"h.e.l.lo, Viktoria."

She snorted. "h.e.l.lo, Heinrich. You could've knocked."

SIX.

Banyan Tree Seych.e.l.les Resort Mahe Island Republic of the Seych.e.l.les To say that Brent had grinned until it hurt would be an understatement. They'd sent him to a French paradise, where, well, the escargot had hit the fan, but then he'd learned they were sending him to a tropical paradise. The irony was killing him. He barely made enough money to vacation in these spots, yet he was getting all-expenses-paid trips courtesy of the American taxpayers. He hoped his dumb luck would continue.

Dennison had leaned hard on the captured Russian colonel, Pavel Doletskaya, and he knew enough about the Snow Maiden to offer small details that might betray her whereabouts. She traveled under a.s.sumed ident.i.ties, of course, and had access to some of the best doc.u.ment-forging techniques in the world via her old GRU contacts and other unknown sources. She was also able to defy most electronic ID systems. But in the end, she was still human, still susceptible to human impulse, to weakness, to using her mother's initials as a prompt for devising her aliases-a tidbit only the Russian colonel would know. That eccentricity had led the NSA and Army intelligence to locating her in the Seych.e.l.les. Dennison herself had checked the airport security camera footage, and voila, there she was, the Snow Maiden, wearing a tennis cap and shorts and carrying a sling bag. There was something haughty and audacious about her using commercial airliners. With all of her resources, Brent would have considered her moving about on private jets; perhaps she wasn't as well connected or well funded as others thought, or perhaps a private jet might have called too much attention to her.

Brent, the Splinter Cells, and the rest of his team were en route within an hour after receiving their first lead. And by the time they neared the island, they had pin-pointed her exact location.

They infiltrated the resort via a borrowed yacht anch.o.r.ed offsh.o.r.e, and dressed in nondescript black fatigues and heavily armed, they were ready to take the Snow Maiden alive. The team was fanning out, about to set up full surveillance of her villa.

Brent was curious why she was here. Her cousin had just been killed, and the higher-ups a.s.sumed she'd remain in Europe to exact payback on the terrorists. Maybe she was linking up with someone on the island who could help.

As he and Lakota shifted through a dense forest running parallel to the hillside trail, the call came in from Thomas Voeckler: "We've just run an infrared scan on the hillside. I don't believe this. It's loaded with targets. I just pulled up satellite. We have nine armed operators already in place. What the h.e.l.l is this, Brent?"

"I'll find out." Brent crouched down and took a deep breath. "Ghost Team, this is Ghost Lead. Hold positions. Hammer, this is Ghost Lead, over."

"Go ahead, Ghost Lead," replied Dennison, her image appearing in the head-up display.

"Does the old cliche we've got company' mean anything to you right now?"

"Scanning."

Brent sighed in frustration. "Be nice if we knew who they were ..."

"Not sure yet. Let's feel them out."

"Roger that. Ghost Team, split and shadow those other operators. I want you breathing down their necks, but don't engage. Not yet. Schleck, you hold back and get ready to do your thing. Get your bead on that front door, over."

"Roger that, Boss," replied Schleck. "Holy-" Schleck finished the curse and added, "A guy just broke down her front door. He's moving inside!"

Gunfire erupted across the hillside, all kinds of fire: single-shot, automatic, even the crack of a carbine. Brent began cycling through the camera views of his people as he sent Lakota off toward the Snow Maiden's villa about a hundred yards up the hill.

"Ghost Team, hold fire! Do not give up your positions! Let them give up theirs!"

"They just fired at a hotel security guard. He's down," reported n.o.boru.

"I think they have infrared on us," cried Daugherty. "Radar, satellite, the works! Might need to engage!"

Brent swore under his breath and cried, "Gun and run if you have to, but keep it moving!"

"He's right," Riggs chimed in. "I got one in my sights now. They've got headsets like ours."

Brent gritted his teeth and began cycling through the operator images piped in via his Cross-Com. He was trying to do the right thing as team leader: obtain as much information as possible before reacting to the situation.

Aw, h.e.l.l. He took off running.

Chopra had been watching the highlights of a soccer game and was lifting the remote toward the set, about to turn it off. He'd set up his air travel to London and all had been well-until he'd heard the sound of gunfire coming from the hills near his villa. He immediately called Westerdale, who was already panicking and crying that they should "get the b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l out of there."

"We should just stay here and take cover," Chopra had argued.

"You fool. If they've come for Warda and take her, she'll talk. Then they'll come for you. The only way you can help Hussein is to save yourself!"

"All right."

Thankfully, Chopra had traveled light and his bag was already packed, except for his morning clothes. He gathered his belongings, flinched again at the sound of more gunshots, then, holding his breath, went running from his villa. He longed to go after Warda and prayed they wouldn't hurt her, but Westerdale was right: If Chopra didn't make contact with Hussein, then Dubai would never rise again and that would be a tragedy. As much as it pained him, he kept on toward Westerdale's villa. The pops and booms continued from the jungle above him.

The dimly lit trail took him to the main entrance and motorway, where two taxi drivers had climbed into their cars and were keeping low, their worried gazes turned up toward the hills. Between the damp stone and his own excitement, Chopra wound up slipping and falling as he neared the first car. He cried out, felt a throbbing in his elbow, but pulled himself back up and spotted Westerdale coming from a second path and hustling toward him.

The Brit waved and called out to Chopra.

Another exchange of gunfire thundered across the hills, stealing Chopra's breath.

He was dizzy by the time he fell into the backseat and the cabdriver sped away. He glanced over at Westerdale, who shook his head and said, "You're in over your head."

"I know. But this is the right thing to do," Chopra said, hardening his tone.

"You're an eccentric."

Chopra shook his head. "I just want what's right."

"Then go to London. Wait for his call. Hopefully she spoke to him before they attacked."

Chopra threw his head back against the seat, removed his gla.s.ses, and ma.s.saged his weary eyes. "You're staying here."

"I'm what?"

"You heard me. You're staying. I want to know about Warda. I want to know if she's safe."

Westerdale released a string of epithets, then demanded a larger bonus, and Chopra agreed.

The Snow Maiden mused that it was difficult to have tricks up her sleeve while wearing a short-sleeved shirt; however, she'd grown used to being chased and took nothing for granted. Her tricks were born of experience and electronics, and there was nothing magical about them. They were tools of the trade, and she knew how to use them.

So when Haussler rudely smashed in the Snow Maiden's door, said his h.e.l.lo, and thought he was about to hold her at gunpoint, the Snow Maiden simply raised her hands and rolled her wrist twice, and the transmitter in her custom-designed watch sent a signal to the detonator.

Three, two, one.

The resounding boom from the doorway sent Haussler ducking reflexively-and that's all the Snow Maiden needed: one simple diversion via an explosive she'd planted within the first hour of her arrival. In fact, she had b.o.o.by-trapped the entire place-but for some reason the electronic surveillance warning system she had set up in the walkway had failed to alert her of Haussler's approach. The b.a.s.t.a.r.d had figured out a way to jam it. He was clever when it came to that.

Her sidearm, the one given to her by the taxicab driver who'd been bought by the Ganjin Ganjin, was beneath the sofa pillow. She wrenched it out, was about to fire point-blank at Haussler, but he'd whirled to face a figure dressed in black who'd appeared in the shattered doorway.

The figure's face was covered by a balaclava, one eye shielded by an electronic monocle, a high-tech rifle balanced in the combatant's grip.

"Hold there!" she cried, and her distinctly feminine voice confirmed she was an English speaker, probably an American.

Haussler began to raise his arms-but abruptly dropped to his gut. He then rolled, about to fire at the woman in the doorway.

Seeing that, and strangely holding her own fire, the woman ducked back.

At the same time, the Snow Maiden fired two rounds that narrowly missed the woman. A heartbeat later the Snow Maiden was off the couch and lunging for the back door, on the other side of the small kitchen.

Haussler screamed after her, but more gunfire came from the living room as the woman must have turned back inside. The Snow Maiden s.n.a.t.c.hed her sling bag from the counter, then tore open the door, rounds tearing into the frame beside her. She bounded outside, checked left and right, then sprinted into the forest behind the villa.

Brent arrived in the doorway, just behind Lakota, who reported that she'd seen a woman inside who could've been the Snow Maiden-but there'd been a man there, too. Dennison and her folks would already be searching for the man's ident.i.ty since Lakota's Cross-Com had recorded images of the entire scene.

As the rest of his team chimed in, Brent rushed through the villa, falling in behind Lakota, who'd said that the woman had escaped out back, the man trailing her. They burst through the rear door, paused, and heard brush shifting in the forest.

"We've got two men who've just climbed into a taxi," reported Schleck. "Old guys. Probably just tourists running scared. All right, I've got satellite. Two runners in the jungle now, heading down toward the beachfront road. Watch it, though, Captain. Those other operators are coming around to cut us off."

"Good job, Schleck. Keep the play-by-play coming. I like your style."

"Roger that, Captain!"

"All right, Ghosts, pull up those other guys in your HUD. See if you can flank them while Lakota and I punch straight on through toward the beach. We're taking that main road around the resort."

The responses came in, and not a second after the last one, a woman's scream came from the bungalow ahead. Brent rushed up to the small quarters, which were heavily draped in vines and foliage. He kept tight to the wall and hand-signaled for Lakota to head around the other side.

The Cross-Com automatically zoomed in on two heat sources around the corner: a big man lay on the ground, and hovering over him was another person, both glowing in a mottled orange-red. Brent hustled forward, came through the big fronds, then lifted his palm in truce.

She had long, dark hair, and though the light was faint, Brent thought she might be Middle Eastern. Her dress did not indicate that, though; she appeared very Western in a T-shirt and cutoff jeans. The heavyset man lying on his back wore an expensive suit, his white shirt stained deeply with blood. He might have been a heavyweight boxer in his day and might now be a hotel security guard, Brent wasn't sure. The young woman screamed again as he approached.

"It's okay. I'm not here to hurt you."

Gunfire raked along the ground, drawing up on the woman. Brent threw himself forward and hit the ground, shielding her from the salvo. He rolled up and returned fire into the woods as Lakota came around and added her triplet of fire to the fray. Brent's Cross-Com picked out three targets, outlines of each flashing in red, yet all three broke off suddenly, as though they knew they were being watched.

Just then Riggs and Copeland ran forward, out of breath. Brent shouted for Riggs to stay with the girl, while Copeland dropped to the big man's side, sloughed off his medical pack, and checked for a pulse. None.

"He's already gone." Copeland frowned at the woman. "I'm sorry."

She bit her lip and began to cry.

"Do you speak English?" Brent asked her, realizing that should've been his first question.

"Yes."

"What's your name."

"Warda."

"All right, Warda, get back inside. Don't come out again."

"Are you working for Manoj?"

"Who?"

"Never mind."

"Come on," said Riggs, helping Warda to her feet. "You need to go."

"Get her in there, then get back to me," said Brent, tipping his head for Lakota to join him. "Wait a minute. Riggs? You stay with her." The woman knew something, and Brent decided he would question her later.

Riggs nodded. "On it, Captain."

Lakota c.o.c.ked a brow. "Can you keep up with me?"

Brent snorted.

Suddenly, she was gone, bulleting down the road.

He cursed and charged after.

Fifty yards later, sweat was already pouring off his face. Lakota could run, he'd give her that, and she showed no signs of slowing. They darted by the main building, its light casting a faint glow over a jagged fence of palms, and then they followed the narrow road as it curved down again toward the beach. Brent was losing his breath. Lakota seemed comfortable, hardly panting. As she tried to kill him with her pace, he divided his attention between the road and his HUD, checking on the two figures and their escape.

"Captain, Lakota, hold up there. Take cover!" Schleck finished his warning a second before the tree line erupted with gunfire.

Targets flashed red in Brent's HUD, reticles zooming in on the red outlines.