Monroe looks at me. Really looks this time.
"Judge Castellano." His voice drops into condescension. "You're outside your jurisdiction here."
"I'm providing legal assessment. Agent Holloway requested it."
"I did." Holloway's confirmation lands flat. Final.
Monroe's eyes move to Cole. Sitting. Silent. Watching.
"And him?"
"Security consultant." Cole's voice is quiet.
"For who?"
Cole doesn't answer. The silence is its own answer.
Monroe's breathing changes. Faster. His hands flatten against the table, then grip the edge.
"Here's where we are, Richard." Kade leans back in his chair. "Holloway can arrest you now. Access logs, financial trail, pattern analysis. It's enough for an indictment."
"It won't hold—"
"Or." Kade doesn't raise his voice. "You can help us understand the bigger picture."
Monroe's laugh comes out strangled. "You don't know what you're asking."
"Enlighten us."
"These people..." His voice cracks. "You think I'm the problem? I'm nobody. I pull files. I send them up. That's it. I don't know what happens after."
His hands are shaking now. Not from us.
"Then be smart." Holloway's badge sits on the table between them. "Tell us who you're sending them to."
Monroe stares at the badge. At the files. At us.
His Adam's apple bobs when he swallows.
"I need immunity."
Holloway glances at Kade. Something passes between them.
"That depends on what you give us." Kade's voice doesn't promise anything. "And how cooperative you are."
"Full immunity. Witness protection." Monroe's hands press flat against the table, trying to stop the tremor. "Or I'm dead in a week."
Cole shifts beside me. Not much. Just enough.
Monroe sees it. Flinches.
"Who do you send the files to?" Kade asks.
"I don't know. I've never met them. Never heard a name." Monroe's professional mask is gone. Raw survival underneath. "Everything goes through encrypted channels. Cryptocurrency payments. Dead drops. I pull the data, I send it to a secure server, money appears in my account. That's the arrangement."
"The offshore account."
"Yes."