Chapter 2: B: Unsanctioned Broadcast

👉 [Previous Decision]: You chose Option B – Broadcast the killer’s audio tape on the podcast tonight to skyrocket views.

The red “LIVE” light blinked ominously in the corner of my studio. Midnight. Perfect. The internet was a wild west, and I was about to unleash a storm.

“Tonight,” I announced into the microphone, my voice tight with adrenaline, “you’re going to hear something that changes everything you thought you knew about Albany’s political landscape.”

I hit play. The chilling, distorted voice of the killer filled the air, confessing to a series of “accidents” that had plagued the city council for years. My viewer count surged. Comments exploded. This was it.

Just as the recording faded, a harsh banging started downstairs. My front door rattled.

“This is the City Zoning Board!” a voice boomed from the street. “Emergency ordinance 7G. Cease and desist immediate broadcasting! Your equipment is being seized!”

Evelyn Pendelton, Arthur’s sister and the formidable City Zoning Board Chair, marched into my studio within minutes, flanked by burly city workers. Her face was set, unyielding.

“Unsanctioned political defamation,” she stated, waving a thick document. “Disrupting public order. You’re broadcasting without a permit, Mr. Kross. And these allegations are baseless.”

“Baseless?” I stammered, pointing at the now-silent speaker. “It’s on tape!”

“Proof of what, precisely?” she asked, a thin smile on her lips. “Fabricated nonsense. All of your recording equipment, computers, hard drives—confiscated. The city will charge you for the disturbance, the defamation, and the use of unapproved broadcast frequencies.”

The city workers began unplugging cables, dismantling my setup. My life’s work, my entire financial investment, was being hauled out the door. The civil lawsuits would follow, of course. I’d be bankrupt, silenced, forgotten.