The senior man looked at the scientist and tried to assess how much the man knew. Then he looked around the room. The colonel and Neal had established clear ground rules when they had brought him into their conspiracy, but he was the most senior officer of the United States Navy and he did not take orders from a colonel, let alone an air force colonel. But now he knew that he had betrayed their trust. More than that he had done so at huge risk, and the results had been worse than he could have imagined.

He drummed up his strength and readied himself for the other man’s righteous anger, “Neal, I … I was very discreet, and I listened to everything you said. I prepared the team using all the knowledge we had about them. I told them all her …”

Neal didn’t judge, but he was not gentle either, “Admiral, you went after Lana, didn’t you? You sent a team after Agent Wilson.” the other man did not nod, but he did not deny it either, his eyes were firm. Neal carried on, “What happened to them, Admiral? What did she do to them? No, wait, don’t answer that. I know what she did to them.” He shook his head, “How many did she kill, Admiral? What are we dealing with here?”

“More than you can imagine, Neal, more than you can imagine.”

Neal stared at him a moment finding himself unable to be angry in the face of the violent distress the admiral was clearly suffering. After a second’s pause, Tim Hamilton took a very deep breath, composed himself, nodded to Neal, and then stepped past the scientist into the center of the room. Neal looked after him wondering what he was doing. His answer came when the admiral, speaking with the full force of his authority, took the floor.

“Excuse me. Everyone. Everyone, can I have your attention, please?”

The room fell silent at the admiral’s booming voice. Neal, standing behind him, noticed that several worried-looking aides were handing out sheaves of papers to key people in the room. Whatever news the admiral had, it was clearly starting to come through official channels as well. That did not bode well.