"Alexis, I've listened to what you've said and I've no recollection of any meeting with your father, ever. Remembering what happened two days ago is beyond me, let alone something that's supposed to have taken place two months ago. My memory doesn't exist. It's as if my brain has been wiped clean. Everything, other than the past three days is blank. I don't know where I've been or what I've done. I don't even know who I am. Is Tyler Spellman my real name?"

"What would be achieved by lying?" snapped Alexis.

"It will bury the truth that much deeper."

"What then is the truth?" Alexis challenged.

"I was hoping you might tell me that. And might I suggest you start by providing the reason I'm being pursued. What the hell have I done?"

"I only know what we were told. It's alleged you went rogue on your last mission, killed a colleague and then disappeared off the radar."

"What was that mission?" Calin persisted with his questions.

"They didn't provide us with that detail."

"Who issued the orders?"

"Guys in suits, but they were backed up by uniforms littered with stars."

"FBI?"

"Don't think so. Fibbies are generally up front with their ID's. One of my colleagues suggested Homeland Security." There was that name again.

"I don't remember that name, who are Homeland Security?"

"Homeland Security was created after 9/11 and its prime role is protecting the Nation against terrorism."

"So they are another one of the Pentagon's assassin squads." He was stunned by his own words. How did he know of the existence of such bodies? He couldn't recall names but he sensed certainty in the thought. Was Alexander an employee of one of these agencies? Or was the name Alexander another deception. Designed perhaps to trigger association with Alex Bryant? But what was the connection?

"Who's to say you're not employed by one of them?" The question from Alexis suggested neither her anger nor her distrust had been pacified.

"Were that the case, Alexis, you'd now be dead. Assassins don't take prisoners, they leave dead bodies."

"And they don't go to the aid of women being raped," added Jess.

"I understand your hate for me," said Calin. "And it may well be justified, but there are some questions about your father that need to be asked?"

"I'll answer your questions when you answer mine."

"Fire away soldier, I've got nothing to hide," Calin replied.

"Does the name Marvin Trent mean anything to you?" Calin shook his head.

"Should it? Who is he?"

"Not is, was," Alexis replied. "He was a five-star in a senior administrative role in the Pentagon who was gunned down in a restaurant five nights ago, a couple of nights before you resurfaced in that farmhouse. By the way, the dead guy found in that house with you has been identified, although that information is presently being withheld. His name was Lieutenant Pattison Walford, a personal assistant to General Marvin Trent. Do you see the connection now?"

"That wasn't the name he carried on his ID."

"He was undercover and on assignment," she answered.

"Where is all of this leading, Lex?"

"Are you ready for this?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

"My father was investigating rumours surrounding alleged illegal activities going back many years involving General Marvin Trent."

"Let's stop there for a minute, Lex," said Calin. "I need to get my head around all of this. Correct me if I'm wrong." He paused to realign his thoughts. "You believe I killed Trent, Walford and your father. What facts do you base this on?"

"You were the last man to see my father alive. You now admit you were present at the scene where Walford's body was found and you have no alibi as to your whereabouts at the time of Trent's death. Your only defence is amnesia. I would suggest it's an open and shut case."

"I can't prove where I was when your colleagues were executed," said Calin. "Do you want to add them to the list? I have admitted tying them to the tree where you found them dead."

"You say they were alive," she argued. "I can't attest to that, you had knocked me unconscious. All I know is they are now dead."

"In the case of the two soldiers, I was there. I'll provide an eye witness account," challenged Jess. "

"The evidence of accessories carries little credibility."

"Alexis, when I was a kid, someone, and I can't remember who, once said, 'bigotry and belief can never be companions, the first blinds to truth while the second closes the mind to reality.' So, if that's where you are, maybe it is better you go." Calin felt no anger, in fact, he understood. She loved her father and she blamed him for his death.

"Thought you had no memory."

"Why don't you fuck off," said Jess, her anger about to explode. She was on her feet and standing over Alexis, prepared and ready it seemed to convert her rage into a more physical form. "We don't need you. Go back where you came from and tell whoever is running this game we're not coming in."

"It's not a game, girly."

"Stop, both of you." 'The surest way to lose in battle; is to be divided within.' Another dictum retrieved from the training manual. Calin now stood between the two adversaries. Calin turned to Alexis.

"Lex, is this how your father would have behaved," asked Calin. "Or expect you to behave? I don't think so. Before he made any decision he analysed every available fact."

"The only fact I need to know concerns my father, he's dead." The anger of Jess had found an accomplice in Alexis.

"Jess is right, Alexis, you are free to go. But where can you go? Who can you trust? Your colleagues or me, think about it, Lex. I let you go free. They had orders to kill you."

"You don't know that."

"Why did you come to us last night? Didn't you trust them?"

She offered no response.

"Lex, if I was the killer I'm alleged to be, would I have released you? There is only one answer to that; I'm not a cold blooded killer. I didn't kill your colleagues or the Lieutenant. I don't know about your father or Trent. I only hope when my memory returns, if it returns, I'll be able to prove my innocence in both cases. All I now ask is you trust me.