Terry, it's me. Listen carefully. Your life is in danger.

The words rang like he was present physically and whispering them into her ear. His voice sounded different. She wondered where all his mean attitude had gone. Now he sounded imploring. Like something was at stake. The commander wasn't within earshot. She said, "Go to hell, Ethan."

She didn't like the profanity in her tone, but she wanted to tell him that for a long time and now seemed to be the opportunity. She found the strength to tell him all the nasty things she wanted to say to him, but couldn't, for fear of what he'd have done. "I hope the cops find you. I hope you rot in jail. I hope I don't see your face again."

She was about to hang up when he said, "Don't hang up on me."

"Why shouldn't I? I've got nothing to say to you."

He fell silent, then he said, "I'm sorry."

Terry was speechless. She felt sure he didn't mean it, but that didn't even matter. He'd said he was sorry. Sorry for kidnapping her. Sorry for scaring the crap out of her. This was surreal.

"There's nothing to be sorry for, Ethan. If you are truly sorry, then turn yourself in and let the court prove your innocence."

"The last time I did that it didn't go so well and if someone hadn't hit the convoy, I'd have been a ghost."

He was referring to how the justice system had been unfair to him. If he didn't believe there was justice in this world, then he had a solid reason. He'd told her several times someone helped him escape and now she started to believe him.

"Not this time. I'll make sure there's no foul play at hand. Turn yourself in." She didn't know why she was convincing him to prove his innocence using the right channels when she should be lambasting him for kidnapping her.

"You can't help me if you're dead."

Terry got angry that he was joking about her death. "I'm not going to die. Stop wishing that for me."

"Your life's at risk, Terry Lindsay. Do as I say and you might live to see the sun rise again."

"My life is not at stake!" She shouted so loud that the cops stopped whatever they were doing and turned to look at her.

Commander Heartny asked worriedly from her seat, "Are you all right, ma'am?"

She covered the mouthpiece. "Yes. I'm sorry."

Heartny smiled warmly at her and told her it wasn't a problem. She returned to the fugitive. "I've got nothing to say to you. I have to-"

"Don't do that, Terry," he said hurriedly, and then added, "please."

His sudden change in character was bizarre. Not so long ago, he'd kidnapped her, mistreated her, and said nothing but foul words to her. And now he was all cool with her and speaking so nicely. She suspected he was up to no good.

"What do you want from me?"

"I want you to stay alive. If you die, I'd have no way of knowing the truth."

Her face puckered. "I don't know any truth. I think you should go find Clinton and have a nice chat with him. He can tell you the secrets he's been hiding from me. Maybe if you stick a gun to his head, he might cooperate. His office is in D.C., but if you want his home address, then be my guest."

He hated that she was joking when her life was in danger, but then he understood her nonchalance. "You need to leave the precinct. All of you. Men with heavy weapons are coming, and you're their target."

She laughed boisterously. "You're drunk. No one's coming. Actually, the FBI is coming to get me. And you're being hunted. You're trapped, Ethan. It's only a matter of time."

"Terry, you've got to listen to me. The FBI can't save you because they'll be minutes late-"

She cut him off. "But you can save me?" She lifted a brow as though he could see her. "I'll take my chances with the FBI. Bye!"

She hadn't disconnected the call when a bullet from nowhere came into the building, smashed the glass pane, and hit a cop walking to his desk. The bullet punctured his forehead, crimson blood spilled out and spattered onto the floor and table. He fell effortlessly with a thud.

Terry jumped from her seat and put the phone back to her ear. "Ethan!" she cried. "They shot a cop!"

A second passed, there was a fusillade and soon the whole precinct was in chaos. Heartny lurched to her feet, shouted, "Everyone, take cover!" and ran to hide under a table. She reached for her phone and called the FBI coming to take Terry. The call went through, but no one was answering.

Terry hid under a desk, crying or so she thought she was doing. She felt like a fool. If she'd set her pride aside and listened to Ethan, she could have saved the life of that dead cop, herself, and the others. When her eyes fell on the body and the pool of blood, she winced and shifted them elsewhere.

Ethan was still on the line, saying something she wasn't following. She had to focus, but she couldn't. She saw Heartny trying to assemble a team to fire back at the enemy. Everyone was busy doing something underground except her.

Five days ago, she wouldn't have encountered Ethan or witnessed any dead bodies if she'd turned down Clinton's offer to preside over the trial. She'd thought everything would go back to normalcy after Ethan had been given the lethal injection as Clinton promised her. In the middle of the havoc, she lost focus and her mind drifted somewhere.