In this second installment in the Ultimate series, Judge Raleigh Westlake and the secret tribunal continue to prosecute criminals who have escaped justice. In their mobile courtroom, the cabal targets a judge who has taken bribes in exchange for lenient sentences and a politician linked to the murder of a young woman a quarter century in the past. In his real courtroom, Judge Westlake oversees the trial of an 18 year old accused of rampaging through a Christmas party, killing dozens. But the defendant has been framed.
As the story unfolds, long-buried secrets are revealed. The Judge himself is linked to the death of a client and her children while he was still in law school. Caroline Bannister, the zealous federal prosecutor who saved them all from certain capture in Ultimate Verdict, seeks to avenge her sister's death at all costs. In her quest for justice, she becomes blinded by revenge.
Judge Westlake and Caroline Bannister become entangled romantically, though neither fully trusts the other. As the trial of accused terrorist Abdul Alnoor commences, they become ensnared in a web of deceit perpetrated by the real terrorist--Viktor Volkov. Volkov, a Russian spy embedded in America as a plastic surgeon, has planted damning evidence to frame Alnoor. Though Alnoor professes his innocence, his prosecution steams forward unabated.
When the cabal sets free that judge who took bribes, Caroline secretly returns and kills him, making it look like suicide. And the cabal has made a critical mistake--they have trusted Caroline. In pursuing the Mayor of Charlotte for the death of her sister, Caroline is blinded to the truth. She alters evidence to serve her own agenda, convincing the others that the politician is guilty. At the end of the politician's trial in the secret courtroom, before sentence can be imposed, Caroline brutally executes the Mayor.
A missing cell phone holds evidence that has never been unearthed. When the cell phone surfaces at the end of the novel, it contains a video that exculpates the politician, a revelation that sends them all into a tailspin. They have murdered an innocent man. In their misguided pursuit of the politician, they have veered straight into the path of the real terrorist. And they become his target.
As the trial of accused terrorist Abdul Alnoor gets underway, the real terrorist blackmails Judge Westlake and Caroline Bannister. In the critical climax, the secret tribunal must make their most difficult decision: Do they save themselves, or an innocent man?
