Looking at her, the question you were forced to ask was, How could a woman such as this ever defend a murderer, a rapist, a defiler of corpses?

Then she began. And I could see immediately why OGMM employed her as their heavy hitter. She emitted a fierce energy in the court. She glowed with conviction. She wasn’t shrill or wordy or choppy. Her words flowed, a human volcano emitting a stream of white-hot lava that gracefully curled down its slopes.

She spoke for two minutes, then she ordered the board to look at her client. Ten heads immediately turned. Even the cameras shifted to focus on Tommy Whitehall, sitting stiffly erect in his Army greens. And that’s when I literally lost my breath. Why I hadn’t figured it out before, I don’t know, but as they say, the camera doesn’t lie. As I looked at Tommy’s face on that TV screen it hit me like a fist. I suddenly knew. I finally understood.

I wanted to scream. If I could have, I would have leaped out of that hospital bed and run straight over to the courtroom. I would’ve rushed up and pulled Katherine Carlson into my arms. I would’ve kissed her and comforted her, and begged her forgiveness.

Then the cameras and my own attention returned to Katherine. Perhaps it was my newfound knowledge, but she looked sadder than any human being I’d ever seen. She was admitting to the board that Eddie Golden was going to present one of the most compelling prosecution cases the world had ever heard. Every piece of evidence, every witness, every word out of Eddie’s lips was going to make it impossible to believe that Captain Whitehall didn’t commit the crimes of which he was accused.

There was a reason for this, she announced. Captain Whitehall was framed. She might not be able to prove this. She admitted this very forthrightly, because she had no intention of lying or misleading the board. The people who’d framed her client had made no mistakes. They’d left no implicating evidence. They’d thought it through and acted deliberately and skillfully. They’d done an astonishingly clever job of pinning it on her client. Nor was it difficult to do. Just a few simple steps was all it took.

Katherine warned them: As you listen to the prosecutor’s case, as you hear his witnesses, as you view his evidence, remember that you’re looking at the fabric of a murder committed by somebody else and blamed on Captain Whitehall. Put yourself in Captain Whitehall’s shoes. Don’t put yourself in Eddie Golden’s shoes, because he’s the biggest fool in this courtroom. He’s been gulled, cuckolded, misled. He’s the real murderer’s best ally. Remember that with every word that spews from his mouth: He’s already been fooled.

Considering the circumstances, Katherine’s opener was about as good as they come. Fast Eddie, though, was seated at his table, unsuccessfully fighting a smug smile. Katherine had given the signal that all experienced attorneys know how to interpret. She’d admitted in her opening statement she couldn’t defeat the state’s case. So she’d done the only other reasonable thing you could do. She’d tried to get the board to imagine a conspiracy – not to ignore the witnesses or the evidence, but to see them as proof of the framer’s skill. She couldn’t undermine the evidence, so she was attacking the credibility of the presenter.

A nice touch, but I knew Eddie. He was going to cut her to shreds.

Katherine went back to her table, then the judge asked both attorneys to approach the bench. At this point the station cut to a commercial, but I knew what was happening.

When the broadcast resumed, the court was breaking up and the correspondent announced that Judge Carruthers had declared a recess for the rest of the day. Eddie and Katherine were collecting their papers from their respective tables. Katherine was smiling as she walked from the bench, which I found curious. But I guess she was just relieved to have another day to try to figure some new approach, to discover some breakthrough or create some new surprise for Eddie.

I flipped off the TV and tried to nap. I was going to need some sleep to pull this off.

About three hours later, they began arriving. First came a pair of MPs who peeked inside my room, then backed out and posted themselves outside my door.

Then Buzz and Carol showed up. Then two technicians lugged in a TV set and a VCR and a big camcorder on a tripod. Then the court bailiff entered. Then Eddie arrived looking miffed and sulky. Then came Captain Kip Goins, Katherine’s substitute military co-counsel, who was representing his lead counsel because classified materials were going to be discussed. Finally, when everything was ready, Colonel Carruthers arrived in full dress greens. It was the first time I’d seen him with all his ribbons and regalia, and the first time I realized he was a former infantryman himself. I knew this because there was a Combat Infantryman’s Badge on his breast, and a Ranger tab, and two Purple Hearts, and a Silver Star. No wonder he was such a hardass. With all due respect, of course.

A small metal desk had been set up on the far side of the room, and frankly Carruthers looked comical as he struggled to cram his huge frame behind that tiny thing. It’s worth noting, though, that nobody giggled or showed the slightest sign of amusement.

While everybody was facing the judge, the door opened again and an elderly Korean man slipped in the back and took a seat by the door. It was Minister of Defense Lee. I’d made sure he was invited, although until this moment I wasn’t sure he was going to come.

Carruthers opened with a fierce glower and explanation that this was a highly unusual procedure that was essential for the pursuit of justice. He pointed at the camcorder and informed us that the proceedings would be taped and preserved in the event of a subsequent appeal. The proceeding would be treated as though we were in the courtroom. He informed us we’d be hearing classified testimony, and if a single word uttered in this room leaked out, there’d be another court-martial, and he’d personally chair it, and it wouldn’t be pretty.

Such was the judge’s manner that even Buzz Mercer gulped.

Then Carruthers pulled a wooden mallet out of a pocket and slammed his little desk two or three times.

Mercer was asked to move to a chair in front of the judge’s desk, where he was sworn in by the bailiff. The judge asked him a few introductory questions, like who was he, and what was his job, and what was his involvement with this case.

Eddie was seated in the corner of the room, and I kept my eyes on him, while his own kept wandering warily over to me. I could see he was curious, even nervous, about my role. I wasn’t here as an attorney, since I’d already recused myself. Nor was I a witness. I was here as a specially appointed military assistant to Judge Barry Carruthers.

We’d even sent a frantic query to the military’s review court in Alexandria, Virginia, about our intentions, and they’d responded that they’d never heard of anything like this being done before, but as I was a sworn officer of the court, there didn’t seem to be anything in the Uniform Code of Military Justice that precluded it. You can only have one judge in a criminal trial, but what law says he can’t have an assistant?

Since nothing about to be discussed had been made available through pretrial discovery to either side, or even to the judge, this really was an unprecedented thing. On the other hand, both Carruthers and I had worked in the SPECAT court, where extraordinary things were done as a matter of course to protect the country’s security.

Anyway, once Mercer had told everybody who he was, and about his involvement in this case, the judge turned the proceeding over to his specially appointed assistant. That meant he turned it over to me.

I said, “Mr. Mercer, could you please explain to the court the trail of events that led to your discovery that Chief Warrant Officer Michael Bales and Chief Inspector Choi Lee Min were operating as agents of North Korea?”