Chapter 4 - The Press Conference
At 11:45 AM, the steps of the Georgia State Capitol were swarming with local and national media.
Adele and Evelyn had spent the morning feeding their sob story to the local morning tabloids. Adele had even scheduled an exclusive interview with *Atlanta Life Magazine* at a coffee shop three blocks away to "tell her story of surviving military domestic abuse."
She had invited Julian and his mother along to show "solidarity."
Inside the green room of the Capitol, Ethan smoothed the back of my dress service uniform. The gold aviator wings pinned to my chest gleamed under the fluorescent lights. The three rows of service ribbons—including the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Purple Heart—sat perfectly aligned.
"You look lethal, Captain," Ethan whispered, his hands resting gently on my shoulders for a fraction of a second longer than protocol required. His touch sent a spark through the heavy fabric of my jacket, steadying the last remnants of my adrenaline.
"Let’s get this over with," I said.
The double doors opened. Governor Sterling took the podium, flanked by five weeping families—the parents of the children we had hauled out of the mountain snowdrift.
Dozens of camera flashes erupted like lightning.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the press," Governor Sterling began, gripping the edges of the podium with white knuckles. "Two nights ago, fourteen Georgia high school students were trapped at eleven thousand feet during the worst winter storm to hit the Rockies in three decades. Local rescue operations were grounded. Civil aviation declared the ridge unreachable."
The room fell pin-drop silent.
"One flight crew volunteered to punch through that storm. Operating on forty-eight hours of zero sleep, battling severe turbulence and icing conditions, the lead pilot executed an unprecedented extraction. That pilot is standing behind me today."
Sterling turned, gesturing for me to step forward.
"Captain Nora Vance."
The camera shutters fired in a continuous, deafening roar.
"Now," Sterling continued, his voice hardening as he looked directly into the primary network cameras. "It has come to my attention that certain deeply disturbed, dishonorable individuals on social media—including members of Captain Vance's immediate family—have launched a slanderous smear campaign against her character, accusing her of neglect, stolen valor, and financial cruelty."
The journalists gasped. Several reporters began furiously typing on their tablets.
Governor Sterling waved his hand, and the massive projection screen behind the podium illuminated.
It didn't display family photos. It displayed official Department of the Army flight logs, thermal HUD recordings of the Blackhawk hovering inches from a cliff edge, and a timestamped medical report showing Captain Nora Vance being treated for secondary hypothermia at 0400 hours yesterday morning.
"While Captain Vance was risking her life to ensure our children came home alive, her sister, Adele Vance, was charging seven thousand dollars to Captain Vance’s account for a designer party dress. And yesterday evening, when Captain Vance returned home exhausted, she was met with demands for more money to finance an extravagant European vacation."
A reporter from the *Atlanta Journal-Constitution* raised his hand frantically. "Governor! Are you saying the viral posts claiming Captain Vance abandoned her family are fraudulent?"
"I am saying," Governor Sterling thundered, "that Captain Vance has spent the last fourteen years carrying her entire family on her back, sacrificing her youth, her physical health, and her personal safety. And in return, her mother and sister forged her name to steal over one million dollars in equity."
The room exploded into shouting questions.
Sterling stepped aside and pointed at Captain Sarah Reyes, who approached the microphone in full uniform.
"This morning," Reyes announced clearly, "the United States Army Criminal Investigation Division, in coordination with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, filed criminal indictments in the Northern District of Georgia against Evelyn Vance and Adele Vance for Bank Fraud, Wire Fraud, and Aggravated Identity Theft. Freezing orders have been executed on all assets associated with Belle Reve Enterprises. The Buckhead estate has been placed into federal receivership pending civil forfeiture."
I stood tall, eyes locked on the back wall of the press room.
My phone, resting in Ethan’s pocket, was vibrating continuously.
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Down the street at the coffee shop, Adele’s exclusive interview had just turned into a slaughterhouse.
***