"I'll make you my lead commando group and send the others back for more training," Bergman said, his expression showing he doubted very much that would happen.

Once out of sight of the camp, Harley shifted into double time, practically jogging as he moved through dense jungle overgrowth as if it weren't there. It was all the rest of the team could do to keep up with him as he moved silently and swiftly down narrow jungle trails.

After thirty minutes, he stopped when he found an area he liked.

Squatting, he and Hammer stuck sticks in the soft earth 49.just off the trail and strung thin, almost invisible wire across the path. The wire they connected to slam-bangs, percussion grenades that exploded with a loud bang and a brilliant flash of light when triggered.

Harley then moved back down the trail the way they'd come, whispering directions to Coop and Jersey as he positioned them in undergrowth off the trail and handed them a handful of plastic tie-downs, such as cops use in place of handcuffs.

Taking Anna by the arm, he and Hammer ran on ahead, jumping over the wire as they pa.s.sed it.

Fifteen minutes pa.s.sed, and then a group of ten men appeared on the trail, pa.s.sing between Jersey and Coop without seeing them. Evidently, Bergman hadn't kept his word about giving them an hour's head start, Coop thought as he ducked down behind his bush and waited for the scout group to pa.s.s.

The leader of the commandos, a tall black man with broad shoulders and old burn scars on his face, walked in a semi-crouch, sweeping his laser rifle back and forth as he moved silently up the trail.

The men behind him were good, for they kept their attention on what they were doing, with little chatter or unnecessary talk. They were strung out in single file, five yards between them, as they walked.

When the leader tripped the wire, causing the grenades to explode, all ten men hit the dirt facedown, yelling and groaning from the pain intheir ears.

Coop and Jersey jumped from their cover, reversed their K-Bar a.s.sault knives, and coldc.o.c.ked the last two men in the line in the back of their heads, knocking them unconscious. Then Coop and Jersey slipped back under cover.

Up ahead, just before a bend in the trail, Anna stepped into view and fired off several rounds with her M-16 laser rifle, making sure not to hit anyone.

The laser rifles were fitted with blank cartridges so they would sound like real combat weapons.

The black leader managed to get off two rounds, which 50.missed, before Anna disappeared around the bend and out of sight.

"Come on, men, they're up ahead!" he yelled, jumping to his feet and taking off in pursuit. His men scrambled to their feet and followed him, none noticing that the last two men in the group remained facedown on the jungle ground.

After the group ran out of sight, Jersey and Coop emerged from hiding and wrapped the hands and feet of the unconscious men with the plastic tie-downs, then followed the scouts up the trail.

As the commandos rounded the bend in the trail, two dark figures dropped from trees next to the path onto the last two men in the group, slapping the back of their necks with vicious karate chops as they landed.

Jersey and Coop caught up with them just as Hammer and Harley finished securing the men's arms and legs with tie-downs.

"Four down, six to go," Harley grunted with a smile as he tightened the final tie-down.

"What about Anna?" Jersey asked.

"She's okay," Hammer said, consulting a map of the region Bergman had given them. "She's waiting for us up ahead, near where the trail splits and goes in two different directions."

"How'll we get to her?" Coop asked. "The commandos are between us and her."

"We go this way through the jungle," Harley answered, pointing to the left. "The left-hand trail bends back this way and we can cut straight across and meet her ahead of the enemy force."

Coop glanced at what looked like impenetrable jungle. "We're going through that?" he asked.

Harley smiled. "No pain, no gain," he said, as he melted into the undergrowth.

51.Ronald Watanabe, the leader of the commandos, stopped and looked behindhim. "Where are the others?" he asked.

His men glanced around. Lieutenant Johnson, his second in command, shook his head. "We're missing four men, sir."

"I can see that, you imbecile," Watanabe almost shouted. "Where are they?"

Johnson, sweat beading on his forehead in the thick humidity of the jungle, shrugged. "I ddn't know, sir. If they'd been shot, we would've heard their flak jackets go off."

"d.a.m.n!" Watanabe exclaimed. "These recruits are better than I thought.

Keep together and let's move slower. I don't want to lose any more men."

They moved less than a hundred yards before coming to a wide, shallow river flowing sluggishly through the undergrowth.

"Be careful, men," Watanabe said as he held his rifle over his head and waded out through rushes and weeds into the stream. "These rivers are full of crocs and snakes."

On the opposite bank, Anna stepped out and fired a quick burst, then turned and ran away again.

"Go, go, go!" Watanabe shouted, splashing and firing his M-16 as he struggled against the slow current to cross the river.

With his men's attention in front of them, none noticed the four figures rise silently out of the water behind them, bamboo breathing tubes in their mouths.

Four hands rose and fell, knocking four more commandos unconscious and taking them back into the rushes at the water's edge.

Watanabe and Johnson scrambled out of the water onto the opposite bank, their rifles held before them, looking for the elusive Anna, who was nowhere to be seen.

"G.o.dd.a.m.n!" Watanabe said, wiping water out of his eyes as he turned to check his men.

"s.h.i.t!" he almost yelled, seeing no one behind him except 52.Johnson. "What the h.e.l.l's going on here?" he asked his lieutenant.

Johnson looked around, his eyes widening in fear at the sight of the empty water behind them. "You think crocs got 'em?" he asked.

"If it wasn't, those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds are gonna wish they had been eaten when I get through with 'em."

Watanabe slammed a fresh clip in his M-16 and began to move up the trail, his eyes searching the bushes for enemies, his finger itchy on the trigger.

Johnson followed, his head swiveling as he continually checked his back trail.Twenty minutes later, they heard what sounded like the deep growl of a jungle cat, followed by the high-pitched scream of a woman in danger.

"s.h.i.t!" Johnson said. "That sounded like a panther, an' all we got with us are blanks."

Watanabe nodded. They'd lost two men to the big cats during training, and he wanted no part of facing one without live ammo in his rifle.

"Let's get the h.e.l.l out of here," he said. "I ain't gonna get killed for no training exercise."

They began to jog back down the trail, looking back over their shoulders as the sound of a panther again rang out through the jungle.

As they rounded a bend, Harley and Hammer jerked on a vine they'd laid across the trail, sending Johnson and Watanabe sprawling onto their faces. Before they could look up, they were knocked unconscious by blows to the back of their heads by Jersey and Coop.

Anna strolled up to the group just as they were finishing placing the tie-downs on their victims.

"Jesus, Anna," Coop said. "That cry sounded so real it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up."

She smiled. "Fooled you, huh?"

"d.a.m.n straight!" Coop said.

53.Harley stood up from immobilizing Johnson and Watanabe. "It fooled them too. Now, let's get back to camp and see what Herr Bergman has to say about our performance."

"Are we just going to leave these men out here in the jungle with their hands and feet tied?" Anna asked, a worried look on her face.

"Yep," Harley answered. "Maybe it'll teach 'em not to f.u.c.k with us in the future."

"That's if the snakes and jungle cats don't eat them first," Coop said, looking around at the dense undergrowth with a shudder.

54 Six Otis Warner and General Joe Winter sat down across from Ben Raines in his office.

"Good morning, gentlemen," Ben said. "Can I offer you some coffee?"

"No, sir," Otis said. "We've already eaten breakfast."

Ben leaned back in his chair and crossed his hands behind his head.

"Then, what can I do for you?"

"We want to know what you plan to do about Claire Os-terman's illegal takeover of the USA," Otis said, a challenging note in his voice.Ben smiled and shrugged. "Nothing."

"But, General Raines," Winter began.

"Hold on a moment, General," Ben interrupted. "In the first place, what Claire did was not illegal. As far as I've been able to find out, she is merely performing the job to which she was legally elected by the people of the United States."

"But . . ." Otis said.

Now Ben leaned forward, his elbows on his desk. "No buts, Otis. The only illegal act I'm aware of is the one in which you and your general here attempted to a.s.sa.s.sinate the elected leader of your country and take over her position."

"But, General Raines, we did it for the good of the country ... and the world. You know what Claire was up to. If she'd stayed in office she would have continued the war against you and the SUSA until the United States was completely destroyed," Otis said.

55."The woman is a complete psychopath!" Winter added, a look of extreme distaste on his face.

Ben smiled and nodded. "Oh, I agree with you, gentlemen, and I must say I agreed completely with what you did when you took her out and took over her presidency. But, now that she's managed to take it back, it's not my job to rid your country of its elected leader. If the people of the U.S. are too spoiled by the welfare state she's set up to see what kind of woman is leading them, then I think they deserve what they get."

"It's not the people's fault, General," Otis said. "She has a ma.s.sive propaganda machine in place that misleads the people as to what is going on in the world."

"Bulls.h.i.t!" Ben exclaimed. "President Lincoln said it best over a hundred and fifty years ago . . . you can't fool all of the people all of the time-not unless they want to be fooled."

"What do you mean, want to be fooled?" General Winter asked, a puzzled look on his face.

"You know exactly what I mean, General. In your country, men and women don't have to work if they don't want to, 'cause your government is predicated on the principle that everyone is completely equal and deserves the same share of the country's wealth."

"What is wrong with equality?" Otis asked belligerently.

"Nothing," Ben said shortly, "except it's not true now and never has been. Men are not created equal, except under the law. There are workers and there are slugs who prefer to live off the sweat of other people.

Your country has chosen to treat them all as equals, and that is why your productivity has fallen to record low levels since Osterman and her socialist/democratic government took over."

"What do you do with your citizens who are unable to work?" Otis asked.

"Let them starve?"Ben shook his head. "No. Those who because of sickness or ill health cannot work are taken care of. But those who refuse to work out of laziness or perverseness, are not. Usually, when they get hungry enough, they find the inner strength to 56.go back to work. We haven't had anyone voluntarily starve themselves to death since I've been here."

"That's barbaric," Otis said.

"No, Mr. Warner, it's realistic. It's the reason my country, a tenth the size of yours, outproduces yours every year and has kicked your b.u.t.t every time you've attacked us."

General Winter laid his hand on Otis's arm to shut him up. "We're getting off the subject here, General," he said to Ben. "Do you plan to help us get rid of Osterman or not?"

Ben once again leaned back in his chair and tried to calm himself. He always got overexcited when he heard the same tired old arguments supporting socialism, a form of government that had never in the history of the world worked for very long.

"Of course I'll help you, General Winter," he said. "I will give you all the logistic support you require to attempt to take your government back from the crazy lady."

"What do you mean, logistical support?" Otis asked.

"I'll see that you are taken back to the U.S. and set up with funds and equipment to start a revolutionary movement within the country. If, as you say, the people are truly tired of the way Osterman has been running the country, you shouldn't have any problem getting recruits to join your movement. But, on the other hand, if the citizens are satisfied with the status quo, then you will fail, as you should."

Otis glanced at General Winter and shrugged. "That's fair enough."

"Good. Then I'll arrange to have one of my pilots fly you into the country under their radar and put you down wherever you want, along with some money and whatever else you need to get started."

After Warner and Winter left his office, Ben asked his secretary to get Mike Post to his office as soon as possible. Mike entered a few moments later. "Hey, Ben. What's up?"

57."I've changed my mind about the supplies Osterman is sending down to Perro Loco."

Mike grinned. "You mean you've decided to take out the freighter?"

Ben pursed his lips. "Not exactly. That would cause too much political backlash between us and Mexico."

"Then just what've you got in mind?""I thought we might send a SEAL team in, under cover of darkness."

"Boss, it doesn't matter if we sink the freighter with a missile or with a SEAL team," Post argued. "The president of Mexico is still gonna be p.i.s.sed off."

"I don't want the SEAL team to sink the ship," Ben said. "Get them in here and I'll explain."

Captain Michael Kevin Fitzpatrick had been sailing on ships for most of his fifty-one years. Called Fitz by everyone on shipboard, he had promised to share with the crew the bonus Claire Osterman was paying them to sail into Mexico. They'd been loaded down with aircraft, munitions, vehicles, and just about every other type of war weapon he'd ever heard of--and some he hadn't-at Portsmith, Virginia.

The plan was for them to sail around the southern coast of Florida, turn west, and cut across the Gulf of Mexico toward the Mexican Navy base on the eastern coast of Mexico. When Fitz had initially refused to put his ship in danger by sailing into a war zone, the president had laughed and told him she had it on good authority there would be no attack.

"The Mexican president doesn't have the b.a.l.l.s to do his job," she'd said with a sneer. "He thinks if he ignores us, we'll go away quietly and not bother him anymore, the stupid b.a.s.t.a.r.d."

"The Mexican president may be chickens.h.i.t, but Ben Raines isn't," Fitz had countered. "How do I know he won't send his planes after us?"

58."Raines will do what President Jeffreys tells him to do," Claire had said, "and my spies say he's ordered Raines to lay off for the present."