Chapter 68 Justice Threatened
Claire’s office at seven AM looked exactly like what it was, a room where someone had been working since four.
The table was covered in files and coffee cups. She looked up when Zael and I walked in and the expression on her face told me everything before she opened her mouth.
“Sit down,” she said.
We sat.
“The Portuguese court accepted the challenge for review,” she said. “Gerald’s lawyers filed on a genuine technical point, the Interpol flag was processed through a channel that the bilateral treaty specifies should only be used for certain categories of crime.” She pulled a document toward her. “Fraud qualifies. The estate crimes qualify. But the conspiracy charge connected to David’s death was classified under a different code in the original filing. Gerald’s lawyers are arguing the entire request is compromised because the classification codes weren’t unified.”
“Is that a real argument?” Zael asked.
“It’s a real enough argument that a Portuguese judge accepted it for review.” She set the document down.
“Which means the extradition is suspended while the reviewing court decides whether to dismiss the challenge or uphold it.” A pause. “If they uphold it we have to refile. Correctly. From scratch.”
“How long does refiling take?” I asked.
“Minimum three months to prepare properly. Then waiting for scheduling.” She looked at me directly. “Gerald’s team has bought him at least six months regardless of the outcome. If the challenge is upheld and we refile… potentially longer.”
Six months.
Gerald in a private residence outside Lisbon. Waking up every morning in a house that wasn’t a cell. Drinking coffee that wasn’t institutional. Making calls his lawyers approved. Living while my father’s grave sat in a cemetery and the man responsible for putting him there negotiated treaty language.
“What are our options?” I asked.
“Three.” Claire sat back. “One… we accept the suspension and refile with corrected classifications. Cleanest legally but slowest.” She held up two fingers.
“Two… we challenge the Portuguese court’s decision to accept the review. Argue the challenge was filed in bad faith as a delay mechanism.” A pause. “This is harder to win but it draws attention to Gerald’s strategy. Sometimes that matters.”
“And three?” Zael said.
“Three is the most complicated.” She looked between us. “We request emergency consideration based on new evidence. If we can present the Portuguese court with material that wasn’t part of the original filing… something significant enough that the reviewing judge feels the case is materially stronger than the challenge suggests, they can fast-track the review.” She paused. “But we’d need something substantial. Something we don’t currently have in the filed record.”
The room was quiet for a moment.
“Pennick’s recordings are already filed,” I said.
“Yes.”
“Vivienne’s statement is filed.”
“Yes.”
“David’s evidence is filed.”
“All of it.” Claire nodded. “Gerald’s lawyers have seen everything we submitted. Their challenge is specifically designed around the gaps in classification, not the quality of the evidence.” She held my gaze. “We need something outside what they’ve already mapped. Something they didn’t know to build their challenge around.”
I thought about that.
Something Gerald’s lawyers hadn’t mapped.
Something that existed outside the evidence trail we had built… outside Vivienne’s statement, and David’s hidden files.
“The account trail Damien built,” I said. “The shell companies. The minority share acquisitions in Morrow Enterprises.” I looked at Zael. “We filed the estate charges. We didn’t file the Morrow Enterprises financial crimes as part of the extradition request.”
Zael straightened slightly.
“They’re a separate category,” Claire said slowly.
“Financial crimes committed against a separate corporate entity. Gerald’s lawyers mapped the Callum estate charges. They built their challenge around those classifications.” She was already writing. “If we add the Morrow Enterprises charges to the extradition request under a unified financial crimes classification…”
“His lawyers didn’t account for it,” Zael said.
“Because we didn’t file it originally.” Claire was moving fast now. “It’s additional material. Substantial additional material. A Portuguese judge reviewing a challenge could reasonably determine that new charges materially change the scope of the case and fast-track the review.” She looked at us both. “I need Damien’s full financial documentation on the Morrow share acquisitions today. Everything.”
“He’ll have it to you within the hour,” Zael said. He was already on his phone.
I watched him step away from the table and speak to Damien in the focused efficient language he used when something needed to be done immediately.
Claire was drafting beside me.
The room had shifted from the flat weight of suspended proceedings into something that had direction again.
Gerald had found a technical gap and had used it the way he used everything… with patience and precision. But he had built his challenge around the map of evidence he had been given.
He hadn’t been given the Morrow map.
That was his mistake.
“Claire.” I turned to her. “Timeline. If we move today… how fast can this be in front of the Portuguese court?”
“Filing takes forty-eight hours to prepare properly. Submission goes through Interpol’s legal office, another twenty-four hours.” She didn’t look up from her drafting. “If the court agrees to consider the new material we could have a fast-track hearing scheduled within two weeks.”
“Two weeks instead of six months,” I said.
“Potentially.” She looked up. “Gerald’s lawyers will fight the fast-track request too. But fighting it draws more attention to the delay strategy.” She held my gaze.
“Every move they make to slow this down makes them look worse in front of the reviewing judge.”
Zael came back to the table.
“Damien is compiling everything now,” he said. “Full documentation. He says there’s something additional he found last week that he hadn’t formally submitted yet… a direct communication between Gerald and the fund manager running the shell acquisitions.” He looked at Claire. “Gerald’s voice. Written confirmation of his instructions. Dated four months before his arrest.”
Claire stopped writing.
Looked up.
“He wrote it down?” she asked.
“He trusted the fund manager completely,” Zael said. “Same way he trusted everyone he believed was fully controlled.” He held Claire’s gaze. “He was wrong about the fund manager too.”
The office held that for a moment.
Then Claire’s phone rang.
She looked at the screen. Frowned.
Answered. “Yes?” A beat. Her expression shifted into something I hadn’t seen from her… genuine surprise. “When?” Another beat. “Does she have it with her?” She looked at me. “Thank you. Tell her I’ll call within the hour.”
She ended the call.
Put the phone down.
Looked between us.
“That was my contact at Interpol’s Lisbon office,” she said carefully. “Someone arrived at their offices this morning. Unannounced. Requesting a meeting with the case officer handling Gerald Holt’s extradition file.” She paused. “She identified herself and said she had evidence that wasn’t part of the original submission.” Another pause. “Evidence she had been holding back until she was certain it couldn’t be intercepted by Gerald’s network.”
I looked at her.
“Who?”
Claire held my gaze.
“Vivienne Holt,” she said. “She flew to Portugal last night. She’s sitting in the Interpol office in Lisbon right now with a file she says Gerald doesn’t know exists.”