THE LULLABY KEY : THE FALL
CHAPTER 24: The Vice President’s Coup
The White House went into lockdown.
Secret Service agents swarmed the residence. Pike and his men disappeared into the chaos. Marcus pulled Lena and Chloe toward the tunnel.
“We need to go. Now.”
“Chloe’s hurt.”
“I can walk,” Chloe gasped. Her shoulder was bleeding, but the bullet had passed through. She was lucky.
They ran through the tunnel, back to the Treasury Building, back to the ambulance.
Zero was already driving.
“Where to?” she asked.
“Anywhere but here.”
They sped through the streets of Washington, past burning cars and screaming protesters. The city had erupted. The National Guard had been deployed. The President had declared a state of emergency.
And then, on every screen, a new face.
The Vice President.
He stood at a podium in the White House briefing room. Behind him, the seal of the President of the United States.
“My fellow Americans,” he said. “The President is no longer fit to serve. In accordance with the 25th Amendment, I have assumed the duties of the presidency. The former president is in custody. He will be tried for treason. And I promise you: justice will be served.”
Lena stared at the screen.
“He’s lying,” she said. “He’s the one who ordered my mother’s murder. He’s the one who’s been working with Marchetti.”
Zero nodded. “I know. But the country doesn’t. And right now, they need someone to believe in.”
“Then we give them someone else.” Lena pulled out Chloe’s phone. “The Vice President’s confession. The one he recorded before he was taken. We haven’t released it yet.”
“Do it.”
Lena pressed play.
The Vice President’s face appeared on every screen.
“My name is Charles Whitfield. I am the Vice President of the United States. And I am recording this confession because I am about to be killed by the same people who killed Julian Crane.”
The nation watched.
The nation gasped again.
And the Vice President—the new President—froze.
His face went pale.
His hands trembled.
Then he smiled.
“It seems I have been the victim of a deepfake. A sophisticated forgery designed to destabilize our government. Rest assured, the perpetrators will be found. They will be prosecuted. And they will be punished.”
He stepped away from the podium.
The broadcast ended.
Lena threw the phone against the wall.
“He’s going to get away with it.”
“No,” Marcus said. “He’s not. Because we’re not done.”
He pulled out a map.
“There’s one more vault. The one your father mentioned in his final video. Under the Supreme Court. The audio recordings of the Vice President’s deal with the assassin.”
Lena’s heart raced. “The same assassin who killed my mother.”
“The same assassin. David Pike.”
Lena looked at Chloe. Chloe looked at Marcus.
“Then let’s go to the Supreme Court.”