He leaned over to the driver. "We need to be there yesterday."

"Right. Tell your folks out back to hang on. There's nothing I like more than breaking the speed limit!"

Brent smiled. "You and me both! Go for it!" He then pa.s.sed word back to the others as the Husky leapt forward with a roar and subsequent vibration working up through the reinforced floor.

After a burst of static, George Voeckler appeared in Brent's HUD: "Ghost Lead, this is Romulus, over."

"Go ahead, Romulus."

"We should be at the target coordinates in about thirty minutes. Suggest we move in immediately and try to secure the target, over."

The word Negative Negative was about to escape Brent's lips, and he was certain that George expected him to deny the request and order him to set up an observation post and wait for them. was about to escape Brent's lips, and he was certain that George expected him to deny the request and order him to set up an observation post and wait for them.

But it was all about timing, not ego, and the Russian attack had no doubt alerted the Snow Maiden. She was a fool if she wasn't already on the move, and they needed to check out the leads quickly and efficiently.

"Romulus, I want you guys all over that location. You get in there and try to take her alive. But if not, you know what to do. No delays."

George appeared a little flabbergasted, his face shimmering a bit in the HUD, but then his voice came steadily. "Roger that, Captain."

"And keep the channel open. I want full access to your cameras."

"Will do. Romulus out."

As he settled deeper into the seat, Brent wondered if they hadn't given him the Snow Maiden job as a way to ditch a troublemaker. They were always two steps behind her, and the more he failed, the easier it was for them to bust him down and out.

Now he was just being paranoid, and he wasn't the biggest troublemaker in the group. They'd given him the job because they knew he wouldn't play it by the book. Never did.

He got back on the Cross-Com, called Dennison, and asked to speak directly to Warda if he could. He waited. Five minutes later he had the woman on the line. His focus was on the vehicles owned by her brother's staff. She didn't know tag numbers but had a general idea of style and color. He asked Dennison to relay these details to the local authorities. She said she was right on it.

Suddenly, a fist was rapping on the cab's back window. It was Daugherty, looking wide-eyed and pointing above them.

Brent thrust his head out the open side window as two helicopters swept overhead, one of them decidedly Russian, the other an AH-80 Blackfoot American gunship firing on the Russian bird, the rounds and tracers missing as the Russian swept down toward the field.

And then more rotors drew closer, and with an immediate roar one more Russian bird appeared, a gunship itself, and fired on the American chopper, all of it happening not more than five hundred meters ahead, the first Russian helicopter descending to less than a hundred meters above the road. It was, in a word, surreal to see Russian Federation military aircraft flying over the U.K. and being engaged by Americans. Even their driver remarked on the audacity of it all. Obviously, JSF forces had been called in to a.s.sist, but now it seemed that the lone American bird could use some help.

"Can you tell your gunners to put some fire up there to help him out?"

"Negative!"

"Why the h.e.l.l not?"

"Because-you dumb Yank-that'll draw fire on us! And because I'd have to call for authorization."

"Authorization? We're not sitting here to watch that pilot die! You get some fire on those enemy birds!"

"No, I won't! The Russians are his problem, not ours. And you've got a mission, right?"

Brent gritted his teeth. A fellow combatant needed him. "Ghost Team, this is Ghost Lead. Relieve those gunners of duty, at gunpoint if necessary. Heston? Daugherty? I want you on those fifties. Lay down some fire on those Russian birds right now!"

"Captain, you'll get us killed!" hollered the driver.

Brent glared at him. "If I do, I'll make sure you die first."

ELEVEN.

Ghost Recon Team En Route to Sandhurst Captain, don't let them fire," said Lakota from the other Husky. "Check it out. We're rolling up on another neighborhood. Collateral damage."

Brent couldn't deny the fact that civilians could be injured or killed should one of those choppers go down into the homes. Of course, the Russians didn't care if the American gunship crashed into a residential neighborhood; they just wanted that aircraft out of the sky.

And it was true that firing on them would no doubt draw a response. Those Russian choppers, identified in Brent's HUD as KA-65 Howlers, noted as being one of the most armed and armored helicopters in existence, could tear their little trucks to shreds in all of ten seconds. And it was Brent's job to reach Sandhurst.

He cursed and hollered into his boom mike: "All right, stay on the guns but hold fire for now. Be ready in case they turn on us."

"Thanks, Captain."

"Now that's the sane choice," said the driver.

"Shut up, Brit. That pilot's going to die. We'll honor him with our silence. And is that as fast as you can go?"

The driver swore under his breath and accelerated even as in the far distance, Brent watched the American gunship get double-teamed by the two Russian helicopters, while yet another Russian chopper, a troop transport, followed behind. A missile flew, and within a breath the American bird vanished inside an orb of white light. Below that orb, in an eerie slow motion, debris appeared and began tumbling down toward the rooftops of residential homes. The two choppers broke formation and wheeled back around to the north, while the third troop transport continued southward, ahead of them.

The driver got on his radio and called in his report, while Brent was interrupted by word from George Voeckler: They were just a couple of minutes away from the target location.

Brent issued a voice command to his Cross-Com, bringing up camera images from both George and Thomas Voeckler in separate windows of the HUD. He took a deep breath and waited as their car raced up a narrow suburban street.

"Looks like a police checkpoint," said Chopra, his mouth going cotton as he eased on the brakes.

The barricade lay about two blocks ahead as they were pa.s.sing through the rural village of Flexford, according to the car's GPS. The Snow Maiden had ordered him to keep off the main highways, and this was the first barrier they'd come across. It was comprised of two police "smart" cars parked at forty-five-degree angles on either side of fluorescent red cones spanning the road.

The roadblock appeared about as dangerous and imposing as a little old man armed with a water pistol, and Chopra doubted it would pose much trouble to the woman in his backseat.

"All right, calm down," said the Snow Maiden. "Drive right up and speak to them."

"What do I tell them?" asked Chopra.

"The truth."

"Excuse me?"

"I said the truth."

He wasn't sure what this crazy woman had in mind, but he decided he would do just that.

As he drew closer, he saw two bobbies armed only with short, wooden truncheons. The Snow Maiden, he suspected, could dispatch both of them with barely an effort.

"Chopra, don't do anything stupid," said Hussein. "Just hand over your ident.i.ty and tell them we're going to Dover. The truth. Just like she said."

He looked back at the Snow Maiden, who nodded.

With a deep breath he brought the car to a stop before the cones and tapped the b.u.t.ton to lower his window. One bobby came up to him as the other went around the other side of the car. They were both middle-aged men, a little thick around the center, and setting up this roadblock was probably the most exciting thing that had happened to them in weeks.

"Good morning, sir. Your identification, please?"

Chopra had already withdrawn his wallet and was about to hand over his ID when a thump made him flinch. The bobby fell back, away from the car.

She'd shot him right over Chopra's shoulder.

Before he hit the ground, the Snow Maiden wrenched open her door and ran around the other side, toward the second bobby, who'd ducked at the sight of seeing his partner drop.

The Snow Maiden's gun went off twice more. She reentered the car and slammed the door. "Go. There'll be another car waiting for us in Chilworth."

Chopra threw the car in gear and floored it, crashing through the cones and leaving the bodies of the two men behind. He glanced at them in the rearview mirror, then raised his voice. "You see, Hussein? You see who you're dealing with? A thug. A murderer. Nothing more. And when she's done with us, we'll be shot like dogs, just like them."

"You didn't have to kill them," Hussein told the Snow Maiden.

"No, I didn't. I wanted to."

"You really are just a killer."

She gave a big snort. "And it's all for my own entertainment pleasure-not yours."

[image]

Brent didn't realize that he was clutching the seat with both hands until a sudden b.u.mp broke his grip. George and Thomas had just left their cars and were charging up on the house, and he was watching it all in his HUD, the images piped in from the trident goggles worn by each Splinter Cell. The two spies found the body of a man lying at the far end of the driveway, near the side door. At that point, they split up, with George taking the side entrance and Thomas falling back to hold off in the yard, in case anyone tried to bolt as George entered.

No, Brent wasn't fond of a single operator entering the house and attempting to clear room after room, but this was the best they could do, and posting Thomas outside to tag potential runners was a smart move. Bringing in a team of local police to back them up would've been too obvious and noisy; however, sending in George was, admittedly, not conducive to the Splinter Cell's health. Then again he'd served in the Marines and had been well trained. You had to give him the benefit of the doubt.

The images came in from George's goggles.

Bodies in the kitchen. d.a.m.n.

"You seeing this, Captain?" George asked.

"She was there," said Brent. "We might be late. Now all we do is follow the trail of bodies ..."

Thomas began cursing over the channel until his words turned into a warning: "Russian chopper landing in the street! Troops coming out! George, get out of there!"

With a start, Brent realized that troop transport they'd just seen had been en route to Sandhurst.

George rushed to the window, and Brent saw what the spy saw: At least a dozen darkly clad soldiers-Spetsnaz troops-were hopping down from the chopper, and the last man out was their old German friend from the Seych.e.l.les, that blond-haired b.a.s.t.a.r.d Heinrich Haussler.

"Hammer, this is Ghost Lead. The Voecklers are on the target zone but so are the Russians, along with Haussler. We're too far out right now. We need some CAS for them, if you got it."

"Negative, Ghost Lead. Close Air Support unavailable. They're all tied up in London."

"Then some kind of evac. Anything!"

"Negative."

Brent swore and switched channels. "Romulus, this is Ghost Lead. You're on your own for now."

"Just another day in paradise." George bounded up the staircase.

"George, I'm coming in," said Thomas.

"No, you fall back, out of sight. You come in here, you're done, you hear me? I'll get out. Do not Do not give up your location. Just do what I say." give up your location. Just do what I say."

Brent could barely contain himself as he witnessed George's escape. At the top of the stairs, the Splinter Cell turned right, then left, then rushed toward a door and slammed it open with a fist. He stopped. Looked back. Listened.

The troops were entering downstairs.

He rushed forward, through what had to be a teenager's room loaded with games and movies. He reached the window and tugged it open, and then he was all about his portable scaling tools, wrenching them from his web gear. He fired a zip line across to the next house, and the "sticky mount" stuck like superglue to the side.

He climbed through the window and was sliding down the line with a whirr and hiss.

It was impossibly frustrating not to be there and lend a hand. Brent reached reflexively for his sidearm to take out the Spetsnaz troops as he imagined them storming into the bedroom only seconds after George got out.

But all Brent could do was watch George gliding down toward the next house as gunfire suddenly punched holes in the wooden siding ahead of him.

Before George reached the house he fired another line at a shed lying across the backyard. The sticky mount struck the sloping roofline. George grabbed that line in one hand, and then he fired a third shot. Line number three attached itself to the roof of the current building. Using the shed line as a guide, he released the first line, gripped the second, then swung around, out of the enemy line of fire. It was a brilliant piece of maneuvering that left Brent awestruck.

Once around the next house, he slid down the rope and hit the ground hard, lost his balance, and tumbled.

"Thomas, fall back even more. Get over that fence and wait there for me. I think there's a shed."

"Roger that."

George was up on his feet now, running at full tilt along the row of apartments. He ducked behind a pair of parked cars and paused.

The spy's own labored breathing raised Brent's pulse, and it was getting even harder to watch.

Meanwhile, Thomas scaled the fence his brother had mentioned, dropped behind, and spotted a small utility shed. He bounded for the shed, wrenched open the door, and stepped inside between pieces of lawn and landscaping equipment. He quietly closed the door and stood there, staring through the dust-covered window and just breathing. "I'm inside the shed," he reported. "Hidden pretty good."

"I see that. Stay there," said George.