Ryan hadn't left Copenhagen since he had been accused of rape. In the days after the news broke he holed himself up in his hotel room and watched from his window as the crowd of people that gathered in the street outside of the hotel to show their support for him steadily grew. By the third day the crowd had grown so big that traffic on the road had to be diverted away from the hotel. When Ryan opened his third floor hotel room window and waved to the crowd he was greeted by a huge roar of support. In his supporters' minds there wasn't the slightest possibility of the accusation against him being true, and seeing how loyal to him they were, Ryan decided that he needed to show them that their loyalty wasn't misplaced. He left his hotel room and went downstairs to be with his supporters and show his appreciation to them for standing by him through all of this. Ryan walked out of the front entrance of the hotel expecting to be mobbed by the crowd; instead, they all stood still and silent, waiting for him to speak. One of the members of the crowd, a young woman, stepped forward and handed Ryan a megaphone. Looking around at their expectant faces, Ryan recognized the importance of projecting an image of strength and defiance.
"First of all I want to thank you all for showing me so much support during this difficult time."
The crowd cheered as their way of communicating to Ryan that their unwavering support was never in doubt. "We never believed her!" One of the members of the crowd yelled, "That woman is a lying bitch!" Another one yelled.
"Now, as to the accusation that has been made against me, I want to make it absolutely clear that raping a woman is something that I would never do, and that this is all nothing but an orchestrated effort to smear me because they think that if they do then their dirty secrets will be safe."
Groans, boos and hisses emanated from the crowd, all of whom agreed with Ryan's assessment of why this recent sequence of events had transpired.
"What they don't understand is that they'll never be safe from me."
The crowd cheered loudly again.
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"The world's rich and powerful, that have achieved their wealth and influence through a lifetime of underhanded and criminal deeds, are going to continue seeing those deeds being exposed to the harsh light of day."
The crowd erupted into a huge cheer after Ryan said this. Ryan returned the megaphone to the girl that had given it to him, waved to the crowd and clenched his fingers into a fist of defiance before going back into the hotel. True to his word, Ryan continued the mission of Solomon by leaking information that he'd obtained through hacking directly to news outlets. The story about how Fyodor Milichenko had squandered his family's fortune was the product of financial documents that Ryan sent to The Guardian, and he followed this up shortly thereafter by getting his hands on financial documents that revealed an off the books revenue stream between Russia and Prism Capital and sending them to the New York Times, which increased the pressure on Jim Balmer to fully explain what the nature of his relationship with David Huntsman was.
Having once been considered a lock for The White House, Jim Balmer was now permanently on the defensive about scandals that were threatening to destroy his campaign. As a man of faith Jim couldn't help but look at the myriad of political struggles that he was having as punishment from God for working against the Goose and, by association, Jesus Christ. His political travails caused Jim to have a full blown crisis of faith, which affected his campaigning. The bombastic and incendiary speeches that had become the trademark of his campaign disappeared and were replaced by appeals from Jim Balmer to remember that as Christians they were meant to first and foremost practice mercy and forgiveness. The crowds at his rallies didn't like hearing this from him and they let him know it by booing him and in many cases leaving early. The momentum that Jim Balmer was losing was being picked up by Tom Groff, who, after securing the number of delegates that he needed to win the nomination, had pivoted to a general election message warning about the dangers posed by Jim Balmer's Christian extremism. He hadn't officially announced her as his running mate yet but Kathryn Wendt was appearing with Tom at all of his events and it was generally assumed that they would be running together as a ticket. Together they projected confidence and unity at a time when Jim Balmer, despite having wrapped up the nomination a month before, still hadn't chosen a running mate and was seeing his poll numbers slide. Jim's failure to pick a running mate was due to him not receiving word yet from the Raven about who he should choose but it was also due to the fact that Jim's crisis of faith, which had been brewing for months, had caused him to lose focus and lose interest in his campaign.