The irony was crushing. We'd saved Eddie and exposed Phoenix Legacy's tactics, but the sudden removal of their embedded operatives had created exactly the kind of crisis they'd originally planned to exploit.
"They knew," I realized, the understanding hitting me like cold water. "Phoenix Legacy knew that exposing their network would create governmental instability. They let us force their hand because the chaos serves their larger objectives."
"What larger objectives?" Eleanor asked. She'd been coordinating with a congressional leadership that was now trying to maintain basic governmental functions while investigating decades of systematic infiltration.
"Complete replacement of democratic governance with emergency management protocols that can influence outside governmental structures."
