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that.”
    It’s just that I’ve never seen a judge make underwear look that good, Danny thought. He motioned toward their assailant. “Who’s this guy? A military officer?”
    “He’s one of the guards assigned to our security detail. I don’t even know his name.”
    “And his captain? The one who shot at you?”
    “He’s the head of the guards. His name I do know. It’s Stefan Taber.”
    “How many guards on your detail?”
    “Including this one and Taber, five.”
    “So, eight people total? Three judges and five on the security detail?”
    Sydney nodded. Five guards, Danny thought. A group named the International Court of Justice must be flush with resources. That meant their security detail was well equipped. Danny eyed their surroundings again. His confidence that they were safe for the moment was no longer high.
    Danny picked up the guard’s arms. Then he motioned for Sydney to pick up his feet. “Let’s get him out of sight.” They carried him off the path a few yards and dumped him behind a dense patch of prickly-pear cactus.
    “Let’s get his clothes off. You can wear them.” Danny squatted, taking cover behind the cactus. Sydney followed his lead. He started working on one of the guard’s boots. Sydney went to work on the other one. “So what’s this lawsuit about?” he whispered.
    “Japan is suing the United States.”
    “On what grounds?”
    “They want to redeem their U.S. treasury notes.”
    “Redeem? You mean cash them in?”
    “Yes.”
    “How much?” Danny asked.
    “All of them,” Sydney replied.
    “All of them? How much money are we talking?”
    “A little over $1 trillion.”
    Danny whistled. “No wonder we don’t want to pay up.”
    Sydney nodded. “America has been living well beyond its means for the last twenty-five years. Why start paying your bills now?”
    Danny let that one go. He was aware of the mind-boggling amount of debt that America had racked up, something in the neighborhood of $13 trillion, which easily made the United States the world’s largest debtor nation.
    “A few months ago,” he started, remembering, “didn’t China and Japan stop buying our debt?”
    Sydney nodded. “Three months ago, yes.”
    “Does this lawsuit have something to do with that?”
    “It has everything to do with that.”
    Danny waited a moment for Sydney to continue with an explanation. “You don’t like giving away too much, do you?”
    “I think there is something else, something more.”
    “You think the lawsuit’s a cover?”
    “Yes.”
    Danny pulled off the boot and stared at her. Again, she balked at an explanation. “Why?”
    She yanked off the other boot. “Beyond the fact that I was almost killed for trying to interpret it?”
    “Good point. But countries are no different than people, right? No matter how badly they want to get paid, Japan would exhaust every other option first. Litigation is a last resort.”
    “More or less.”
    Danny waited a moment for her to continue. He asked, “Can you be a little more specific?” when she didn’t.
    Sydney narrowed her eyes. “Japan thinks they are out of all other options.”
    “Why’s that?”
    “Because the United States isn’t going to be around much longer.”

Chapter 13
    “You’re gonna have to explain that one,” Danny said.
    Sydney had already said too much. She kept silent, choosing to begin unbuttoning the guard’s shirt. She shucked it off his torso and slid into it. It was a few sizes too big, but at least it covered her. Moments later, Danny was helping her remove the guard’s pants.
    Sydney had never been in the business of trusting other people, especially after hearing Knobby’s tale, which appeared as if it were finally coming true. But there was something about this man, this Texas Ranger, this policeman. Although his eyes were beyond weary, kindness glowed inside them. It also didn’t hurt that he was gorgeous. His dark hair provided the perfect backdrop to a tanned face framed