*“DAVID MERCER…?! Four stars…?! The Chief of Naval Operations…?! Why… why is the military seizing a private wedding chapel?!”*
Vice Admiral David Mercer slowly lowered his salute, his cold, flint-gray eyes shifting down to lock directly onto Vanessa Reed, Kendra Vance, and Arthur Sterling-Vance with thirty tons of sub-zero naval diamond:
He reached into his bridge coat, withdrawing an unsealed, red-labeled federal capias arrest warrant stamped with the raised gold seal of the **UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT**:
**“Former Chief Justice Arthur Sterling-Vance, Vanessa Reed, and Kendra Vance,” Admiral Mercer announced: “Three hours ago, naval forensic intelligence unsealed your commercial factoring correspondence in Vaduz, Liechtenstein—and you have just attempted the armed seditious dispossession of an active sovereign defense redoubt of the United States of America!”**
Beside Admiral Mercer stepped Marcus Cooper, opening the heavy, four-hundred-page federal grand jury indictment:
*THUD.*
The heavy volume struck the communion table right beside the spilled wine, sending hairline fractures through the polished marble:
