The admiral’s mind raced; had he just heard the colonel correctly? Admiral Hamilton knew that he had sensed something profound in Neal all those months ago after the attack, and had assumed the man would come to him when he was ready. But Jesus Christ. Aliens. Really? This was the purpose of this meeting?

He looked at them curiously, “Colonel Milton? Mr. Danielson? I am waiting.”

The colonel nodded at Neal, seeing the wisdom of not throwing the photo of the admiral’s son’s girlfriend in front of the man just yet. He sat back and watched as Neal took over. To a certain degree, they knew, it was now out of their hands. There was no way they could control the reaction of a senior naval admiral. Nor, realistically, could they contain him if he did not see things the way they did.

It was down to them to convince him. A part of Neal wished Ayala was there, and he assumed Barrett felt the same way, but that would have been close to impossible. It was fairly difficult, and fairly treasonous, to bring a foreign spy into the Pentagon. They would just have to give it their best shot, and then put their faith in the man they had chosen.

* * *

The three men did not travel across town together. It had come down to proof, as it always did. Neal left by his usual route and returned home. Meanwhile, the colonel and a bemused admiral drove out of the Pentagon’s secure basement garage in Barrett’s rental car. They drove in silence, stopping first at a separate apartment the team had retained across town, where they changed clothes and went the rest of the way by bus. They eventually arrived on foot at the basement entrance to the house next door to Neal’s.

Neal was already in the basement when they came in from the street. He had booted up two of the offline PCs to show some of the information they had compiled since India, as well as the probe’s findings that had cost Laurie and James their lives.

It took several hours, and the admiral had to be talked down from fury and disorientation several times. But the hardest part had come when he had turned to the wall where Neal had posted all the information they had on John’s seven counterparts around the world.

“Jesus, is that … Lana. Good God, it can’t be.” he had said as he looked at the woman who was dating his son, who he had entertained in his home … whom he had personally seen deployed to the Atlantic Fleet navy yards in Georgia.