He finally had the proof he sought. He didn’t know why it had taken him so long to find it, but an attack was imminent.

The signal had been clear enough:
1. Pick up the phone.
2. Dial the Pentagon.
3. Blow into it once.
4. Hang up.
5. Wait one minute, then repeat.

He dialed the secure number. Then he cursed when the call did not go through. His heart racing, he dialed again. No one answered.

He cringed, dropping the telephone. Perhaps he had been made. His sense of duty overrode anything else and he ran to a local eatery. He dialed the phone there. He knew it was a breach of protocol to call the brass on anything but a secure line, but the risk to his country outranked protocol at this juncture.

Nothing.

Suddenly realizing what was going on, he dropped the phone.

The last thing he thought was that he had been too late.