Before Daniel had time to weigh his options he pulled the crystal from his pocket. "We found this crystal in the back of the truck. We thought you might be looking for it, so we brought it down here."

Sokolov's face melted with a look of relief as he reached out and took the crystal from Daniel's hand. It was like watching a father hold his newborn baby for the first time. "Do you realize what you have done?"

Ben instinctively moved his hand to the zipper of his clean suit so he could reach the pistol hidden in his waistband.

"You've just saved us from a disastrous delay!" Sokolov smiled as he held up the crystal.

"We would have brought it down here sooner, but we weren't sure what it was," Daniel continued. "What is that thing anyway?"

Sokolov's eyes narrowed to thin slits. "A strange question coming from an elite guard. You should know better than to ask questions like that." He paused as he studied the two Israelis. "I don't believe I recognize your accents. Where are you from?"

"Canada, sir." Ben said quickly as a drop of sweat dripped from his hairline.

"I thought all our recruits came from Europe."

"I was living in Europe when I was recruited, sir." Ben's interrogation training was kicking into overdrive. Like everyone else in Team 5, he had been taught to think on his feet in case he was captured or questioned during a mission.

"Where were you recruited?"

"Paris, sir. I was in the Legion."

"Ah, a Legionnaire. We were watching you in Iraq."

"I beg your pardon?"

"My unit was on the ground in Iraq during the first Gulf War to observe the tactics of your so-called coalition army."

"KGB?"

"Another probing question from this inquisitive Canadian." Sokolov paused as he studied the two men. "Actually, I was attached to military intelligence as a computer specialist. An old GRU instructor at the academy once told me that the Legionnaires would have made formidable adversaries if we had ever been forced to deal with them on the field of battle, but as observers we never got the chance to find out. Too bad, really ... I always wanted to find out what it was like to shoot someone. I suppose I have a penchant for destroying things." Sokolov broke into a high-pitched laugh that echoed around the concrete walls, but as soon as the laughter faded his eyes took on the unwavering gaze of a predator.

As Sokolov looked up at the sphere, Ben and Daniel stood frozen and watched as ion-charged particles of dust floated up around his face before being vented outside through one of the many exhaust ducts. It was like standing in the room with a wild animal that could sense your fear, for it was quickly becoming evident to the two Israelis that they were dealing with a very dangerous and unpredictable psychopath.

Looking away from the sphere, Sokolov re-focused his attention back on the two men standing before him. "You may go. But next time call me before you go wandering around down in secure areas. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir. It won't happen again." Ben started to salute but caught himself at the last second when he remembered that salutes varied in style from army to army, and using the wrong kind of salute would mean a sure trip to an interrogation room with a crazy Russian who, by his own admission, always wanted to know what it felt like to shoot someone.

Turning around, Ben and Daniel walked slowly through the exit door without looking back. Stripping off their white cover suits, they grabbed their weapons and waited for the large, vault-like door to swing open before heading up the stairs at a pace that seemed agonizingly slow. Trying to take each step at a measured pace, Ben was acutely aware that the cameras were watching them, and that even now the Russian was probably checking to see if any Canadians had been hired by his security force.

As soon as they reached the top of the stairs and exited the cooling tower, the two men took off at a dead run across the flood-lit open space until they reached the side of the maintenance building. Trying to slow his breathing, Ben grinned at Daniel. "That was fast thinking down there, my friend."

"I thought you were going to be furious with me for giving up the crystal," Daniel said, "but from the looks of that Russian guy I thought it was our only option."

"Sometimes we have to make trade-offs. I have a feeling they would have found it anyway, because I could tell the man was starting to get suspicious. We were probably seconds away from being searched by the goons standing behind him. You probably just saved the mission, Danny Boy."

Jerking open the door to the maintenance building, Ben and Daniel were greeted by the relieved stares of a dozen Israeli commandos. "We were starting to get worried, Captain," Efron said. "Five more minutes and we were coming in after you."

"You wouldn't believe what's down there," Ben said excitedly. "The palace is just the tip of a very large iceberg. There's a fortress beneath us, and we're standing on an ant hill that's about to start swarming after they take a look at their cameras and discover that Daniel was messing around with one of their computer terminals. In a few minutes the ants are going to start flowing from their nest, and we need to be out of here before that happens."

"What about the kid?" Efron asked.

"No time. This place is one giant maze and we don't have any intel on where they might be keeping him or even if he's still here. If we stumble upon him on the way out ... grab him. Otherwise, we're out of here." Ben looked around at all the disappointed faces staring back at him, because to the men of Team 5, going home without achieving all of their mission objectives was like walking off the field before the end of the game.

"I know what you're all thinking," Ben said, "but our primary objective comes first, and we've got to get the pictures I just took back to Tel Aviv."

"What was it, Captain ... what did you guys see down there?"

"The queen ant," Ben grinned. "A big fat queen ant. They've got the mother of all computers down in their little ant hole, and there's no doubt in my mind that these are the people behind the computer worm that just struck our country."

Efron was beginning to look like a tiger that hadn't eaten. "Why don't we just blow it now?"

"For one thing we'd need a lot more explosives, and our bosses back in Tel Aviv might have other plans in mind. We just stumbled on new technology that supposedly doesn't exist yet, and this site could be an intelligence goldmine." Ben peered out through the window at the floodlit courtyard around the palace. "How many guards outside?"

"Only two, sir. They've been out there for the last thirty minutes."

"Anyone else?"

"Just the guy in the Lamborghini and a squad of soldiers that walked past us about fifteen minutes ago."

"Yeah, we just had a nice chat with him down at the bottom of the ant hill, and I don't relish the idea of striking up a new friendship with a psychopath. Our time here is up, because by now the Russian has probably seen the camera footage and discovered that our cover story is full of holes. In a few minutes all hell is going to break loose, so we need to get moving, and we need to do it right now."

Ben looked over at the radio man. "Send another burst transmission to the choppers and have them take off and fly in over the highway. Tell them to be on the lookout for a truck being chased."

Sergeant Efron winced. "What's on your mind, sir?"

"Like I said, we're out of time. We're going to grab that truck out there and smash our way through the gate. Leave a satchel charge in here and set the timer for four minutes. That's how long we'll have to take care of the guards outside and make it out of here. We'll throw another one out by the gate. The explosions should slow down anyone trying to follow us. After that all bets are off. Since I'm still wearing one of their uniforms, I'll go first and distract the guards while the rest of you follow."

Looking back at his men, Ben opened the door and stepped out into the floodlit courtyard. As soon as the first guard spotted him, Ben stopped to light a cigarette. "Nice night."

The guard slung his rifle over his shoulder and walked closer. "Yeah, at least they found whatever it was they were looking for. Now everyone's awake and they want us to change that tire before our relief shows up."

Ben froze when the guard pointed to the flat tire at the back of the truck.

"You ever change a tire on one of these things before?" Ben asked.

"No, and from the looks of it we'll be here for another hour."

"Well, you're in luck, because I'm your relief. My partner will be along in a minute. We'll take care of the tire."

"But you're in the elite guard. You guys never stand guard duty."

"Looks like we're going to tonight. Orders from the top. Something big is going on."

"Must be. Sure you don't want us to hang around?"

"I'm positive. Get some sleep."

"Thanks, buddy. I owe you one." The guard motioned to the other soldier and they both strode off toward the palace with their rifles slung casually over their shoulders.

Immediately the Israelis came flooding out of their hiding place. "Change of plans," Ben shouted. "We'll have to take the second truck in line. This one's got a flat."

Efron quickly made a mental calculation of the distance between the maintenance building and the palace. "There's not enough room to drive the second truck around this one."

"Then we'll push the one with the flat out of the way. How much time until the satchel charge goes off?"

"Three and a half minutes and counting, sir."

"Better hustle then."

As Team 5 jumped into the back of the second truck in line, Sergeant Efron hopped into the driver's seat and hit the gas. Backing up against the front bumper of the truck with the flat, they spun the disabled vehicle into the side of the palace just as loud sirens began wailing all around the compound.

"Sounds like the gig is up," Ben shouted, jumping into the seat next to Efron. "Ram the gate and keep on going."

Looking back through the side window, Ben could see dozens of soldiers running across the open area between the cooling tower and the maintenance building. "Step on it, Sergeant!"

Efron spun the wheel and pushed the accelerator all the way down just as a flurry of bullets began zipping into the back of the truck. In front of them, flashes of gunfire erupted from the walls, shattering the windshield just as the front bumper crashed through the gate. With steam pouring from bullet holes in the radiator, they threw out a second satchel charge that exploded ten seconds later, collapsing the walls by the gate and leaving a large crater in the road.

Behind them, through the dust and debris from the explosion, an open jeep with a machine gun mounted behind the driver came roaring out of the compound. Swerving around the smoking crater, the jeep began gaining on them as the machine gunner began pouring fire into the back of the truck carrying the Israelis. Instantly one Israeli soldier was hit in the shoulder as the others began spraying the highway behind them with every weapon they had, while inside the compound, they could see soldiers climbing into trucks just as the maintenance building exploded in a billowing tower of fire.

Balancing his weapon on the rear tailgate of the truck, an Israeli commando let loose with a shoulder fired rocket, hitting the jeep behind them dead center. The resulting explosion lifted the jeep up into the air in a showering burst of metal and flame before it fell back to the side of the road in an unrecognizable heap of twisted wreckage.

From the walls of the compound, bullets continued to rain all around them as a rocket-propelled grenade flew past the truck, barely missing them.

"They've got our range," Ben shouted to Efron. "The next one probably won't miss!" Looking back out his side window, Ben ducked when two dark shapes flew by overhead. Seconds later, the two choppers released all of their rockets against the west wall of the compound, reducing the entire area to a smoldering heap of rubble.

Focusing on the road ahead, Efron pushed the smoking truck up the highway and around a curve in the road until it finally chugged to a stop in a billowing cloud of steam. Jumping from the truck, the Israelis began sprinting up the sides of the highway, mindful of the fact that there were still roving 5-man weapons teams lurking in the nearby dunes.

As the adrenalin flooded their systems, they swiveled their heads and peered out into the surrounding desert with their night vision goggles. They didn't have to wait for long as gunfire erupted from the top of a dune. The Israelis hit the dirt as bullets flew over their heads. They were pinned down with no cover, and as Ben raised his head, he saw a chopper rise up behind the dune and pour a stream of fire from a roaring mini-gun into the 5-man team that had just spotted them.

Seconds later, the choppers set down in the middle of the highway, and in less time than it took to send a text message, two helicopters full of grinning Israeli commandos were speeding over glowing moonlit dunes en route to a warship waiting off the Iraqi coast in the Arabian Sea.

CHAPTER 37.

Low black clouds were blotting out the sea around them as Francois Leander piloted the thirty-five-foot cabin cruiser through building waves toward a small island ten miles off the Italian coast. Sitting in the small cabin below the pilothouse, Anthony Morelli was pouring over a sea chart with two Swiss Guards in an effort to locate a tiny dot on the map pinpointed by a source in the Israeli embassy who had told them they would find Pope Michael waiting for them there.

Whipped by the building wind, the sea had turned an angry gray as waves crashed across the decks, making it almost impossible to maintain a direct course. Bracing himself against the roll of the boat, Morelli poked his head up from below and shouted to Francois. "What course are you steering?"

"I'm pegged at 260 degrees ... more or less."

"Good. Keep heading west on that course and the island should be two miles straight ahead of us." Morelli began to turn away but stopped and looked back up into the pilothouse. "Oh, I forgot to mention ... it's surrounded by rocks. We have to approach the cove head on, so try to keep the course steady."

"I'm trying, Bishop, but the ocean isn't exactly being cooperative right now." A large wave crashed against the side of the boat, laying it on its side as Francois fought the wheel and pushed the throttles all the way forward until the boat righted itself and turned in a slow arc back to their original course. "To tell you the truth, we'll be lucky to find the island at all, much less a small beach surrounded by rocks. Did they mention what we're supposed to do once we get there?"

"Not really." Morelli grabbed the sea chart and climbed the short steps the rest of the way up into the pilothouse. "The man from the embassy just said to anchor off a small beach inside the cove and wait."

"Anchor! Are they kidding? There's no way we can anchor in this storm. We'll be dragged right up onto the rocks! If we don't find it soon I'm afraid we'll have to turn back." Squinting ahead, Francois stared through the blinding spray until he thought he saw the outline of something dark in the distance.

Another wave swept over the pilothouse, and when the water had drained, he saw a line of towering cliffs directly in front of them. "Got it!" he shouted to Morelli. "The island is right in front of us! Now all we have to do is find that cove and hope we don't tear the bottom out of this thing after we make it past the breakwater!"

Morelli grabbed a brass railing and peered through the rain-streaked windows into the misty gloom surrounding the island. With the cliffs looming overhead, the thunderous roar of pounding surf grew louder as they skimmed down the side of a wave and bobbed in a foamy trough a hundred yards offshore.

"There!" Morelli tossed the chart aside as he pointed through the window to a gap in the cliffs. Near the opening, the color of the water changed from storm-tossed gray to bluish-green as it flowed in and out through a narrow break in the rocks. "That must be the way into the cove!"

Leander strained to see as another thunderous wave crashed down on the boat and slowly drained through the scuppers. "OK. We've got to get away from all of these rocks. I'll aim for that space in the cliffs, and you might want to say a little prayer, Bishop, because once we enter that opening there's no turning back."

"Don't worry. I'll take care of the praying, Francois. Just aim for that space and give the engines all they've got."

Gritting his teeth, Francois shoved the throttles all the way forward, forcing the boat up over an incoming wave and allowing it to power-surf straight through the gap in the rocks into a small cove. As soon as they entered the cove it was as if someone had suddenly hit a switch and turned off the storm. Inside the ring of protection offered by the encircling cliffs, the sea calmed and the howling winds lowered almost to a whisper.

With the boat now riding calmly on smooth water, Morelli and Francois looked out through their windows and saw three figures waving to them from a tiny beach at the bottom of the cliffs.

Francois' eyes widened. "How in the world did they get in here?"

Morelli grinned. "I have no idea, but I'm sure there's a good story behind it."

Francois pointed excitedly. The three figures on the beach had shoved a small rubber boat into the water and were now rowing out to the cabin cruiser. A few minutes later, Pope Michael, Cardinal Leo, and Eduardo Acerbi were looking up at them from the tiny bobbing craft.

"Your Holiness!" Morelli exclaimed. "We've been sick with worry about you."

"I've been in excellent hands, my friends, but it's good to be back." The pope vaulted over the rail and reached down to take a shivering Eduardo Acerbi by the hand as others helped lift him up onto the deck. "We need to turn this boat around and head back to Rome as soon as possible. Mr. Acerbi is ill."

"But the storm, Your Holiness," Francois sputtered. "We barely made it in here. It's not safe to take you back out into a sea with waves this big."

"We have no choice, my friends. Storm or no storm, we must get Mr. Acerbi back to Rome today."

Moving back into the pilothouse, Francois started the engines while the shivering new arrivals made their way down into the relative warmth of the front cabin. As soon as they were seated, the two Swiss Guards began pouring hot coffee from a thermos while handing out dry clothes.

"I suggest you change into the dry clothes now," the guard said. "There are also baseball caps and dark glasses in each bag."

"You guys always come prepared," Leo said through chattering teeth. "Thank you."

"You can thank our boss, Cardinal. Francois always thinks of everything. He knew you'd be freezing and he doesn't want anyone recognizing you when we arrive back at the dock. The harbor authority placed security cameras all around the harbor in Fiumicino last year to prevent theft, and we're pretty sure they're being monitored by whoever is looking for you."

"What's happening in Rome?"

"We'll get to that when we dock," Morelli said, pulling Leo aside. "Right now I have to know how all of you ended up on that island."

"Submarine."

"A sub? In here?"