She moved carefully, trying not to jar her brain, bracing herself as WildCard Karmody caught sight of her and grinned.

aHey, Locke. Welcome to the Loony Bin.a He turned back to his computer, engrossed by whatever was on the screen.

Locke stood still. Was that it? A simple greeting, no winking, no sneering, no innuendo?

In the far corner of the room, she could see John Nilsson working with a team of FBI specialists to alter his appearance. There were enlarged photos of Osman Razeen on the wall and a big mirror in front of Nils.

Closer to her, PO Mark Jenkins and the new ensign, Muldoon, were have a grand old time, stomping on what looked to be an expensive black suit. They were antiquing it, of course. If Nils were going to pretend to be Razeen, he needed to wear a dark suit similar to the one Razeen had been wearing when he was snatched. Except Razeen had been wearing his suit for days now. So Jenk and Muldoon were making the suit that Nils was going to put on look as if head been wearing it for many days in a row, too.

aGood, youare here.a Locke turned to find Senior Chief Wolchonok talking to her. aBriefing in three minutesa"weave got to take out the GIK members who are watching the motel so their rivals, the Extremists, can contact Meg Moore. Lieutenant Paoletti wants you in with the rest of the team.a Locke nodded. aThanks, Senior.a He was about to move past, but he hesitated. aEverything okay?a There was nothing ugly or knowing in his eyes. Just genuine concern. Locke forced a smile. aHeadache.a His eyes narrowed. aItas not that flu thatas going around, is it?a aNo, Senior Chief, itas not,a she said quickly. That would be just her lucka"to get kicked off the team before shead even had a chance to get on it. aReally. My sister had a baby yesterday,a she lowered her voice to explain. aI celebrated a little too . . . enthusiastically last night.a Wolchonok didnat smile, but she knew he wanted to. She could see amusement in his eyes. He pulled a bottle of Tylenol from his pocket and gave her three, as if head dispensed hangover remedies a time or two before as part of his job.

aWelcome to the human race,a he murmured. aDonat worry, I wonat tell. Water cooleras in the corner. Briefingas in the room right next to it. Hope you packed your jumpsuit.a She got herself a cup of water, not daring to hope the senioras comment about her jumpsuita"the black utility uniform the FBI counterterrorist team wore in the fielda"meant she was going to see some action with the boys.

Still, it was possible. Lt. Tom Paoletti had put her in the field before. He knew she was good. He knew she was reliable.

It was also possible that he knew shead slept with Starrett last night, God help her. And if he knew that, that tabloid-worthy fact could prejudice him and overpower both good and reliable.

Locke washed down the pills and crumbled the paper cup, tossing it unerringly into the trash can next to the cooler. Squaring her shoulders, she went into the room Wolchonok had pointed out.

The rest of the team were already present and accounted for. They sat in rows of chairs that faced the front, where Tom Paoletti was in deep discussion with his XO, Jazz Jacquette, and the FBIas Max Bhagat.

Sam Starrett was there.

She spotted him immediately, her gaze drawn to him as if he were some kind of magnet that she couldnat avoid even if her life depended on it. He was sitting in the back next to Jay Lopez, who was laughing at something Starrett had said.

Starrett was laughing, too, but he turned to look directly at her, as if head somehow felt her watching him, and instantly both his laughter and smile faded.

For about three seconds, he just stared at her, his eyes filled with . . . hurt?

No. Couldnat be.

He quickly looked away, looked down at the floor, looked anywhere but at her.

Lopez greeted her, though. Warmly. aHowas it going, Locke? Long time, no see. Congratulationsa"I heard youare with the FBI now.a aThatas right,a she said. aCounterterrorist. Although Iam sure Starrettas filled you in.a Lopez looked at Starrett in surprise. aI didnat know you guys knew each other.a Starrett looked up at Locke, his gaze coolly impersonal now. aWe donat,a he said. aNot really.a His nod dismissed her. aNice seeing you again, maaam.a Starrett hadnat told. At least not Lopez.

Or Wolchonok.

Or Karmody.

Locke sat down on the other side of the room, careful not to jar her head.

And head actually called her maaam.

aOkay,a Lieutenant Paoletti said from the front of the room. aHereas what weare going to do.a aSomeone starts shooting, you get behind me,a John murmured as she led him into the office of the Seagull Motel. aRemember?a aI remember,a Meg said. She remembered everything head told her over the past few hours. Everything. Iam still in love with you.

aBreathe,a he told her. aDonat forget to breathe, Meg.a She was leading him. He was pretending to be Razeen, pretending to be heavily drugged and leaning on her, but his arm was warm around her waist. Warm and strong.

He was holding her up.

His touch was more than just supportive, though. It was intimate, laced with a warmth of a completely different kind. He wasnat just touching her, he was touching her.

aAlmost there,a he murmured. aOnce we get inside the hotel room, itas almost all over.a Almost over.

That was usually what the dentist said right before it hurt the worst.

God, there was so much that could go wrong. The plan was for Meg to go into the office with John just as another car was pulling up. A SEAL who was nicknamed Jazza"the executive officer of Johnas team, a powerful looking black mana"would come into the motel office right behind them, along with a female FBI agent named Alyssa something.

Locke. Shead been part of the team that had taken Meg out of the menas room in the K-stani embassy, too. She was outrageously pretty, despite the fact that she didnat expend much effort smilinga"probably not a lot to smile about in her job. Still, shead taken the time to pull Meg aside and reassure her that this part of the operation at least was going to go off without a hitch.

Meg wished she had that kind of confidence. aDonat you die,a she whispered now to John. aWhatever happens, donat die.a He looked at her, straight in the eye, and she knew that if they werenat in public, with twenty-five SEALs and FBI agents and God knows how many GIK terrorists watching them, he would have kissed her.

And she would have kissed him, tooa"a hot, fierce, desperate kiss that would have ended from necessity far too soon. She wondered if he could see an echo of that kiss in her eyes as clearly as she saw it in his.

aThis is going to go like clockwork,a he told her. aWeave got the entire squad of Troubleshooters out there. And just as many FBI. This part will be a piece of cake. Trust me, remember?a Trust him. She had to now. But she noticed that his reassurances came with no promises or guarantees. Just a lot of unspoken hope.

It was hoped that Jazz and Alyssaas presence would keep the GIK from trying to snatch back the man they thought was Razeen right there in the parking lot, in the late afternoon.

Meg was in disguise, too. She wore a cheap blond wig and a lot of makeupa"it was believed the GIK would be suspicious if she came back without attempting to hide from them by changing her appearance. The wig added that final touch of oddness to an already surreal experience. Like Marilyn Monroe showing up in a Sylvester Stallone movie.

The desk clerk was skinny and balding, an odd stick of a man with more than a passing resemblance to a praying mantis. He was faster than Pregnant Girl had been, thank God. Meg completed the paperwork, paid in cash for two nights in advance, and he stretched out an antenna and handed her the room key.

Jazz and Alyssa were arguing rather convincingly about the best route to Jacksonville and Jazz stormed out to his car to get a map as Meg and John pushed back out the door.

aKeep me between you and the street,a John murmured. aYouare the target at this point, remember?a aI just want to get inside the room.a They were almost there, and the hard part, the dangerous parta"at least for nowa"was almost done.

aWe need to make sure we take enough time so they can ID me as Razeen.a He tried to make a joke. aNot that I donat appreciate a beautiful woman rushing to get me inside her motel room.a She didnat laugh. None of this was even slightly funny.

He stumbled slightlya"on purpose, of coursea"and the coat he had around his shoulders swung open, revealing the cuffs on his wrists. Meg pulled him up, and he leaned against her, blocking her from the street with his body, as she unlocked the door, and then, thank God, they were both inside.

John locked the door behind them as Meg made sure the window was latched and the curtains tightly closed. The cuffs had never really been fastened, and he tossed them aside as easily as he did the coat. It was too warm for a suit jacket, let alone a coat, and he took that off, too, along with the body armor he was wearing, and in his shirtsleeves, he cranked the air-conditioning.

The room was standard cheap motel. Two double beds with garish spreads, mediocre artwork on the wall, beige telephone on the table between the beds.

John saw her looking at it, and nodded. aNow we wait for the phone to ring.a And Meg knew that shead been wrong. The danger mightave been over for now, but the hardest parta"the waitinga"was just beginning.

The woman was upset. More upset than usual.

The tension in the old house was sky-high, too, and Eve knew that it was going to have to be tonight. She and Amya"or maybe even just Amya"were going to have to get up to that bathroom and go out that window.

Even if it were raining, even if the roof were slick with water, even if lightning were crackling overhead. It had to be tonight.

Because the woman wanted them gone. As in dead and gone.

aWhatas happening?a she dared to ask the Bear, praying that it wasnat already too late.

He just scowled and shook his head.

Eve gave another piece of butterscotch to Amy, who was trying hard not to flinch every time the womanas voice got louder.

aWhere were we in the story?a she asked, hoping to distract her.

aYou went to France to see Ralph,a Amy said, abut he wouldnat talk to you. He just ran away.a aThatas right,a Eve told the little girl, smoothing her hair back from her face. Amy could use a good hour in a bathtub. She herself could use a good soak, too, for that matter. Lord, her every muscle ached, every bone hurt. She hadnat felt this bad since shead tried to run the Boston Marathon back in 1972. aI remember that day as if it were yesterday. I thought it had gotten about as awful as it could get. But thatas always a very bad thing to assume.a The Bear had taken his seat. He was listening, as usual. Was all her endless talking doing any good at all? Eve searched his eyes, looking for some obvious sign of humanity, some trace of gentleness and compassion. If it were there, he kept it well hidden.

aIt was just a few months later that Hitler invaded France,a she told them. aNick and I were glued to the radio, listening to the news. It was shocking how fast the reports came in of cities that had fallen. It didnat seem possible, this lightning-fast advance of tanks and troops, this Blitz. I was scared to death. Because somewhere out there, facing those deadly German panzers, was Ralph.

aI remember I was in town, trying to find information on the whereabouts of his regiment, when I saw ships and boats of all sizes gathering in the harbor. Someone told me that the call had gone out for all available ships and men to meet in Ramsgate, that the Royal Navy didnat have enough ships available to evacuate the BEF from France, so we were going to do it ourselves.

aI drove home as fast I could, and I got the Daisy Chain and sailed her to the harbor. But there were far more boats than able-bodied men. I mustave expected it, because I had dressed in trousers and one of my fatheras old shirts. And Iad tucked my hair up under Ralphas old hata"it was still on board, just where head left ita"exactly as Iad done when Iad played Romeo nearly a year earlier. And I set off with the rest of the little ships for Dunkirk.

aIt was terrifying. The city was on fire, and great clouds of smoke rose like some terrible monster above the French coastline. From a distancea"it was the oddest thing! The men, the soldiers lining up on the beaches, looked like rows of sticks. It wasnat until I got closer that I realized just how many men were there, all waiting to be evacuated.

aThe German air forcea"the Luftwaffea"were overhead, shooting at the men on the beach, shooting at us. Artillery pounded the beachesa"there were bodies everywhere. It was awful.

aIt was war.a Eve looked at the Bear again, and this time, there was something in his eyes. Something terrible. Something she recognized from looking into her bathroom mirror.

Head lived through such a battle himself. Head known that awful gut-wrenching fear.

She reached for him, taking his hand in hers and squeezing it. Letting him see that she knew he understood.

And thena"there! A glimmer of something. She could have sworn shead seen it in his eyes, right before he pulled his hand away.

Or maybe shead just wanted it to be there.

aI brought the Daisy Chain in all the way to the shore,a she continued. aShe wasnat as big as some of the other boats, and I could take her almost right up to the strand. I took aboard as many soldiers as I could, asking everyone I saw about Ralphas Anti-Tank Regiment, the Fiftieth.

aNo one knew a thing, they barely knew their own names. I heard all kinds of rumorsa"that the order had come down, aEvery man for himself.a aFor a while I set to work using the Daisy Chain as a ferry, taking men from the shore out to the larger ships that couldnat get in close to the beaches. The piers had all been bombed by the Germans. The entire harbor at Dunkirk was an obstacle course, filled with debris. But then all the larger ships departed, so I took on as many men as I coulda"about fifty, riding low in the watera"and headed back for England, too.

aThe trip across the channel took about two hours on the best of days under the best of circumstances. And German U-boats torpedoing the larger vessels was hardly what Iad call the best of anything. I returned to Ramsgate, and then went back againa"I was too small to be a target for the submarines, thank God. Too small to do much of anything but bring back fifty men. And then another fifty men. And another. Asking all the time about Ralph.

aI finally found a man who thought head heard that the Fiftieth was one of the regiments holding the Germans at bay, making the evacuation of all these men possible. Despite the aevery man for himselfa order, the Fiftieth had stuck quite literally to their guns. Theya"Ralph among thema"were fighting still.

aI had walked into hell to save Ralph, but apparently he wasnat ready to come out yet. I heard all kinds of rumors about the panzer attacks, tooa"about the terrifying invincibility of those tanks that Ralph and his unit were fighting against. Some of the men spoke in hushed tones of a secret weapon that the Germans hada"some mysterious force that caused the British and French guns to be unable to fire.a She laughed. aI think it was called fear.

aI heard rumors of the Germans being horribly angry with the British soldiers who resisted their advance. It was said they were taking no prisoners, that they were lining up their captives and shooting them as punishment. The word had gone out among the BEF not to surrender, but instead to fight to the death.

aAnd each time I returned to Dunkirk, there were more bodies. Bodies everywhere. Littering the beach, floating in the ocean. They were stepped over, stepped on, pushed aside. And still the evacuation went on.

aI crossed the English Channel more times than I could count, through that day and the following night. And the only reason I stopped was that one of the soldiers I had rescued realized that I was a girl. He put me out at Ramsgate, wouldnat listen to my arguments, and took the Daisy Chain back to Dunkirk himself.

aI went to work in Ramsgate then, helping the wounded off the ships that came in, searching, always searching, for anyone who knew or might have seen Ralph.

aHundreds of thousands of men returned to England by that armada of little ships and boats. We fed them, and held them in our arms while they cried. We welcomed them back home, back to life, and put them on trains sending them farther inland, so they could regroup. Many of those poor battered souls went home first, before reporting back for duty. I left a note on the door of the estatea"everyone, even Nicky, was in Ramsgate helping as best they coulda"hoping that Ralph would somehow make it there.a aBut he never did,a Amy said. aDid he?a aNo,a Eve told the little girl, told the Bear. aHe never did. I searched for him for days. I even phoned his mother to see if he mightave gone there. But he didnat make it out of France. The Fiftieth Anti-Tank Regiment stuck to their guns until the bitter end.

a338,226 men were rescued from Dunkirk between May 26 and June 4, 1940,a Eve told Amy and the Bear. aIt was a miracle so many had been saveda"a miracle that Ralph and the Fiftieth had helped to come about by holding off the German advance. It was every man for himself, but the Fiftieth and the other antitank regiments werenat fighting to save themselves. They had to have known theyad be left behind. Surely they knew, and yet they held fast to their hills, keeping the Germans from those beaches and those virtually defenseless ships and men. They were the true heroes of Dunkirk.

aFor a while I was really mad at Ralph for that,a Eve admitted. aFor being so blasted heroic. I didnat want a hero, I wanted him back in England and safe.a She could smile about it nowa"just barely, still wistfully. aAt sixteen years of age, Iad already faced so many hardships in my life, but nothing, by far, was as hard to bear as this.a aWhat did you do then?a Amy asked softly.

aI did what everyone else did,a Eve answered. aI fought on. We fought on. We Britisha"and oh, yes, I was one of them nowa"we dedicated our lives to making darn certain that the sacrifices that Ralph and the other men of the BEF antitank regiments had made were not in vain. Winston Churchill made a speech right after the miracle at Dunkirka"we called it a miracle and a victory even though it really was a crushing defeat. But wead saved so many men at such impossible odds, it was hard not to feel triumphant. We shall defend our island, Churchill said to all of England, to all of the world, whatever the cost may be. But oh, what a cost had already been extracted from my very heart and soul.

aDunkirk was just the start,a Eve told them. aBut it was the first act of defiance in a long and bloody war filled with defiance in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. It wasnat until 1945 that the Nazis were finally completely defeated, but I know that their defeat started in 1940, at Dunkirk. I know that I helped save the world. Or rather, I helped Ralph and his brave fellow soldiers save the world. His sacrifice was not in vaina"I was convinced of that. But it didnat make it any easier to bear late at night when I missed him so terribly.a Amy held Eve tightly. aI miss Mommy terribly,a she said.

aI know, sweet.a Eve looked at the Bear. aI miss her, too.a It was going down as if it had been choreographed.

The GIK, despite their pricey costumesa"the raincoats and shades, at twilight for crying out louda"were standard issue dumbfucks. They came creeping out of their van like a pack of kids playing ninja, as if the setting sun made them invisible.

Sam was right next to WildCard, who was having trouble not laughing aloud. Sam wouldave had the same problem if it werenat for Alyssa Locke.

Despite his efforts to stay as far away from her as possible, shead somehow ended up right beside him. She didnat want to be there anymore than he dida"he could see that news bulletin clear as daylight in her eyes.

When the order came to go, to move stealthily forward and out-ninja the ninjas, he was more than ready for some action.

But it was unsatisfyingly easy. The GIK tangos were totally outmatched by the team of SEALs and FBI. They were down on the ground, their weapons taken from them, in a matter of seconds.

And somehowa"Jesus Christ, give him a break, pleasea"Alyssa was right beside him again. Close enough to catch a whiff of her clean-smelling shampoo.

Apparently one of the tangos caught a whiff of it, too. The son of a bitch no doubt took one look at Alyssaas pretty face and slender physique, and pegged her as the weak link in the chain.

Lopez had grabbed the bastardas Uzi out of his hands, and Muldoon had delivered a blow that should have sent him face first onto the driveway, but the fucker bounced. He was up again in an instant, hitting Alyssa hard, with a bone-jarring crunch, right in the chest.

She went down, and Sam turned fast. Theyad taken the dumbshitas Uzi, but Jesus, he could have a hunting knife or a switchblade. Or he could be one of those commando wannabes whoad managed to learn to break a neck with a single swift twist of an opponentas head.

Alyssa hit the pavement with another solid-sounding thud and a muffled, pain-filled shout.

If head stuck her with a knife, this fucker was going to die.

But Sam didnat have a chance to extract revenge. Alyssa took the tango down with her, despite the fact he was nearly twice her weight. It only took a heartbeat, a few short seconds, tops, and she was straddling the guy, shouting for him not to move, her side arm jammed neatly up beneath his chin.

It was difficult for the bastard to not move seeing that he was writhing in pain. Seeing that Alyssa had kicked him in the balls so hard he was going to need a doctor to pull aem back down from where theyad lodged near his spleen.

Sam faded back, fast, so that she wouldnat see he was one of the men whoad leapt to her aid.

The FBI cleanup team was fast. They had those assholes searched, cuffed, Miranda-ed, and loaded into a properly nondescript van in record time. Another agent impounded the tangosa vehicle, driving it swiftly away.

Alyssa didnat look at him as they got themselves the hell out of there, too. She was breathing hard, shead torn the elbow of her jacket, and she was trying to hide a limp.

It took every last ounce of willpower he had to keep his distance. But he knew he was the dead last person shead want checking up on her right now. As he watched, she shook off Lopez, the team medica"just brushed right past him.

aMan,a WildCard said in admiration. aDid you see that? Let that be a lesson for us all. Donat ever, ever, get Locke mad at you.a Too late.

Twenty-two.

NILS PACED AROUND the motel room, double-checking the fact that the room had only one entrance.