THE LULLABY KEY : THE FALL
CHAPTER 48: The Riot
The verdicts were announced on a Tuesday.
By Wednesday, the country was on fire.
Protests erupted in every major city. Supporters of the convicted politicians claimed the trials were a witch hunt. Opponents demanded harsher sentences. The two sides clashed in the streets.
Lena watched from a safe house in Virginia, the television tuned to CNN.
“Riots have broken out in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York,” the anchor said. “The National Guard has been deployed. The President has declared a state of emergency.”
Marcus stood behind her. “It’s going to get worse before it gets better.”
“How much worse?”
“People are angry. Scared. They don’t know who to trust. The institutions they relied on—the government, the courts, the media—have all been compromised. They’re lashing out.”
Lena turned off the television.
“I did this.”
“No. Marchetti did this. You just exposed the truth.”
“The truth is tearing the country apart.”
“The truth is always painful. But lies are worse. Lies fester. Lies kill. Lies destroy everything they touch.”
Lena looked at him. “What if I made a mistake? What if I should have kept the vault closed? What if my father was right to hide?”
“Your father was right to hide. But you were right to reveal. Both things can be true.”
Lena walked to the window.
The sky was orange. Smoke from the riots in Washington drifted toward the safe house.
“Marchetti wanted this,” she said. “He wanted chaos. He wanted the country to tear itself apart. That’s how he stays in power. By making everyone so busy fighting each other that no one has time to fight him.”
“Then we don’t let him win. We keep fighting. We keep exposing. We keep pushing until he has nowhere left to hide.”
Lena turned to face him.
“Where do we start?”
Marcus smiled. “With the seventh vault.”