DOG SWUNG THE MEGAFORTRESS TO THE SOUTH, PUSHING it closer to the border. The MiGs were definitely heading east in a big hurry, but while they were flying in the general direction of the Romanian helicopters, it was hard to tell if they knew exactly where they were.

"They shouldn't be able to see them on their radar until they're a lot closer," Rager said. "But they will see them. Those are Fulcrum C's. Their radar is almost as good as an F-15's."

"Almost as good" covered a wide ground, but Dog wasn't about to argue the point. Even if the radars' look-down ability wasn't up to American specs, the MiG pilots were on a course to fly almost directly over the choppers.

"Stoner, tell the helicopter pilots to cut south," said Dog. He'd decided to use the sat phone to avoid their conversation being monitored by the Moldovans or Russians. "They're riding right on the vector the Russians are taking."

"Copy." Stoner's voice was nearly drowned out by the heavy whirl of the helicopter engines above him.

"Colonel, we can take them down," said Sullivan. "I have an intercept plotted."

"We can't do it, Sully," said Dog.

"Those helicopters are dead ducks if they attack."

Dog didn't answer. He knew that what Sullivan had said was absolutely true-if the MiG pilots decided they were going to shoot the helicopters down, only luck would save them.

And what was he going to do? Just watch?

Dog punched the preset for the Dreamland Command com circuit.

"This is Bastian. I need to speak to General Samson."

"Colonel, he's in bed," said Sergeant Louch, who was handling the communications duties at Iasi.

"Wake him up."

"Yes, sir. Right away."

ZEN BANKED HAWK TWO TO THE NORTH, STILL WATCHING the border. The helicopters were about twenty miles from Romanian soil. That translated into roughly ten minutes of flying time. The MiGs, afterburners spent, had slowed to about 800 knots, and were about three minutes' flying time from an intercept.

The helos began changing course, turning south. They were in four groups. One group, which had taken off from the farm, was already over the border and thus out of harm's way. The other three groups, with eight helicopters apiece, were strung out in a semicircle approaching northeastern Romania. The helicopters in each group were flying in slightly offset single file, with the groups themselves forming three parallel hashes as they flew.

The trucks, meanwhile, were moving along a pair of parallel roads to the north. They too could be easily targeted, if the MiGs realized they were there.

One flick of his wrist and a push of his finger on the throttle slide at the back of his control yoke and Hawk One would be lined up perfectly for an intercept on the lead MiG. Zen wouldn't even have to shoot it down to protect the helicopters-once he got their attention, he figured, they'd lose interest in everything else.

At least long enough to let them get away.

Surely the colonel was thinking the same thing. Orders or no orders, they had to protect their people. Stoner was in one of the choppers.

Zen pulled back on the Flighthawk's control, adding a little more alt.i.tude as he waited for the order to attack.

"WHAT THE h.e.l.l IS IT, BASTIAN?"

"We have four Russian MiGs pursuing the Romanian force out of Moldova. I want permission to intercept."

"Where? Romania? You have it."

"No. The MiGs may hit them in Moldova. If I go over the border, I can save them."

"We went over this, Bastian. No. You can't go over the border. No."

"The helicopters will be easy pickings."

"The President's order was nothing over the border. No."

"But-"

"What part of no don't you understand?"

"General-"

"This conversation is done, Colonel. If those planes come over the border or attack you directly, take them down. But you stay on our side of the line. Is that clear, Lieutenant Colonel?"

"Crystal, General."

Moldova

2250.

IT WAS STONER'S IDEA.

"When its nest is being attacked, a mother bird pretends to be wounded, drawing the predators away," he told Colonel Brasov. "You could do the same-have one of the helicopters peel off, get the MiGs interested, then land. Everyone runs for it-the MiGs come down and investigate. The other choppers get away. We make our way home by foot."

Instead of answering, Brasov went forward to the c.o.c.kpit. Stoner glanced around the cabin. The troops were quiet now, aware they were pursued. "You are full of good ideas, Mr. Stoner," said the colonel, returning. Then he added, "The Russian aircraft are almost on us."

"How far is the border?"

Brasov just shook his head.

"I would not ask my men to make a sacrifice I was unwilling to make myself," said the colonel.

"Neither would I," said Stoner.

Presidential villa,

near Stulpicani, Romania

2247.

ALIN VODA CLUTCHED THE REVOLVER CLOSE TO HIS BELLY as he went up the open stairs into the back of the root cellar beneath his house. In his years since joining Romania's government, and certainly in his time as president, he never thought it possible that he would come under this kind of attack. It seemed a fantasy-an evil fantasy, one where the world had turned upside down.

He knew that the guerrillas-the criminals-were evil, but hadn't allowed himself to think they were this evil.

Hubris. And foolishness.

Someone had killed the lights to the bas.e.m.e.nt area. Voda couldn't see into the rest of the bas.e.m.e.nt, and in fact could barely see a few feet in front of him.

The gunfire was louder, closer, right above them-that must be a good sign, he thought; the army had finally arrived.

Should he even bother getting the wood he'd come for? He wanted a piece of the shelves that formed a wall between this corner and the rest of the storeroom. Pulling off a piece, though, would be not be easy.

He put his left hand out, feeling his way, when light flashed through the bas.e.m.e.nt.

"Oana," he started to say, calling for the bodyguard he'd left behind, when there was another flash and a loud bang. The word died on his tongue, his voice stolen by the shock of the sound.

"What?" yelled Oana Mitca.

Before he could answer, Oana began cursing and screaming. Gunfire flashed in the outer part of the bas.e.m.e.nt. There was another flash and Voda felt himself falling, knocked off the slippery stone step to the bottom of the root cellar. He pushed around, pounded on the door.

"It's me," he told his wife, lowering his voice to a stage whisper, forgetting that he'd said he would knock in a pattern. "Open."

The door pulled back. Mircea shined a flashlight on his face.

"I think they're in the bas.e.m.e.nt," he whispered.

They slapped the door closed and reset the hatchet blade into the handle, restoring the makeshift lock.

Voda leaned against the door. For a moment, he despaired. The dankness of the root cellar reminded him of the prison he'd been locked in the first time he played the piano in defiance of the old regime. The thick, musty scent choked him, paralyzing his will, just as it had the first few months he was in jail.

His younger self had been steadied by music. One by one Mozart's strong notes had returned to his imagination and steeled him for the struggle. But that was long ago. He'd left music behind, rarely played now, either in real life or in his daydreams, contrary to what those around him thought.

What would save him now?

"Papa, what will we do?" asked Julian.

Voda saw his son's face across the room, lit by the dim reflection from the flashlight. It was filled with fear, and it was that fear that brought him back from the abyss. In worrying about his son, he remembered how to act.

"You are going to hide with Mama," he said, springing from the door and moving to the metal trapdoor covering the cistern. "Down into this hole. Both of you."

"But it's a well," said the boy.

"You can hide down there," said Voda.

"Alin, what if it's too deep?" asked his wife.

"Come on. Shine the light." He pushed the metal covering fully aside, then squeezed down. The sides of the hole were slimy, but the stones were s.p.a.ced far enough apart to let him get a good grip.

There was water four feet down, but it was shallow, less than an inch. The tunnel was wider than the hole, and nearly tall enough for him to stand.

"Mircea, the flashlight!"

She handed it to him. Voda shone it down the tunnel. He couldn't see the end of the pa.s.sage.

Did it lead out? Or was it simply a trap?

Where would you collect rainwater from?

The roof maybe. Gutters. This might just be a reservoir, with no opening big enough to escape through.

Voda tucked the flashlight into his pants and climbed back up.

"Come on," he told his wife. "Let's go."

"I don't want to die like a rat in a hole," she said.

There was a burst of gunfire from somewhere above. Voda turned the flashlight back on and saw his son's eyes puffing up, on the verge of tears.

"We're not dying." He picked up the boy. "Come on. Out this way. I'll be with you."

Even though it was only four feet, it was difficult to climb down with Julian in his arms. Voda slipped about halfway down. Fortunately, he was able to land on his feet, his back and head slapping against the wall.

Julian began to cry. "That hurt," he wailed.

"Come on, now," Voda told his son. "No tears. And we must be quiet. We're only playing hide and seek until the army comes."

Mircea came down behind him, then reached back and started pulling at the metal top to the hole.

"I was going back up," he told her.

"No. We stay together."

Voda handed her the flashlight, then reached up and put his fingers against the metal strip that ran along the back of the cistern's metal top. He could hear, or thought he could hear, voices in the bas.e.m.e.nt.