Eight months after Marcus's BBC interview, the International Criminal Court's courtroom in The Hague was packed beyond capacity. Journalists from forty nations lined the gallery. Diplomats occupied reserved seating. Security personnel maintained vigilant presence that reflected the trial's unprecedented significance.
Louis sat in the front row designated for victims and witnesses, her completed book now a bestseller in seventeen languages, her Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism announced just weeks earlier. Ral sat beside her, his congressional testimony having reshaped American intelligence oversight in ways that would reverberate for decades.
Dmitri Volkov stood before the judges, his expensive suit and practiced composure unable to fully mask the reality that his empire had c
