Ethan stepped inside the car and fastened the seat belt. He hadn’t turned the engine when the phone he’d gotten from Tony’s pocket started to vibrate. He pulled it out, answered the call, and put it on loudspeaker.

     “Is it done?”

     He placed the caller to be Clinton. He finally got the chance to speak to his framer.

     “Your men are down, Mr. Attorney General.”

     A pregnant silence fell, then he said, “Mr. Willows. I didn’t expect you’d be breathing by now.”

     “Let me guess,” he said snarkily, “you thought your men would kill me. Well, as the old saying goes, if you want something done, do it yourself.”

     “You’re a fugitive from justice. It’s only a matter of time before you’re captured and condemned to death. That’s what you deserve after all.”

     He retorted, “You wish. I took down your men. If you send another, I will take them down one by one until I finally get to you.” He said the words in a slow monotonous voice for them to register in his brain and send the emphasis he wanted to deliver.

     “I know about the allegations against Admiral Peterson. I’m just not sure how you fit in, but from the looks of things, I’m certain you’re his accomplice.”

     Clinton laughed. “As you said, they’re allegations, which means you don’t have proof. I’m the U.S. Attorney General, and you’re nothing more than a veteran navy commander gone rogue. The world thinks you’re a mass murderer. It’d be very difficult to prove your innocence, especially when you’ve got nobody to help you.”

     Ethan scoffed. “Well, for your information, I didn’t hit the convoy transporting me. Someone did. Someone thinks I’m innocent. Someone powerful enough to hit a state convoy. You do the math, Clinton.”

     “You’re bluffing.”

     “I’m not, and you know that. By the end of the day, I’m going to find you and Admiral Peterson and make sure you pay for all the crimes you’ve committed.”

     “Good luck with that.” Clinton clicked off.

     Ethan threw the phone through the window, started the car, and pulled out from the designated spot he had parked.

# # #

     Clinton sprang up from the chair he was sitting on in his penthouse and hurled the telephone at the wall. It smashed into pieces. This couldn’t be happening. Twice now his men had failed his commands. They couldn’t kill Ethan and the Judge. How bad could it get?

      Well, he did agree with the fugitive on one thing. If you want something done, then do it yourself. His rage today was nothing compared to anything he’d ever felt. He pulled his hair backward and spent the next minutes pacing the room and tearing the place apart.

     A while later, he stopped to look at the mess he’d created. He thought of what Ethan had said about someone breaking him out. Deep down, he knew Ethan couldn’t have devised such a plan on his own. He had help. But from whom?

     If there was a nugget of truth in the fugitive’s words, then Ethan wasn’t his only enemy. There was another enemy, and he had to find out who that was.

     His cell phone lying on the white couch rang. He picked it and answered the call.

     “What do you want?”

     “Do you have my daughter?”

     Clinton’s brows puckered. Terry’s daughter was missing? He was about to give a terse ‘No. I don’t have your daughter’ when something dawned on him. He put on a smile and said, “Yes I do.”

     Terry was relieved to hear this. He heard her soft sigh. “Why did you kidnap her?”

     “Kidnap her?” He laughed boisterously. “You make it sound as if I was the bad guy of the story. I didn’t kidnap Gabby. I took her to protect her.”

     Terry snapped, “From what?”

     “From Ethan Willows. After you escaped, I thought he was going to use your family to get you back.”

     She’d have believed him if she didn’t know better. “I don’t believe you. Did you order a hit on Hamilton’s life?”

     Clinton was taken aback by her courage in accusing him of felony without a thought about the repercussions. Surely, the fugitive’s influence had gotten her on his side, which put him in a precarious position. “You’re accusing the U.S. Attorney General of felony without proof. It’s an offense.”

     “Drop the act, Clinton, and answer my question. Did you kill Hamilton?”

     “No, I did not. Why would I do that?”

     She replied quickly, “To stop him from telling the truth about Ethan and that you hired him to perjure himself.”

    “Where did you get those absurd ideas from? Don’t tell me you believe what that criminal told you.”

     “Well, that criminal has done nothing but tell me the truth, which you haven’t. The station I was waiting for the FBI team was attacked. People died. Innocent people. Did you order the hit?”

     “No, I did not—”

     She cut him off. “Don’t lie to my face. I deserve better than that after everything you put me through.”

     “I’m not lying. Everything I’ve told you is the truth. Ethan is dangerous, a threat to national security. . .”

     “And needs to be eliminated at all costs and blah, blah, blah. I know that already. Everything you’ve said contradicts what he’s done. He fed me. Saved me from the people you hired to kill me.”

     Clinton couldn’t believe his ears. While he was in the penthouse, nursing a bottle of Chardonnay and hoping that his men on the field would bring him good news, the fugitive was playing heroism with the Judge. No wonder she was accusing him of felony. Ethan had gotten her trust and had turned her against him. This wasn’t good. Judge Terry on Ethan’s side was a catastrophe.

     But he had anticipated this sooner or later. He had to get Terry’s trust back. No matter what.

     “From the people I hired to kill you?” he repeated. “Can you hear yourself? Why would I want you dead?”

     “I don’t know unless you tell me.”

     “Look, Terry. I didn’t say anything because I wanted to protect you.”

     “Protect me from what?”

     “From Ethan?”

     Terry sighed. “Don’t even go there because I’m not buying it.”

     “Since you insist on knowing the truth, then I will tell you.”

     Terry went silent. After a while, she said, “I’m listening.”

     “Ethan is a sleeper agent. He works for a shadow organization believed to be extinct. They’re terrorists, and their target is here. He’s been relaying intel to the organization for a decade now. When the Admiral found out, he concocted to frame him and killed those men in the storehouse who knew about the secret. The allegations were never true. They were made up to divert attention from him. Do you remember the bombing at the CIA HQ in Langley?”

     The bombing had been the talk of the town and there was no way she could have forgotten. She said, “Yes, I do.”

     He continued, “The shadow organization is responsible. They wanted to destroy any proof of their existence. They murdered two top agents on the case. And Ethan Willows works for them. I didn’t tell you because people have died because of this.”

     “Do you have proof?”

     “Yes, I do. I’m going to send it to you. I’m not the villain of the story. Ethan Willows is.”

     Terry stiffened. She was left in a dilemma. Ethan Willows couldn’t possibly be a sleeper agent. But then she realized they just met, and there were a lot of things she didn’t know about him. Damn, she was so close to believing all that he’d told her.

     Terry listened, confused and disappointed in Ethan for lying to her face. After a while, Clinton told her he’d sent her the proof through her email. She put Clinton on hold and went to sit in front of a laptop. She logged into her email account, read the mail Clinton had sent, and clicked on the attachment. She braced herself for whatever she was about to see. The attachment took seconds to load, then documents and photos were displayed on the screen. Terry almost screamed.

     “It’s true. You were right all along.”

     “I’m glad you’ve seen that. What you just learned shouldn’t go out else people will hunt you down and kill you.”

     She was too shocked to care about that. “I still can’t believe it. How could he be a sleeper agent?”

     “That’s what I’m trying to get to the bottom of. I want to know Ethan’s endgame too, but as long as he’s at large, I can’t do that.”

     “I think I’ve got a way to contact him.”

     “I’m listening.”