"Right." Rick Townsend's mother had the duty this week; next week it would be Arlo Bridger's mom, the week after that, his his mom. The co-op car pool made getting to school and back a lot easier than catching the bus. He was on the mid-morning schedule this semester, so he didn't have to be there until nine-thirty. mom. The co-op car pool made getting to school and back a lot easier than catching the bus. He was on the mid-morning schedule this semester, so he didn't have to be there until nine-thirty.

His dad grinned back, then came over and hugged him. "I don't know when I'll be back. You take care of your mother. I'll call when the situation permits."

"Yes, sir."

His dad turned away. "Okay, Sarge. Let's roll."

"You're the colonel, Colonel."

His dad squeezed Tyrone's shoulder once more, then did a crisp pivot and headed for the door.

Tyrone felt a sudden coldness in the pit of his belly. His dad never let on about whether his a.s.signments were dangerous or not, but for him to come home when he didn't have to pick up any gear or anything, for all of a whole minute, just to tell him good-bye--well, that made Tyrone nervous.

Where was Net Force posting his father? And what kind of trouble might be there waiting for him?

Thursday, September 16th, 7:15 p.m. Grozny Plekhanov was in his office in front of his computer. There was no one around this area, and probably no one on the entire floor. The government could not afford to maintain a night shift, though had he wished it, Plekhanov himself could have paid for it. One of the advantages of being a computer expert of his caliber was that stealing money electronically was not a problem--as long as one did not get too greedy. A million here, a million there, and pretty soon, it added up.

His communication software had reached out and connected him to the Rifle, and now their business was almost completed.

"Are we clear on what needs to be done, Mikhayl?"

"Da, we are clear." we are clear."

Plekhanov frowned. It was not good that Ruzhyo used a Russian word, though there was not a chance in ten million that anybody would know it. Still, despite that, Plekhanov did not wish to take even that risk. But he would not speak of it during this conversation.

"The specifications for clothing, hardware and vehicles are in the secure file. Use the second account for funds," he said. "Take as much as you need, we want to do a good job."

"Yes," Ruzhyo said. "A good job."

"Is there anything else?"

"No, I believe that is everything."

"Good hunting, then."

"Thank you."

After the connection had been broken, Plekhanov leaned back in his chair and considered his next action. There were so many small details that must be attended to if the plan was to continue to work properly. A call here, a shaft of information there, a few words whispered into an influential ear at this juncture, all added to the momentum and kept things rolling along.

Everything was going according to plan.

Thursday, September 16th, 8:20 a.m. San Francisco Ruzhyo felt a little better. It was always good to have a specific ch.o.r.e, a job to be done, regardless of the constraints. He had already set up his contacts with suppliers; the gear they would need for the next step could be a.s.sembled in less than a day. Ruzhyo had known what the step would be, even though it had been a tentative plan until the call confirming it. Knowing it gave him some leeway, and he had exercised it.

Now, he had to call the Snake and the Texan and get them set. This would be tricky, and in one way, probably more so than the a.s.sa.s.sination of the federal agent, but not so dangerous. This time, they would have the law on their side.

In a manner of speaking.

Thursday, September 16th, 1:15 p.m. Quantico In his office, Commander Alex Michaels frowned at the young man sitting across the desk from him.

"All right, Jay, what exactly does this mean?"

Gridley shook his head. "I dunno, Chief. I went for a ride on half-a-dozen major highways--netways--and there were wrecks on all of them. Plus a bunch of others I didn't get around to. The cops--ah, the sysops--didn't have any big problems clearing most of them, although the Australian pileup was a real b.a.s.t.a.r.d. It was simple stuff, but traffic slowed down everywhere."

"But we're not talking major sabotage? And it didn't seem focused on one particular system?"

Jay shook his head. "Well, sort of and no. No piece of it was a biggie, but taken altogether, it adds up to major. Time is money, especially on the commercial roads, and there was a lot of stuff got shuffled because of some of the delays. If some big portion of that was diverted into one pocket, the guy wearing that jacket could retire and buy Cleveland, if he wanted. Though I can't imagine he'd want to. But as far as we can tell, n.o.body got rich off the snafu--least we haven't found who or how yet."

Jay paused, blinked, then stared into s.p.a.ce as if he'd gone into a trance.

"Jay?"> "Oh, sorry. Far as I can tell, no one system was. .h.i.t any harder than another. It was spread over dozens of links fairly evenly. I've got houndbots sniffing, but none of 'em have run anything to a source. Whoever built this program is good, real good, 'cause he slipped it past a bunch of safeguards and the only people who caught him was us."

Gridley smiled, obviously pleased with that fact.

"So Net Force systems were unaffected?"

"Yep. He tried, but he bounced off our wards. Guy's not as sharp as he thinks. He doesn't know who he's messing with. We'll run him down."

For no reason at all, Michaels had a sudden flare of suspicion. Unless he Unless he wanted wanted us to think he couldn't get past our guards. us to think he couldn't get past our guards.

"All right. Go and find whoever did this. Let me know how it progresses."

"You got it, Chief."

Gridley stood and sauntered from his office. Once the young man was gone, Michaels leaned back in his chair and pondered the situation. Since Steve Day's death, something hadn't felt right. He couldn't quite put his finger on what it was, but he felt as if somehow Net Force was under attack. It could be nothing more than the professional paranoia of course, that went with the job, but if it wasn't, if somebody was was out to damage Net Force, who was it? And more important than that, why? out to damage Net Force, who was it? And more important than that, why?

He waved a hand back and forth over his com unit.

From her office next door, Toni said, "Yes?"

"Hey, Toni. Anything new?"

"Sorry, Alex, no."

Day's murder still hung over the unit like a heavy thundercloud: dark, threatening, unresolved.

He started to say something to his a.s.sistant, but decided to hold off. He didn't want to sound like the little boy crying wolf; besides, there was enough on his plate to worry about: the murder investigation, the situation in Ukraine, the other net problems. Better to keep his unfounded suspicions to himself, unless something else came along to give them some weight.

Friday, September 17th, 5:01 a.m. In the air over Northern Europe Colonel John Howard leaned back in the jetliner's seat and nodded at Sergeant Fernandez next to him. Probably one of the smartest things Net Force had ever done was to lease several 747's, then outfit them for fast tactical flights. The big Boeing jets were a long way from the old bone-jarring military transports that were little more than hollowed-out aluminum sh.e.l.ls, so noisy you couldn't talk or even think straight. Aside from the comfort factor, there was a very practical reason for this choice: A 747 with civilian markings could land in places where a U.S. military cargo plane would get a Stinger missile up the spout for being stupid enough to try.

"Okay, Julio, let's run through it one more time."

The sergeant shook his head. "Begging the colonel's pardon--"

"There would be a first," Howard broke in.

"--and no disrespect intended," Fernandez continued, ignoring Howard's comment, "but the colonel must have a brain like a sieve."

"Thank you for your neurological opinion, Dr. Fernandez." He rolled his finger in the "continue" sign. "Move along."

Fernandez sighed. "Sir. Ukraine is about the size of France, holds fifty-two million people, has an elected President, and a four-hundred-fifty-person parliament called the Verkhovna Rada. The U.S. Emba.s.sy is in the capital of Kiev, at 10 Yuriya Kotsubinskoho. The building used to be the Communist Party precinct and Communist Youth League HQ, before the Ukrainians kicked the Commies out in '91. There are one hundred and ninety-eight American employees and two hundred and forty-four Ukrainian nationals working at or for the emba.s.sy."

Howard smiled, but kept it to himself. Sarge never told it the same way twice.

Fernandez continued. "Kiev has a population of three million, covers forty-five by forty-four kilometers and sits on the Dnieper River, which runs all the way to the Black Sea. This time of year it's still warm, though mostly overcast and about to get rainy. About seventy-five percent of the population is Ukrainian, twenty percent are Russian, the rest are Jews, Byelorussians, Moldovans, Poles, Armenians, Greeks and Bulgarians. Counting yourself, there might be three three people of African descent in the country, although some of the Crimeans and ethnic Mongols are a bit dark. You people of African descent in the country, although some of the Crimeans and ethnic Mongols are a bit dark. You will will draw a crowd on the streets, sir." draw a crowd on the streets, sir."

Howard waved him off. They had argued about this for half the trip. According to Fernandez, there was no way the colonel should be on this operation. He should sit back at the emba.s.sy and direct traffic by radio and satlink. Sir.

"Go on."

"Sir. The city is eight time zones ahead of D.C. It has an okay subway and surface street system, lousy radio and TV stations. You can get the CNBC Superstation until noon, and CNN after six p.m., and yesterday's Wall Street Journal Wall Street Journal and and New York Times New York Times if you go to a big hotel and are willing to pay half your retirement for a copy of either. If you go into a public bathroom, best you take your own toilet paper, you will need it. if you go to a big hotel and are willing to pay half your retirement for a copy of either. If you go into a public bathroom, best you take your own toilet paper, you will need it.

"Money is the 'hryvnia,' and one of ours will get you two of theirs at the legal exchanges. The water is okay to bathe in if you let it run a few seconds for the lead to settle out, but you don't want to drink it without boiling it, due to bacteria and intestinal parasites. Radiation levels from Chern.o.byl are mostly normal, but don't eat local mushrooms, berries, or game animals unless you want to maybe be able to read at night without using a bedside lamp.

"If you drink alcohol and drive and get caught, you'll probably get thrown into jail, unless it is the militia that catches you, in which case you'll probably be shot on the spot. They drink like fish here, but they walk walk when they get potted. Zero tolerance for drunk drivers and more power to 'em. when they get potted. Zero tolerance for drunk drivers and more power to 'em.

"A lot of folks still speak Russian, but the official language is now Ukrainian. The most useful phrase you'll want to know in Ukrainian is, 'Probachteh, deh choloveechy tualeht.' " "

Howard said, "Which means?"

" 'Excuse me, but where is the men's room?' "

Howard grinned, and shook his head. "Keep going."

Fernandez droned on, but now Howard was only listening with half his attention. Despite his sergeant's concern over his brain leakage, he did know this material. He was just burning it in deeper. Better to be sure than sorry.

Unfortunately, Sarge was right about him not skulking around on the streets of Kiev. He'd been to China, and everywhere he had gone people had come up to him to stare, and sometimes to touch him. Black wasn't just different in some cultures; it was amazing. No way could he move around surrept.i.tiously with that kind of attention on him. And yet, the idea of sitting in an emba.s.sy command room trading comments with the CIA station chief while his teams went hunting for a terrorist lair did not appeal in any way, shape or form. He was a soldier, a field man before he joined Net Force, and he did not want to spend any more time behind a desk than he had to.

"--weapons and sub-rosa field gear are scheduled to arrive by diplomatic pouch at approximately 0945, local time. Although diplomatic shipping crate shipping crate would be more appropriate. FedEx is bringing it in. Ain't that something? We don't need bombers, we can just FedEx it to our enemies, have 'em sign for it, then set it off. Boom." would be more appropriate. FedEx is bringing it in. Ain't that something? We don't need bombers, we can just FedEx it to our enemies, have 'em sign for it, then set it off. Boom."

Howard made an appropriate grunt to show he was still awake. So--how was he going to do it, get out on the street? Some kind of disguise? Makeup, maybe? It was his operation, and he ought to be able to post himself to the active side of it. Maybe he could let his units scout things out, then get there for the finale, if it came to that. There had to be a way. He'd already sat out too many wars.

"--crime is on the rise and we are advised not to go down dark alleys late at night alone." Fernandez grinned. "Bet the local muggers will go into major pucker-factor if they jump one of ours and find themselves target-laser-painted and staring down the barrel of an H&K subgun."

"Let's not be shooting the locals, even the muggers, if we can help it, Sarge. This is supposed to be a surgical operation, in and out like a lance, no more damage than necessary. We don't want any incidents we can't sweep under a thin rug."

"Certainly, sir. I'll make sure the boys keep the barroom brawls to an absolute minimum."

Howard grinned and shook his head again. There was no better man to have at your side or watching your back than Julio Fernandez. He had trouble working a computer that a six-year-old could operate with ease, but when push came to shove, he was the best. He could pin a fly to the wall with his throwing knife, then shoot its eyes out with whatever hardware he happened to be holding, either hand and you pick 'em.

And a bunch of half-baked local radicals were about to discover that making threats against a United States emba.s.sy was an extremely stupid idea.

Friday, September 17th, 1:25 p.m. New York City Luigi Sampson, Security Chief for Genaloni Industries, left the midtown Chinese restaurant, flanked by two bodyguards. Despite his position and ancestry, Sampson did not like Italian food. He did enjoy Chinese cuisine, however, and large amounts of it. For lunch, he had consumed an order of hot and spicy chicken, hard wheat noodles, sweet and sour pork, lemon duck and snow crab in peanut sauce, as well as two beers and three cups of tea. There had not been enough of the meal left to bother packing into little paper containers.

Sampson used a toothpick as he strolled toward his chauffeured automobile, parked illegally in front of the restaurant. He flicked bits of his meal into the air, to fall upon the sidewalk.

In the plain one-color, four-door sedan across the street, Ruzhyo looked at Winters, the driver, then at Grigory the Snake, seated in back. "Are we ready?"

"I am ready," the Snake said.

"Go to it, hoss."

The three of them wore identical charcoal suits, not too expensive ones, with shined black-leather shoes, dark sungla.s.ses and new, short haircuts. In addition, each of them carried cards and badges that identified them as Special Agents of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. These IDs were, of course, forgeries, but the best that money could buy, and as such, would pa.s.s any examination up to destructive tests.

The license plate of the car had been switched, and the one it now wore had come from a vehicle currently parked in the FBI lot, not that far from where they now were.

The Snake still looked like a big, dumb Russian to Ruzhyo, even with his disguise, but there was no help for that. Besides, big dumb Russians and big dumb Americans looked much alike.

Winters was the best driver among them. It was his country, and he needed to stay at the wheel.

Ruzhyo adjusted the pistol in the holster behind his right hip. It was a SIG .40, a no-nonsense flat-black German combat weapon, very expensive and dependable, and was carried by many FBI agents. They looked the part, even the Snake.

"All right. Let us go."

Ruzhyo and Grigory the Snake alighted from the car and started across the street.

The bodyguards noticed them immediately. One of the guards said something to Sampson, who paused in picking his teeth, looked at the approaching men and grinned. He laughed and said something to his men. Ruzhyo could not hear, but he had an idea of what it might be. These men would have no love for their own federal authorities.

As Ruzhyo and the Snake drew near to the trio, Sampson said, "Good afternoon, boys. You guys're with the Bureau, right?" He smiled at the two guards, to show how adept he was at recognizing federal agents.

This was exactly as Plekhanov and Ruzhyo had planned. Give people something close to what they expected and they would fool themselves, you did not need to say a word.

Ruzhyo affected the flat Midwestern American accent he had practiced. "Luigi Sampson? I'm Special Agent Arnold, this is Special Agent Johnson." He held his badge case up in his left hand to show the ID card and badge just as real agents did, always keeping their weapon hand clear. He nodded at the Snake, who glared at the bodyguards.

While their IDs were fake, the names were not--Agents Arnold and Johnson were a.s.signed to the New York office. "We'd like you to come with us and answer a few questions."

"Sure thing, boys." To the nearer guard, Sampson said, "Verification?"

The bodyguard had a small computer flatscreen he tapped commands into. After a beat, he said, "They're on the list."

"Call the lawyers and the boss. Tell 'em." Sampson flicked the toothpick into the air with his thumb and middle finger. "Third floor of the Federal Plaza, right?"

"That's the twenty twenty-third floor, Mr. Sampson. You've been there before," Ruzhyo said.

Sampson's grin increased. He thought his crude test was enough. He was a fool, more so for believing he was clever. Wise men always left room for new things; fools thought they knew it all already. "Always glad to help out my government. Let's go."

In the back section of the car with the Snake, Sampson said, "So, what's it all about, boys?"

As Winters pulled away, Ruzhyo noted one of the bodyguards step into the street to make a note of their vehicle's license number. Good. He looked at Sampson. "You work for the Genaloni crime family. You have personally killed six men, and ordered the deaths of more than a dozen others. You and your ilk are responsible for drugs on the streets, prost.i.tution, smuggling, gambling, other illegal activities too many to list."