wrote down the instruction.
By the following morning, the investigation had expanded considerably.
Several offices had been notified.
The procurement approval process was suspended.
The original equipment report was secured.
The recovered containers were placed under controlled evidence procedures.
And the financial investigators were tracing payments made through Northbridge Advisory Group.
Richard Lawson had not yet provided a full statement.
His attorney had issued a brief public comment claiming that the businessman denied any wrongdoing and believed the confrontation at the ceremony had been misrepresented.
But the recordings told a different story about the physical incident.
The footage showed Richard approaching the podium.
It showed him arguing with Evelyn.
It showed him reaching out and grabbing her arm.
It showed her repeatedly ordering him to release her.
And it showed her breaking his grip and stepping away after he lost his balance.
The recording also captured the general ordering Richard to release her.
There was no evidence that Evelyn had initiated physical contact.
The video was preserved and submitted through the formal process.
Within days, the incident review confirmed that Evelyn had acted in response to an immediate physical confrontation.
Richard's claim that she had attacked him without provocation was contradicted by the recorded footage and multiple witness statements.
But the procurement investigation was only beginning.
Dr. Helen Morris provided the original testing correspondence.
She submitted her written rejection of the revised assessment, including the messages in which Thomas Reed had asked her to reconsider the findings.
She also provided the warning she had received.
Peter Wallace submitted the technical notice from his company, confirming that the communication modules had experienced failures during earlier testing.
The financial investigators identified payments to Northbridge Advisory Group that had been described as consulting fees.
Those payments were now being examined to determine whether they were legitimate or connected to the attempted contract approval.
Colonel Mitchell's formal statement confirmed that he had supplied an old signed document to Samuel Price.
He acknowledged receiving payment from Northbridge Advisory Group but denied knowingly authorizing the revised assessment.
The investigative team also located Thomas Reed.
He initially denied preparing the certificate.
However, document metadata and correspondence recovered from his company account linked him to the revised report.
When presented with the evidence, Reed admitted that he had prepared the certificate using information provided by Gregory Shaw.