A flood of light swept through one of the windows, washing over him.

Dazzled through his night-vision, he rolled against one wall, back into darkness. Had he been spotted? The sweep of light pierced the other windows, one after the other, pa.s.sing down the hall ahead of him.

Leaning out, he peered through one of the windows. It faced the wide courtyard that fronted the building. Across the way, he watched a Humvee trundle slowly down the street. Its searchlight swept through the courtyard.

A patrol.

Would the attention spook his contact?

Cursing silently, Gray waited for the truck to finish its round. The patrol vanished momentarily, crossing behind a hulking structure that rose from the middle of the courtyard below. It looked like some rusting s.p.a.ceship, but was in fact a million-liter steel containment sphere, three stories tall, mounted on a dozen pedestal legs. Ladders and scaffolding surrounded the structure as it underwent a renovation, an attempt to return it to its former glory when it was a Cold War research facility. Even the steel catwalk that had once circ.u.mnavigated the globe's equator had been replaced.

Gray knew the giant globe's nickname at the base.

The Eight Ball.

A humorless smile creased his lips as he realized his unlucky position.

Trapped behind the eight ball...

The patrol finally reappeared beyond the structure, slowly crossed the front of the courtyard, and rolled away.

Satisfied, Gray continued to the end of the corridor. A set of swinging double doors blocked the pa.s.sage, but their narrow windows revealed a larger room beyond. He spotted a few tall, slender metal and gla.s.s tanks. One of the old labs. Windowless and dark.

His approach must have been noted.

A new light flared inside, incandescent, bright enough to require Gray to flick off his night-vision. A flashlight. It blinked three times.

A signal.

He stepped to the door and used a toe to push open one of the swinging sides. He slid through the narrow opening.

"Over here," a voice said calmly. It was the first time Gray had heard his contact's voice. Prior to this moment, it had always been electronically m.u.f.fled, a paranoid level of anonymity.

It was a woman's woman's voice. The revelation piqued his wariness. He didn't like surprises. voice. The revelation piqued his wariness. He didn't like surprises.

He followed through a maze of tables with chairs stacked on top. She sat at one of the tables. Its other chairs were still stacked atop it. Except for one. On the opposite side of the table. It shifted as she kicked one of the legs.

"Sit."

Gray had expected to find a nervous scientist, someone out for an extra paycheck. Treason for hire was becoming more and more commonplace among the top research facilities.

USAMRIID was no exception...only a thousandfold more deadly. Each vial for sale had the capability, if properly aerosolized in a subway or bus station, to kill thousands.

And she was selling fifteen of them.

He settled into his seat, placing the satchel of money on the table.

The woman was Asian...no, Eurasian. Eurasian. Her eyes were more open, her skin deeply tanned to a handsome bronze. She wore a black turtlenecked bodysuit, not unlike the one he wore, hugging a slim, lithe frame. A silver pendant dangled from her neck, bright against her suit, bearing a tiny curled-dragon charm. Gray studied her. The Dragon Lady's features, rather than taut and wary like his own, appeared bored. Her eyes were more open, her skin deeply tanned to a handsome bronze. She wore a black turtlenecked bodysuit, not unlike the one he wore, hugging a slim, lithe frame. A silver pendant dangled from her neck, bright against her suit, bearing a tiny curled-dragon charm. Gray studied her. The Dragon Lady's features, rather than taut and wary like his own, appeared bored.

Of course, the 9mm Sig Sauer pointed at his chest and equipped with a silencer might be the source of her confidence. But it was her next words that truly iced his blood.

"Good evening, Commander Pierce."

He was startled to hear his name.

If she knew that...

He was already moving...and already too late.

The gun fired at near-point-blank range.

The impact kicked his body backward, taking the chair with him. He landed on his back, tangled in the chair legs. Pain flattened his chest, making it impossible to breathe. He tasted blood on his tongue.

Betrayed...

She stepped around the table and leaned over his sprawled form, gun still pointing, taking no chances. The silver dragon pendant dangled and flashed brightly. "I suspect you're recording all this through your helmet, Commander Pierce. Perhaps even transmitting to Washington...to Sigma. You won't mind if I borrow a little airtime, will you?"

He was in no position to object.

The woman leaned closer over him. "In the next ten minutes, the Guild will shut down all of Fort Detrick. Contaminate the entire base with anthrax. Payback for Sigma's interference with our operation in Oman. But I owe your director, Painter Crowe, something more. Something personal. This is for my sister in the field, Ca.s.sandra Sanchez."

The gun shifted to his faceplate.

"Blood for blood."

She pulled the trigger.

5:02 A A.M.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

FORTY-TWO MILES away, the satellite feed went dead. away, the satellite feed went dead.

"Where's his backup?" Painter Crowe kept his voice firm, biting back a litany of curses. Panic would not serve them.

"Still ten minutes out."

"Can you re-establish the link?"

The technician shook his head. "We've lost main feed from his helmet cam. But we still have the bird's-eye of the base from the NRO sat." The young man indicated another monitor. It showed a black-and-white overshot of Fort Detrick, centered on a courtyard of buildings.

Painter paced before the array of monitors. It had all been a trap, one directed at Sigma and aimed at him personally. "Alert Fort Detrick's security."

"Sir?" The question rose from his second-in-command, Logan Gregory.

Painter understood Logan's hesitation. Only a handful of those in power knew of Sigma and the agents it employed: the President, the Joint Chiefs, and his immediate supervisors over at DARPA. After last year's shake-up among the top bra.s.s, the organization was under intense scrutiny.

Mistakes would not be tolerated.

"I won't risk an agent," Painter said. "Call them in."

"Yes, sir." Logan crossed to a phone. The man appeared more a California surfer than a leading strategist: blond hair, tanned, fit but going a bit soft in the belly. Painter was his darker shadow, half Native American, black hair, blue eyes. But he had no tan. He didn't know the last time he had seen the sun.

Painter wanted to sit down, lower his head to his knees. He had a.s.sumed control of the organization only eight months ago. And most of that time had been spent restructuring and shoring up security after the infiltration of the group by an international cartel known as the Guild. There had been no telling what information had been gleaned, sold, or spread during this time, so everything had to be purged and rebuilt from scratch. Even their central command had been pulled out of Arlington and moved to a subterranean warren here in Washington.

In fact, Painter had come in early this morning to unpack boxes in his new office when he had received the emergency call from satellite recon.

He studied the monitor from the NRO satellite.

A trap.

He knew what the Guild was doing. Four weeks ago, Painter had begun to put operatives into the field again, the first in more than a year. It was a tentative test. Two teams. One over in Los Alamos investigating the loss of a nuclear database...and the other in his own backyard, over at Fort Detrick, only one hour from Washington.

The Guild's attack sought to shake Sigma and its leader. To prove that the Guild still had knowledge to undermine Sigma. It was a feint to force Sigma to pull back again, to regroup, possibly to disband. As long as Painter's group was out of commission, the Guild had a greater chance to operate with impunity.

That must not happen.

Painter stopped his pacing and turned to his second, the question plain on his face.

"I keep getting cut off," Logan said, nodding to the earpiece. "They're having intermittent communication blackouts throughout the base."

Certainly the handiwork of the Guild too...

Frustrated, Painter leaned on the console and stared at the mission's dossier. Imprinted atop the manila file was a single Greek letter.

In mathematics, the letter, sigma sigma represented "the sum of all parts,", the unification of disparate sets into a whole. It was also emblematic of the organization Painter directed: Sigma Force. represented "the sum of all parts,", the unification of disparate sets into a whole. It was also emblematic of the organization Painter directed: Sigma Force.

Operating under the auspices of DARPA-the Department of Defense's research and development wing-Sigma served as the agency's covert arm out in the world, sent forth to safeguard, acquire, or neutralize technologies vital to U.S. security. Its team members were an ultrasecret cadre of exSpecial Forces soldiers who had been handpicked and placed into rigorous fast-track doctoral programs, covering a wide range of scientific disciplines, forming a militarized team of technically trained operatives.

Or in plainer language, killer scientists.

Painter opened the dossier before him. The team leader's file fronted the record.

Dr. and Commander Grayson Pierce.

The agent's photograph stared up at him from the upper right corner. It was the man's mug shot from his year of incarceration at Leavenworth. Dark hair shaved to a stubble, blue eyes still angry. His Welsh heritage was evident in the sharp cheekbones, wide eyes, and strong jaw. But his ruddy complexion was all Texan, burnt by the sun over the dry hills of Brown County.

Painter didn't bother glancing over the inch-thick file. He knew the details. Gray Pierce had joined the Army at eighteen, the Rangers at twenty-one, and served to distinction off and on the field. Then, at twenty-three, he was court-martialed for striking a superior officer. Painter knew the details and the back history of the two in Bosnia. And considering the events, Painter might have done the same. Still, rules were codified in granite among the armed forces. The decorated soldier spent one year in Leavenworth.

But Gray Pierce was too valuable to be cast aside forever.

His training and skill could not be wasted.

Sigma had recruited him three years ago, right out of prison.

Now Gray was a p.a.w.n between the Guild and Sigma.

One about to be crushed.

"I've got base security!" Logan said, relief ringing in his voice.

"Get them over-"

"Sir!" The technician leapt to his feet, still tethered to his console by the headset's cord. He glanced to Painter. "Director Crowe, I'm picking up a trace audio feed."

"What-?" Painter stepped closer to the technician. He raised a hand to hold off Logan.

The technician turned up the feed on the speakers.

A tinny voice reached them though the video feed remained fritzed.

One word formed.

"G.o.dd.a.m.nmotherf.u.c.kingpieceofs.h.i.t..."

5:07 A A.M.

FREDERICK, MARYLAND.

GRAY KICKED out a heel, catching the woman in the midriff. He felt a satisfying thud of flesh, but heard nothing. His ears rang from the concussion of the slug against his Kevlar helmet. The shot had spider-webbed his faceshield. His left ear burned as the electronic bay shorted with a burst of static. out a heel, catching the woman in the midriff. He felt a satisfying thud of flesh, but heard nothing. His ears rang from the concussion of the slug against his Kevlar helmet. The shot had spider-webbed his faceshield. His left ear burned as the electronic bay shorted with a burst of static.

He ignored it all.

Rolling to his feet, he slipped the carbonized dagger from its wrist sheath and dove under a neighboring row of tables. Another shot, sounding like a loud cough, penetrated the ring of his ears. Wood splintered from the edge of the table.

He cleared the far side and kept a wary crouch while searching the room. His kick had caused the woman to drop her flashlight, which rolled on the floor, skittering shadows everywhere. He fingered his chest. The body blow of the a.s.sa.s.sin's first shot still burned and ached.

But no blood.

The woman called to him from the shadows. "Liquid body armor."

Gray dropped lower, attempting to pinpoint the woman's location. The dive under the table had jarred his helmet's internal heads-up display. Its holographic images flickered incoherently across the inside of his faceshield, interfering with his sightlines, but he dared not abandon the helmet. It offered the best protection against the weapon still in the woman's hand.

That and his body suit.

The a.s.sa.s.sin was right. Liquid body Liquid body armor. Developed by U.S. Army Research Laboratory in 2003. The fabric of his body suit had been soaked with a shear-thickening fluid-hard microparticles of silica suspended in a polyethylene glycol solution. During normal movement, it acted like a liquid, but once a bullet struck, the material solidified into a rigid shield, preventing penetration. The suit had just saved his life. armor. Developed by U.S. Army Research Laboratory in 2003. The fabric of his body suit had been soaked with a shear-thickening fluid-hard microparticles of silica suspended in a polyethylene glycol solution. During normal movement, it acted like a liquid, but once a bullet struck, the material solidified into a rigid shield, preventing penetration. The suit had just saved his life.

At least for now.

The woman spoke again, coldly calm, as she slowly circled toward the door. "I rigged the building with C4 and TNT. Easy enough since the structure's already scheduled for demolition. The Army was nice enough to have it all prewired. It just took a minor detonator modification to change the building's implosion to one that will cause an explosive updraft updraft."

Gray pictured the resulting plume of smoke and debris riding high into the early morning sky. "The vials of anthrax..." he mumbled, but it was loud enough to be heard.

"It seemed fitting to use the base's own demolition as a toxic delivery system."

Christ, she had turned the entire building into a biological bomb.