Noah felt a wave of cold fury wash over him, the kind of anger that was more dangerous than hot rage because it was controlled, focused, absolute. HTBB had corrupted a federal marshal, penetrated witness protection, and executed a cooperating witness in what should have been a secure location.
This wasn't just about Benjamin Perez anymore. This was about the integrity of the entire justice system, about whether witnesses could trust federal protection, about whether criminal organizations could kill with impunity as long as they had enough money to corrupt enough officials.
"Get me everything on Thomas Brennan," Noah said to Reeves. "Where he lives, where his family is, where he goes, who he knows. I want to know every detail of his life for the past five years. And pull all the cases he's been involved with—if he's been selling information to HTBB for two years, he might have compromised other witnesses, other operations."
"Already in motion."
Noah looked around at his team—good people, dedicated professionals who'd spent their careers fighting criminal organizations. And now one of their own had betrayed everything they stood for.
"I want everyone to understand something," Noah said, his voice carrying across the crime scene. "This investigation just became personal in a way it wasn't before. HTBB murdered a federal agent. Now they've murdered a protected witness with the help of a corrupt marshal. They've demonstrated that they have resources inside our system, that they're willing to kill to protect their organization, and that they think they're untouchable."
He paused, making eye contact with each person present. "They're wrong. We're going to find Thomas Brennan. We're going to find whoever killed Marcus Vega. And we're going to dismantle HTBB completely, starting with Eliot King and Vancouver Sell. I don't care how long it takes or how many resources we have to dedicate. This ends with them in federal prison for the rest of their lives."
Coe stepped beside him. "What's the first move?"
"We go public. Press conference, full media coverage. We announce that a protected federal witness was murdered, that we're investigating corruption inside the US Marshals Service, and that we're offering a million-dollar reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible. We make this too big to hide, too public for HTBB to operate in the shadows."
"King will lawyer up, claim harassment—"
"Let him. The more he protests, the more guilty he looks. The more attention this gets, the harder it becomes for him to operate." Noah pulled out his phone. "I'm calling Assistant Director Corso. This needs to come from the top, with full departmental support. No more quiet investigation. We're taking the fight to them, publicly and aggressively."
As he walked outside to make the call, Noah passed Vega's body one more time. A man who'd tried to do the right thing, who'd cooperated to protect his family and clear his conscience. Dead because the system had failed to protect him.
That failure would not be repeated. Noah would make sure of it.
Whatever it took.
In his temporary operations center, Vancouver Sell was destroying evidence. The clothes he'd worn to the safe house were being burned. The weapon he'd used was being disassembled and disposed of in separate locations across the city. His tablet showing the photographs of Vega's family was being wiped and destroyed.
Within an hour, there would be no physical evidence connecting him to Marcus Vega's murder.
But he knew that wouldn't be enough. Noah would know it was him—might not be able to prove it in court, but would know. And Noah would come after him with everything the DEA had.
Which was exactly what King wanted.
His phone rang—encrypted line. King's voice was calm. "Confirmed?"
"Confirmed. Vega is dead. The message has been sent."
"And the marshal?"
"Brennan has been relocated as planned. New identity, offshore account with his payment, instructions never to return to the US. He's a loose end that's been tied off."
"Noah will go public with this," King said. "He'll use it to generate pressure, make it harder for us to operate. It might even force some of our clients to reconsider their relationships with us."
"It's a risk. But a necessary one. If we'd let Vega keep cooperating, keep testifying, he would have done more damage than a public murder investigation."
King was silent for a moment. "There's something else. Liu and Reese—the two men arrested in the LIE intercept—their lawyers are making noises about cooperation. Reese especially seems ready to deal."
"Then we might need to send another message."
"Two protected witnesses murdered in less than a week would bring down an apocalyptic response. Even with Brennan's help, we can't penetrate federal detention facilities easily."
"Then we find another way to ensure their silence."
Vancouver ended the call and sat in the darkness, thinking about Marcus Vega's final moments. The man had looked at him with a combination of fear and resignation, understanding that his decision to cooperate had been his death sentence.
It hadn't been personal. Vancouver held no animosity toward Vega, felt no satisfaction in his death. It had been business—cold, necessary, inevitable. In the world Vancouver inhabited, betrayal had consequences, and those consequences had to be demonstrated publicly to maintain organizational discipline.
But he also knew that Vega's death had escalated the conflict to a new level. Chen would be relentless now, driven not just by professional duty but by personal rage at the murder of a man under federal protection.
The war was intensifying. And Vancouver wasn't certain how it would end.
At 3:47 AM, Noah stood in Assistant Director Corso's office in Washington DC, having driven there immediately after leaving the crime scene. Corso listened to his full briefing, her expression growing grimmer with each detail.
"A corrupt marshal," she said when he finished. "This is a nightmare."
"It gets worse. If Brennan was selling information to HTBB for two years, how many other cases were compromised? How many other witnesses were at risk?"
"I'll have the Marshals Service conduct a full internal investigation. Every case Brennan touched will need to be reviewed."
"And I need authorization to go fully public with this. Press conference, media coverage, the whole thing. HTBB is operating on the assumption that they can intimidate witnesses and corrupt officials. We need to make that strategy more costly than it's worth."
Corso considered this. "Going public will generate intense scrutiny—on HTBB, but also on us. Congress will want hearings, the media will question our ability to protect witnesses, defense attorneys will use this to challenge every conviction that involved testimony from protected witnesses."
"I know. But the alternative is worse. If we stay quiet, if we treat this as just another investigation, we're sending a message that witnesses can be killed and corrupt officials can be bought. We need to demonstrate that attacking federal witnesses brings down the full weight of the government."
"Alright. I'll authorize the press conference. But Noah..." She paused. "Be careful. King and Vancouver have demonstrated they're willing to kill federal agents and protected witnesses. They're also smart enough to have contingencies, resources we don't know about. Push them too hard, back them into a corner, and they might do something truly desperate."
"Good," Noah said coldly. "Desperate people make mistakes. And when they do, I'll be there."
He left her office and drove back to New York as dawn was breaking. By 9 AM, he was standing in front of a room full of reporters, cameras, and news crews, with Assistant Director Corso and the Director of the US Marshals Service flanking him.
"At approximately midnight last night," Noah began, his voice steady and controlled, "a protected federal witness named Marcus Vega was murdered in a New Jersey safe house. Mr. Vega was cooperating with a DEA investigation into the HTBB money laundering organization and had provided crucial testimony about their operations and their involvement in the murder of Special Agent Benjamin Perez."
The room erupted with questions, but Noah continued speaking. "We have evidence that Mr. Vega's location was provided to HTBB by a corrupt deputy US marshal, Thomas Brennan, who had been receiving regular payments from the organization for approximately two years. Marshal Brennan is currently a fugitive, and we are offering a one million dollar reward for information leading to his arrest."
More questions, more camera flashes. Noah let them settle before continuing.
"Let me be absolutely clear: the murder of federal witnesses, the corruption of federal officials, and the ongoing criminal enterprise of HTBB will not be tolerated. We are committing every resource necessary to bring those responsible to justice, including Eliot King and Vancouver Sell, the leaders of this organization. No amount of money, no level of corruption, no act of violence will prevent us from dismantling this criminal network completely."
He took questions for twenty minutes, carefully avoiding specifics about ongoing investigations while making it clear that the DEA was treating this as a priority at the highest level.
When he finally left the press conference, his phone was already buzzing with calls from reporters, politicians, other law enforcement agencies. The story was going national, exactly as he'd intended.
Somewhere in New York, Eliot King and Vancouver Sell were watching this coverage, understanding that the situation had just escalated beyond their ability to control quietly.
The war was public now. And there would be no going back.