9781478785873

PATRICK DELANEY

positioned rental car in which Manisha and Jenson hid themselves.
The van rolled to a stop behind a hedge, and the sliding door quietly
opened. Something rubbed once against the van. Footfalls on the dirt
road.Then silence.

Jenson noiselessly opened the car door and slipped out flat onto
the ground. Mani had protested the plan, but sentry stalking was day
one, class one of marine training. He checked the perimeter first.
Then a patient, slow approach brought him to the opposite side of the
hedge. He could hear small, intermittent movements as the van driver
waited hidden between the vehicle and the hedge. Jenson went dead
silent and slowed his breathing and pulse. There could be no slip-up
here.

The driver turned toward the hedge and relieved himself.The soft
patter of urine on the vegetation masked any chance of his hearing the
silenced Glock 23 that slowly penetrated the vegetation just inches
from his head.Two and a half kilograms of gentle pressure released the
.40 caliber round.The muzzled pop that followed was inaudible in the
wave action below. Killer to healer and back. Oh my.

Jenson signaled Mani to move up. They stayed low and crawled
their way to a prone position at the edge of the bluff.They strapped on
night vision goggles and scanned the sea below. Dark spots appeared
where the reflected light off the water was blocked. Jenson counted
two men pulling a raft toward the base of the temple.A third lay in the
raft. Likely bound and gagged to keep him from crying out. He wanted
to move down the bluff, but stayed put. The other men probably had
night vision, too, as would their guests from the submarine.The men
waded through the first dozen meters, and now swam the remainder,
pulling the raft through the surge of whitewater.The raft bounced up
onto the rocks with a hollow sound of dragging rubber.The three fig-
ures disappeared into the caves. Beyond them the surface of the sea
was unbroken, save for the dark outline of low, rocky promontories.

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Chapter Forty-Two

T he lockout chamber around Commander Wong was completely
filled with sea water. He was the last to leave, watching as his
elite team of Chinese naval commandos ascended slowly to the sur-
face. These were the best of the best. For years they had lived in the
shadow of the U.S. Navy SEALS, but they had proved themselves su-
perior in the annual SOF competitions. And now tonight, by grabbing
the very lynchpin of American operational strategy.

When Commander Wong surfaced, the inflatable was already
righted and the quiet outboard in place. He finned up to the raft and
pulled himself in. They would use the engine until a mile off shore,
then paddle the remaining distance. This team had been together for
more than a year, and each knew his assignment.Their equipment was
the best in the services. Each carried a bullpup QBZ-95 assault rifle, as
well as a QSW-06 silenced 5.8 mm pistol. He had personally briefed
them on the objectives. Secure the scientist first. Eliminate the han-
dlers, beginning with Dato Hussein. Leave no witnesses. He flipped
on his night vision goggles and quickly scanned the horizon. Clear. He
motioned his team to move out.

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Chapter Forty-Three

H e had been lying motionless for hours, cocooned in a black
dry suit and covered with a dark neoprene cover. He hated
the restricted movement of the gear. Eyeball Lefleur was lying
uncomfortably wedged amidst rocks that were barely two feet
above water level. His AS50 sniper rifle was pinned securely be-
neath the weight of his body, and strapped to his arm for good
measure. His position in the small cropping of rocks allowed him
to look across a patch of water mostly free of whitewater and
with less surge. He expected them to come out that way. He had
pre-sighted his rifle for the furthest edge of the temple, about
150 meters distant. No doubt Wild Cat and Frank were even less
comfortable. They’d been mostly submerged for the better part
of two hours. He couldn’t see them, but knew that they were on
the far side of a cluster of rocks about twenty meters farther in-
shore and off to his left. He kept close tabs on them. Didn’t want
to shoot them tonight.

Over his shoulder the wind carried in the distant sound of a
small outboard. Then it vanished. He listened intently, but there
was nothing. He contemplated shifting slightly, but then caught the
dip of a paddle. He froze in place, melting further into the rocks.
A frigging limpet. A shadow in the darkness off his right side. It

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ghosted past. The men paddling were well trained, not just sub
hands. This was about to get interesting, he thought. Where was
Turtle when you needed him? He waited until the raft was round-
ing the side of the sea temple, and then began prepping his rifle.

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Chapter Forty-Four

M att Jenson had slithered most of the way down to the beach
without attracting Mani’s attention. She’d be angry later, but
his combat instincts were telling him to move in closer. He waded
into the dark, seething waters wearing only his pants, ballistic holster,
and night vision goggles. He submerged as far as possible without im-
mersing the goggles. The warm, surging water felt alive. He covered
the short distance expertly, exiting the water under cover of the aban-
doned rubber raft. No movement at the entrance to the caves. He
drew his Glock 23 and entered quietly.The textured grip felt secure in
his hand. Not like the smooth, slippery rocks beneath his bare feet. He
heard a low whisper off to his left. He flattened against the rocks and
waited. Just in front of him was a break in the rocks through which he
could spy the cave ahead.

Dr. Gupta lay in a motionless heap only twenty feet away. His
two captors were both facing away, toward a sea entrance to the cav-
erns. One was hauling in the line from a raft of men in combat gear.
Helmets, wetsuits, and night vision. Their Chinese QBZ-95 assault
rifles were leveled at the entrance. Jenson had the vague impression
of being watched. He spun to his six, Glock up, but saw nothing. He
retreated quietly several feet back along the passage leading up toward
the temple. Nothing there, but now there were more sounds from the

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landing. He turned and took up position behind a large boulder that
jutted sharply out onto the path.With his NVG he could see the action
well enough from here.

Five of the commandos came ashore, while the sixth remained in
the boat. Dr. Gupta’s still form was identified by one of the assault
team. He knelt next to him, inspecting the face closely. He pulled a sy-
ringe from his vest and thrust it into the meat of Dr. Gupta’s arm.The
commando turned and gestured to his comrades. The two men who
had brought their captive from Malaysia were shot where they stood.
They crumpled lifelessly to the hard ground.Two commandos moved
further into the caves, infrared sights sweeping the crevices. Jenson
crouched lower, flattening against the rocks. He angled his Glock up-
ward in a balanced grip, ready if he was discovered.

He could smell the closer of the two commandos, who stopped
inches short of coming into view around the boulder. But they turned
and moved back to the cave entrance, manhandling Dr. Gupta into the
center of the boat. Wordlessly they pushed the raft back out into the
surf and headed out to sea. Jenson moved down to the water’s edge
once it was safe.

Sure hope Eyeball is out there.

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Chapter Forty-Five

E yeball Lefleur’s crosshairs followed the target’s chest as the boat
bobbed in the slack tide. Commander Wong was crouched over
his drugged captive at the stern of the raft. Too low,and Dr.Gupta doesn’t
come home.Wide, and one of his own team might go down. He’d watched
Wild Cat and Frank move to the seaward face of the temple while the
intruders were inside.They had reentered the water just ahead of the
boat, and were now counting silently to themselves on the rocky bot-
tom. He waited for their signal. Two heads broke the dark surface at
the stern of the raft, then submerged.

The round from the AS50 hit just below the trachea, ripping
through the great vessels and leaving the heart to pump freely into
space.The kinetic energy carried CommanderWong off the stern and
into the swell.Wild Cat and Frank came up firing their M4A1s, careful
to avoid the hostage on the floor of the raft.Two Chinese commandos
went down, and then a third with Eyeball’s next round. The two re-
maining Sea Dragon commandos returned fire toward the sound of
the M4A1s.The exposed marines in the water continued firing.A sud-
den whoosh of air erupted as one of the raft’s air cells was punctured
by a stray round.The port side flipped wildly, launching Dr. Gupta and
one of his captives into the chaotic blackness.

Scarcely more than a dozen meters away, Matt Jenson watched the

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events from the cover of the rocks. He didn’t want to be on the receiv-
ing end of an Eyeball special. But then he watched the boat catapult
Dr. Gupta into the water.The tango next to the flipped boat continued
exchanging fire with Frank. Wild Cat was thrashing savagely in the
water with the other commando.

Jenson’s sprinting dive had carried him halfway to the fight. The
Chinese commando grappling withWild Cat looked well trained. But
Wild Cat was enormous.The struggle was a churning frenzy that only
intermittently broke the surface with thrashing limbs and gasps for
air. Jenson was going for Dr. Gupta, which would require swimming
around the combatants. But he saw an opportunity and took it. For a
moment the Chinese commando’s back appeared. Jenson wrapped an
arm around his neck and yanked his head sharply back.Wild Cat broke
the surface, and a glint of steel flashed into the man’s torso.

Jenson took a breath and dove. His night vision goggles weren’t
meant for the water, but he glimpsed a struggling form below him
before the yellow-green image cut out. He pulled off the goggles and
swam down. Dr. Gupta had stopped struggling against the ropes and
was drifting with the surge. His shirt collar came into Jenson’s grasp,
and he kicked up to the surface with all the strength he could muster.

His gasps interrupted the momentary silence at the surface. Jenson
cupped a hand under Dr. Gupta’s chin to keep his mouth above water.
With nothing to cut his ropes, Jenson began hauling him toward the
rocks.Then Wild Cat finned up alongside, and the two towed the sci-
entist toward the shallows.There were multiple bodies floating near-
by. He couldn’t see them in the darkness, but Jenson knew that meant
sharks, and soon. They waited, holding onto each other as a splash-
ing sound approached. Eyeball paddled neatly alongside, and together
they hauled the scientist into the raft.

A submarine lurking somewhere offshore made extraction more
difficult. They beached the raft quickly and rendezvoused with Mani

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PATRICK DELANEY

Bharat. Dr. Gupta was breathing regularly but still unconscious.
Presumably drugged up for the trip. He was lugged up the bluff across
Frank’s broad shoulders. They traversed the bluff north for another
kilometer. An abandoned van roared to life as they piled inside. The
Indonesian driver was wearing night vision goggles. Wordlessly he
drove them another few miles north, to the headlands of yet another
bay.They noiselessly exited the van and moved to concealment in the
brush.The van continued north at a more rapid clip.

In the pre-dawn darkness the helicopter landed directly in front of
them on the grassy bluff. In under a minute it was back in the air and
out over the water, heading back toward Tripoli. By the time he made
sickbay, Dr. Gupta was just starting to come around. He was under
close guard, with instructions to notify Admiral Thorn the moment
he was talking.

Doctor Jenson looked him over carefully from aside the bed. Dr.
Gupta’s eyes were still glazed and his pupils pinpoint from all the
drugs. He looked ten years older. But he was awake and talking.

“How are you, Deepak?”
The scientist looked first at Jenson and then anxiously around the
room. He was confused, but the familiar faces helped.
“Deepak, you’re safe.You’re on a U.S. warship now.”
“Okay.” He seemed to be collecting his thoughts. “What about the
APSARA components? Are they safe?”
“Marines have boarded the Malacca Queen and are searching it now,”
Admiral Thorn said.
Jenson glanced at the admiral for approval to speak. The other
nodded silently.
“We were hoping you’d tell us, Deepak. We didn’t find anything
with you, but we’re certain that none of your captors got away.”
Doctor Gupta shook his head violently.
“No, no. They won’t glean much from APSARA, even with the
components. But we must go back to the medical school.”

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“Why?” Mani Bharat asked. “I thought there was nothing about
APSARA that would be useful for back-engineeringVirtual Certainty?”

The scientist was wide awake now. He stared at Mani for nearly a
minute before responding.

“When I came to Malaysia, I brought with me a chip that allowed
higher level access to the APSARA programming. It wasn’t meant to
stay with the school. And Virtual Certainty is much more sophisti-
cated than APSARA. But if someone knowledgeable finds the chip,
they’ll be able to learn a lot about Virtual Certainty. Perhaps even
control it.”

Admiral Thorn stepped closer to the bed.
“Doctor Gupta, how will returning to the school help us?”
The scientist opened his eyes and focused briefly on the square-
jawed face.
“To get the chip. It was hidden in the school so that I wouldn’t have
to carry it around. And from the school, I can render APSARA unre-
sponsive to the chip, hopefully before anyone uses it.”
The admiral exhaled sharply and turned to Jenson.
“How long until he’s fit to travel, Dr. Jenson?”
“He can finish waking up on the way, sir.”
“Make it happen.”
AdmiralThorn allowed himself a wry smile.There was always one
more thing. He stepped out into the companionway just in time to
catch Eyeball Lefleur heading toward him.The other man snapped to
attention and saluted.
“As you were, Captain.”
“Yes, sir.”
Admiral Thorn looked around. A couple of crewman were work-
ing on the pipes a few meters distant. He pushed open a supply room
door and waved Eyeball in.
“Sir?”
Admiral Thorn cleared his throat.

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PATRICK DELANEY

“Well, Captain, the scientist is back in our hands, so we’ll call this
a success.”

“Yes, sir.”
“As you know, Operation Fishhook is wrapping up. It’s gone well,
mainly because that brand-new Yuan-class sub you tangled with was
out of the area. But we’ll see what intel the SEALs bring back. In the
meantime, you’re not done yet.”
The captain’s eyebrows knitted.
“Sir?”
“I want you and your team to get Dr. Gupta safely back into that
school outside of Kuala Lumpur. And do it without anyone knowing.
No help from the government, the Royal Navy, or anyone else. He
needs to scramble APSARA’s brains, and we need a control chip back.”
“Will do.”
“And, Captain, do it fast.”

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Chapter Forty-Six

The multibillionaire glowered in the darkness.He had been summoned
this time. Summoned. He took a deep breath and calmed himself.The
delivery of the scientist had been on schedule. But the accounts had yet to
alter. He wiped his sweaty palms with a monogrammed handkerchief. His
fingers nervously probed the panic button on his watch. It would bring his
own men rushing in, if necessary.And Hansen was somewhere outside the
temple, waiting in the darkness. Hansen, the hulking British ex-comman-
do whose résumé of savagery now brought him comfort.

The screen opposite him slid open and closed. His Chinese host
entered without the slightest stir and sat down. An attendant served
their tea.The scent wafted up from the steaming cup. Mint, as always.
He sipped politely.The other man remained quiet, waiting.

“You asked to see me?”
“The delivery did not go as planned.”
The teacup in his hand became slippery and he set it down. He
swallowed apprehensively in the darkness.
“I understand that the delivery was made on time.”
“The delivery was not completed.”
He felt his heart race.
“The scientist was delivered on schedule. It is not my concern
what your associates did from there.”

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His words hung in the heavy air.
“My employers see it differently. Several of their men were killed
in an abortive attempt to take delivery.They are most unhappy.”
How? The Americans? The woman…
The low hiss continued on.
“It would seem that the scientist is beyond reach now.You have a
small opportunity, however, to salvage the situation.”
He felt his pulse skip. He picked up the porcelain cup, then re-
placed it without drinking.
“And what would that be? This chip you say is here somewhere?”
More silence.
“Yes. I understand that the chip is here in Kuala Lumpur, perhaps
even at the medical school.They will come for it. Find it quickly and
bring it to us.Yourself.”
His Chinese host sipped at his tea.
“And that will be good.”
There was a note of finality in the words that let him know he was
dismissed. He stood and let himself out.The hot, humid air of the city
outside came as a welcome relief. He was still alive.

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Chapter Forty-Seven

T hey went ashore in a small boat at 0100 hours, putting in at a
rickety wooden dock just outside of Batu Pahat, a small town
on the southwest coast of peninsular Malaysia. Above all else, they
had to be quick. Wild Cat Jimenez and Frank scooted ahead. The
main group hugged the brush along the small road leading out to
the highway. Fifteen minutes later a car without lights pulled up. A
rather small car.

Captain Lefleur walked up to the driver’s window on the right-
hand side. He was wearing jeans and a blue T-shirt. His M4A1 hung
from his shoulder. He removed the cap from his head and wiped his
forehead with his forearm.

“What the hell is this?”
Wild Cat’s voice carried from inside.
“It’s a Proton, sir.Theoretically seats up to eight passengers.”
“Theoretically… Son, do you think we’re all gonna fit in this tin
can?”
A grin broke across the broad face. A car appeared on the road
behind him.
“Sir, no, sir. Frank has a second car just arriving, sir.”
Captain Lefleur straightened up from the window and waved the
others onto the road.

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PATRICK DELANEY

“Goddamn comedian, you are, Jimenez.”

The stolen cars took them as far as Segamat, a crossroads on
the three-hour drive up to Kuala Lumpur. Just outside of town they
were greeted by a flash of headlights from a vacant construction site.
A banged-up van rolled toward them, driven by a crew-cut Asian
man in a windbreaker and jeans. They ditched the pilfered cars
behind some drilling equipment, their own meager supplies tak-
ing only moments to transfer. Daylight was still hours away. It was
Saturday, and hopefully there’d be no early bird employees at the
school. Dr. Gupta sat in the back row of the van, crammed against
the wall by the collective bulk of Wild Cat Jimenez and Frank. Jelly
Roll Gray, Eyeball, and Jenson shared the middle seat, rifles at their
feet. Jenson waited until they were back on the road, then swiveled
to face the scientist. He rested his arms atop the seatback, speaking
loudly enough for Dr. Gupta to hear him. Eyeball and Jelly Roll both
turned their heads to listen.

“Deepak, we’re getting close to the Agricultural Center. It’s time
to let us know about this chip of yours. We need to know exactly
where it is,” Jenson said.

From behind his thick, black-framed glasses, the scientist’s dark
eyes searched Jenson’s. Even now, he was reluctant to part with his
secret of so many years.Yet when they came, his quiet words were a
rapid-fire staccato.

“Because my trip was so short, I needed the chip to effect the
necessary upgrades in APSARA. Since the school was already being
guarded because of APSARA, it seemed logical to hide the chip there.”

“And where precisely in the school?”
Dr. Gupta raised his eyebrows.
“Many years ago, I had given my friend Rasheed a desk clock com-
memorating his support for me in those early years.When I arrived, I
noticed that very clock on the stand behind the desk in his office here.”

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Jenson turned to see Eyeball begin typing furiously on his cell
phone.

“What the hell are you doing, Eyeball?”
The other man didn’t look up.
“Don’t worry, it’s encrypted.AdmiralThorn instructed me to text
the location directly to him and Commander Rogers the moment I
heard it.”
Eyeball caught his wilting glare as the cell phone went back into a
cargo pocket.
“I know you’re worried about opsec, Turtle. But the guy is my
boss.”

The drive gave Jenson time to worry. Security for the Agricultural
Center had likely been upgraded substantially since he and Manisha
Bharat had last been there.The grounds of the reserve were a mix of
grasslands, reclaimed rain forest, and swamp. It would take hours to
take the most secure approach through that terrain. Hours they didn’t
have.The team had something else in mind.The van sped them toward
the Putrajaya train station, about a ten-minute drive from the agricul-
tural convention center.The train line linking Kuala Lumpur with the
international airport ran through the Agricultural Center property.

Mani sat silently in the shotgun seat next to the driver, wearing a
dark athletic sweater and light cotton pants. Her dark hair was pulled
up tightly behind her head. She turned to face Eyeball and Jenson sit-
ting behind her.

“Tempting to just drive up into the agricultural reserve, isn’t it?”
Eyeball’s voice came from only inches behind her in the darkened
cargo bay.
“Don’t know what their usual security is, but I’ll bet your friend
Tan Sri Datta is watchin’ pretty close these days. Cameras and guns.”
The driver killed the headlights. They pulled onto a short access
road instead of entering the train station. Jenson switched off the cab

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PATRICK DELANEY

light and put on his night vision goggles.The van rolled to a stop and
the side door slid quietly open. Frank’s massive silhouette brushed
past, moving nimbly to the locked access gate. Bolt cutters sliced the
chain like butter. They were in within seconds. The van rolled up to
the tracks and hesitated while Frank and Wild Cat deflated the tires.

The crew-cut driver had a Jersey accent. His voice wavered.
“You’re sure about the timing? The express trains reach one hun-
dred and sixty kilometers an hour.”
Jenson and Eyeball both checked their watches.
“Yup. Last train should’ve just blown through. Get on it.”
The van jarred onto the tracks and hit the gas. The metal shell
around them shuddered and vibrated as they gained speed. The sta-
tion was empty, and once through it was a long, straight shot through
vacant fields and grasslands. Five minutes later they rolled through an
underpass.
“Ever done this before?” Jenson shouted to the driver.
“No. But I drove stock cars. Brace!”
A yank of the steering wheel brought the van skittering off the
tracks and into a field of waist-high grass.They bounced chaotically to
a stop thirty meters from the tracks.The marines were out of the van
in an instant, fanning out into a defensive position. The early morn-
ing stillness returned. Jenson crept back to the van and checked Dr.
Gupta. Unhurt. He helped him don night vision goggles and they ex-
ited the van. Another fence was cut, and the camouflaged van pushed
deeper into the grass. On their bellies, they waited silently as a train
bound for the airport sped by.
The group hurried across the tracks. It was another five hundred
meters of rolling grass hills before they reached the paved parking
areas around the convention center. They skirted these in favor of
landscaped terrain. Eyeball’s team moved out ahead while Jenson and
Mani accompanied the lagging Dr. Gupta.
Meant to impress, Ministry of Agriculture buildings dominated a

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bluff a couple hundred meters from the convention center. On the vis-
itor side of the buildings were open public spaces, including a walled
orchid garden, walking paths, and an outdoor amphitheater. Even dur-
ing the dry season the rains could be heavy, and long, open storm
drains snaked through the landscape to control the runoff. Some were
wide enough to travel in, others just narrow enough to turn a care-
less step into a serious injury. The cover made for a quick advance,
but with the approach of dawn they had to abandon the trenches and
chance crossing open ground.

Deepak Gupta was making slow going of it. Jenson waited pa-
tiently nearby as the scientist struggled to catch his breath. Up ahead,
Jenson could see the yellow-green images of the advance team ofWild
Cat and Frank slithering up slope through the wet grass. Their task
was to clear a path between the cameras so that Dr. Gupta could be
brought up safely. Off to their right, Eyeball ranged further down an
open drain to provide cover with his M4A1. The scientist was still
having a hard time, and Jenson gave him another thirty seconds. He
peered back over the lip of the drain with his night vision, surprised to
see the advance team already six hundred meters ahead, waving them
forward. They moved out in a low crouch, making a beeline toward
the others. Jenson had no difficulty spotting the first camera. It was
pointed off in another direction and marked with a large red dot.That
hadn’t been part of the plan.

The group moved along sidewinder snake fashion. Each time
Jenson and Dr. Gupta would catch up, the advance team would move
ahead, spotting cameras and watching for security patrols. The pre-
dawn darkness was quiet and still.A group of feral dogs loitered at the
edge of a parking lot, but trotted off as a light rain began to fall. The
rain pattering on the grass covered the team’s advance. They picked
up the pace to reach solid ground before it got muddy. It would be a
messy trek back out.

They reached the back of the main building without any alarms

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sounding. Eyeball sidled up alongside Jenson and showed him a text
message: “Red dot’s OK? Mr. A.”That explained that.

Despite the high-tech medical school inside, the ground floor
of the convention center sported restrooms with open-air skylights.
Low-tech knotted ropes defeated the external security. It was tough
going on the rain-slickened surfaces for the out-of-shape scientist. He
made it over, mostly owing to Frank heaving from the other end.They
made it undetected into the men’s restroom despite Dr. Gupta’s gasp-
ing exertions. The recon team moved out ahead while he recovered.
Hallway cameras were repositioned to clear an escape route. Then
they found a convenient camera to disable, and waited in darkness
nearby.Within minutes a two-man security team came to investigate.
Now they had uniforms.

Daylight teased through the open skylight.The faux security team
rapidly cleared a short path to the stairwell. Jenson, Mani, and the
scientist followed safely behind.The back stairwell required secure ac-
cess. Dr. Gupta’s PIN still worked. Perhaps the electronic security ac-
cess hadn’t yet been changed. Or they were being drawn further into
a spider’s lair.

A camera perched high above them was angled toward the cen-
ter of the stairs.They tiptoed downward, hugging the wall until they
reached the landing at the hospital level. Jelly Roll Gray slipped a
wire-thin camera under the door. A dozing security guard sat only
inches from them, a thermos and half-eaten plate of nasi lemak on the
table where his feet rested. Opening the door was a team effort. Jelly
Roll yanked open the door as Dr. Gupta punched in his code. Frank ef-
ficiently made certain the guard remained asleep.There was no doubt
that APSARA would be monitoring the virtual hospital. Automatic
lights came on even as they plunged into the patient waiting area.
Weapons locked on an elderly man in an orange batik shirt, cough-
ing and wheezing without regard for them. His overweight wife sat
next to him thumbing impatiently through Vogue. Despite having been

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warned ahead of time, discipline alone prevented a hail of gunfire.
Their faces revealed that the marines were impressed. Mani looked
quizzically toward Dr. Gupta.

“I thought they stole the guts out of APSARA?”
The scientist shrugged, then responded in a whisper.
“I had a little time to tinker with APSARA after the break-in. It’s
only a ghost of its former self.”
Eyeball shot him a hard glance. Too much noise. Jenson shook
his head. Then he pulled the scientist’s security card from him and
dropped it in a pocket.
“Someone’s gotta know we’re here now.Take Gupta and give him
a shot at that computer. Mani, Jelly Roll, and I will go get the chip.”
Eyeball followed the order from his former commander without
hesitation. The marines moved out as a group, an amoeba that ex-
panded and contracted around the scientist as it moved silently toward
the operating room.
The remaining three headed back into the stairwell and up a level.
They repeated the same process as before, only this time the secu-
rity guard was away from his post. The door cracked silently open
and closed as they entered on all fours. The lights were all on. A
peek through the glass walls of the cubicles revealed alert defenders.
Multiple heavily armed men were stationed at the elevators, with oth-
ers cautiously roving the aisles.
Tan Sri Datta’s ceremonial office took up the entire corner of the
building, thankfully adjacent to the stairwell. Jelly Roll crawled forward,
taking up cover behind a copier across the way. Jenson scanned the of-
fice interior through the glass. A yellow light blinked from the monitor
atop the desk. Behind the high-backed leather chair was a portrait of the
ever-smiling prime minister. It was too dim to make out much else. On
the table behind the desk was a small mahogany piece inset with a brass
clock.That had to be the one. He crept to the office door. It had been
easy so far, thanks to Mr.A. But where was he now?

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The office door opened smoothly, and he slid quickly in. An
alarm immediately sounded, followed by shouts from the direction
of the elevators. Jenson lunged forward, grabbing the timepiece and
swiveling back to the door. The voices had spread out but were ap-
proaching rapidly. He eased open the office door. Across the room an
MP10 discharged, and the glass above him exploded. He covered up
instinctively, but most of the glass shards had blown into the office. He
squirmed forward on all fours. Mani was pressed under the guard’s
table, ready to shove open the stairway exit. Jelly Roll was nowhere in
sight. Mani and he hit the exit door simultaneously, with more firing
from the middle of the room. A flat thud came from the wall beyond
his hand. Jelly Roll popped up from a distant cubicle, spraying the
glass walls with his M4A1. Flying glass was instantly everywhere, and
what didn’t shatter was no longer transparent. Jenson didn’t linger.
Inside the stairwell he lobbed the clock down to the next landing. It
disintegrated into a collection of pieces a few steps beyond the sur-
prised Mani. Jenson lunged downward in two giant steps. His mo-
mentum carried him forcefully into the wall next to her. He needed
both hands, and left his own weapon slung over his shoulder. Mani was
already crouched down, sifting through the clock debris. So much for
the secret compartment.The control chip was in a thumb drive, easy
to spot now. Jenson snatched it up in his left hand, unslinging his rifle
with the other. The barrel came up as the stairwell door above them
opened. Jelly Roll burst through, firing back into the office area. He
launched up the stairs, to cover the door from above.

“Hit it!” he yelled.
They needed no prompting.
The two charged into the virtual hospital behind the arcing bar-
rel of the M4A1. Clear. They sprinted down the hallway toward the
OR. Gunshots came from the waiting room behind them, and were
answered from radiology. God bless those marines, Jenson thought.They
had disbursed to cover the perimeter and buy Dr. Gupta some time at

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the computer. Must have run right past them without anyone shooting
him.

Mani and Jenson burst into the operating room. No motion. It all
seemed eerily the same. The patient on the stainless steel table, the
surgical team, everything was exactly as they had left it.An anesthetist
was behind the ventilator and sat down as they entered. Hopefully Dr.
Gupta had made some headway with the computer.

“Take cover!” Jenson shouted. He plunged into the group around
the OR table. The brown-eyed surgical assistant turned toward him,
his lips moving but without any sound.And no warning from the scrub
nurse as he stepped in next to her. Another didn’t move at all. Must be
the broken program, he thought.

His eyes drifted to the head of the bed. The breathing tube from
the ventilator wasn’t connected to the patient’s face. That shouldn’t be.
In that same moment the patient’s arm shot out, knocking the M4A1
away.The other hand swept smoothly across the surgical tray, snatch-
ing up a scalpel.The hand arced sharply toward him. Combat reflexes
jerked him back, the blade just missing his chest. Instead a sharp heat
sliced through his shoulder. In a flash the patient was off the table
and coming at him. Jenson stepped clumsily backward, stumbling on
a cable. His assailant was big. The holographic features dissipated as
he charged, revealing the angled, ruddy features of Hansen, Datta’s
bodyguard.

Jenson grabbed a stool for protection, swinging it up into the big
man’s path. Hansen lunged forward with the blade, his arm jetting
between the stainless steel legs. Jenson twisted the stool, trapping his
arm.There wasn’t much room for maneuver. Jenson pivoted back to-
ward the table, his movement taking him between two scrub nurses.
Hansen plowed right through the first, while the other stuck out her
foot. The big man stumbled forward. Jenson smashed him with the
stool and then kicked him in the ribs before he could straighten up.An
audible groan escaped him. Jenson grabbed the hand with the scalpel

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as Hansen rolled to his feet. He wrenched the blade free as Hansen
shouldered him violently away.The big man’s hands grasped wildly at
him. Jenson stepped inside, thrusting the scalpel upward and into his
throat. He drove it with all his weight, pain searing his own bloody
shoulder as he did. The flailing Hansen toppled backward. As if in
slow motion, his hand reached under his suit coat. Gun. Jenson struck
Hansen’s elbow as he drew the black SIG Sauer. It discharged with a
muffled crack. Hansen collapsed to the floor.

Jenson leaned over with his hands on his knees, breathing heavily.
His shoulder was bleeding where it had been sliced, but it could wait.
He pulled the pistol clear. Underneath the dead man’s arm a crimson
stain had developed from the entrance wound. From outside the room
came intermittent gunfire. M4s, MP10s, and some pistols. He looked
up toward the nurse.

“Nice move with the feet, Mani.”
The hologram didn’t change expression.
“Thanks.You all right?”
“Yup. Should’ve expected something like that.”
The nurse stepped forward and pressed a piece of gauze to his
shoulder.
“You know, it’s hard to imagine Hansen being down here on his
own. I mean, away from Datta.”
“Good point,” Jenson said.Then he remembered the control chip.
He moved around the table to the anesthesiologist.The burning in his
shoulder surged as he reached into his pocket for the chip. He leaned
over the hard drive.
“This should speed up your work, Deepak.”
As his hand emerged, Jenson’s eyes dropped down to a thumb
drive already in place.The question forming on his lips was interrupt-
ed by a heavy bang against the OR door. An MP10 emptied a clip,
followed by three rounds from an M4.The anesthesiologist glanced at
him expectantly.

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Chapter Forty-Eight

T he commotion gave him a moment to reconsider. He left Dr.
Gupta’s side and instead dragged Hansen’s body to the surgery
table. The corpse was damn heavy. He draped him partially on and
then rolled him face up. Then he jammed an ET tube down the dead
man’s throat. It wasn’t pretty. But a moment later, Hansen’s staring,
lifeless eyes were masked by the holographic face of a middle-aged
woman.Around the room, holographic figures now moved about, dis-
appeared and reappeared as APSARA struggled.

He had no idea how the battle was going outside. The marines
were top notch, but they were doubtless considerably outnumbered.
Footsteps echoed in the hallway. Jenson caught his breath as he leaned
in next to a surgical assistant at the table. Latex surgical gloves masked
his bloodstained hands. His shoulder screamed, but it, too, was cov-
ered by a holographic gown. His eyes darted around the room. The
holograms had reconfigured for a new scenario.

There was a stillness. The cold air heightened a sense of expec-
tancy that held the room.The rhythmic hiss of the ventilator became
hypnotic. He felt lightheaded. Blood loss, he reckoned.

The OR doors burst open. A black nine-millimeter Glock 43
thrust through the opening, sweeping the room wildly. Tan Sri Datta
entered in a half crouch, the pistol gripped tightly in his right hand, the

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left stabilizing his wrist.The barrel of the Glock rose and fell with each
heavy breath. His forehead glistened with sweat. His eyes searched the
room frenetically. Beyond him the gunfire reached a crescendo as his
security team pushed farther down the hall.

An aging nurse in mask and scrubs turned to Datta from the table.
“We’re ready to begin, sir.”
The Glock was swinging toward her before she finished the sen-
tence. Jenson fought the urge to duck.A nine-millimeter round passed
through her and ricocheted off the stainless steel table.
“Show yourselves!” Datta shouted.
There was no movement under the bright lights of the operating
room.A glimmer from the floor caught the billionaire’s attention. His
eyes followed the trail of fresh, glistening blood from the scalpel to the
surgical drapes. He took several steps toward the table and fired again.
The round thudded into the lifeless patient. Frustrated, Datta’s atten-
tion bounced between the remaining figures in the room. But he held
back.Too many targets for the remaining bullets in the magazine. His
cell phone began to vibrate. His left hand retrieved it from his pocket
and he glanced down at the text.
“Trauma arriving now.”
The pretty young charge nurse rose slowly from her position at
the head of the table. Jenson held his breath. Mani?This was definitely
not a part of any of the training scenarios.
The deep silence magnified. Her light, graceful movements were
slow and precise. He found himself drawn to the elegant, stately pos-
tures of her hands, and the particular inclination of her face. Despite
the surgical mask, her youthful Asian features were serene and the
dark, unblinking eyes mesmerizing. Jenson felt inexplicably calm.
Tan Sri Datta stood transfixed, his pistol leveled at the approaching
figure.When she was three feet from him, he fired.The nine-millimeter
round passed through her at thirteen hundred feet per second, striking
a cement structural wall behind her and ricocheting. A moment later

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Datta dropped to his knees as the deformed bullet struck him just below
the sixth rib.The feminine figure before him disappeared.

Dr. Jenson hesitated and then stepped toward him. Datta still held
the Glock 43 extended in front of him.The billionaire looked down in
disbelief at the enlarging red stain on his white shirt.The pistol slowly
came around. For a moment Jenson could see directly down the short
barrel. He froze in position. Tan Sri Datta’s eyes met his. Then the
right arm bent stiffly, bringing the Glock to his temple. He pulled the
trigger a final time.

Jenson crouched over him long enough to be certain. There was
nothing a trauma surgeon could do. Datta was dead, his brain spat-
tered against the wall. Jenson stood back up and turned to the others.
He was far enough from the table that his own holographic appear-
ance had dissipated. Blood dripped from his shoulder wound down
the length of his arm, mingling with the blood on his hands.The scrub
nurse nearest him bent mechanically over and picked up the Glock.
She moved back to the head of the table and stopped. Leaning past the
anesthesiologist, she pulled the control chip from the ventilator.

The ceramic barrel of the Glock turned crisply back toward Jenson.
Outside, the fighting waged farther away from them. The scrub nurse
backed toward the double doors, pistol still trained on Jenson. As he
watched, the holograph dissolved to the beautiful face of Mani, her hair
pulled up behind her in a taut ponytail. She placed her back against the
doors and smiled. From that angle, she could cover the entire room.

“Sorry, Matt, but I really need this chip.”
She fired twice, the gun and her eyes flicking to the anesthesiolo-
gist as she put two rounds into him. In another instant she was gone.
The anesthesiologist hadn’t moved. Jenson lurched toward him,
his own wound bleeding freely. Jenson’s outstretched hand passed
through him.
“Tell me you still have the original control chip.”
The question came from an old x-ray tech in the corner of the

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room. He set down his lead apron and moved over to the ventilator.
He flipped a switch and the holograms disappeared.

“Jack?What the hell?”
A smile appeared on the broad features of his brother Jack.
“Sorry, man. CIA. Couldn’t tell you. Do you have the drive, or did
she get it?”
Matt Jenson pulled the thumb drive from his trouser pocket.
“She took the one that was in the ventilator.”
“Awesome.Then we’ll let her get away.With any luck she’ll plug
our specially prepared stick into that supercomputer complex on
Western Reef.”
The elimination of the holographs revealed that there was no an-
esthesiologist at all. And an x-ray machine near the door was in fact a
human being.
Jack turned to the tall Indian man with an MP-10.
“Abhi, make sure she gets away, will you? And then help Eyeball’s
guys outside.”
Eyeball Lefleur chose that moment to burst through the door,
M4A1 at waist level. Dr. Gupta followed.
“Who the hell are you?” Eyeball asked, his rifle leveled at the mus-
cular Indian man.
“I am Mr. A. Excuse me, will you?”
Eyeball accepted a reassuring nod from Turtle and lowered his
weapon. He looked from Turtle to Jack.
“You two brothers?”
Matt Jenson felt really lightheaded now. He leaned back heavily
against the OR table. Jack stepped closer, his attention drawn to his
brother’s shoulder wound.
“Never a damn doctor around when you need one.We better get
this taken care of.”
Matt locked eyes with his brother.
“She was beautiful, wasn’t she?”

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Chapter Forty-Nine

T he cold, lifeless bodies nearby found a silent companion in his
broken heart. Matt Jenson pushed Hansen’s leg away and leaned
heavily against the stainless steel table. Nothing further to do but wait.
Deepak Gupta was seated at the computer, typing intently. No pos-
sible tie toVirtual Certainty could survive.

“I’m sorry you have to damage APSARA, Deepak.”
The other man looked up from the terminal, a twinge of sadness
in his eyes.
“Thanks. It’s for the best.And I will help the school rebuild it later.”
He smiled weakly and turned back to the keyboard. Outside, the
sporadic gunfire gave way to quiet. Jack and Abhi barged through the
OR doors a few moments later. Eyeball Lefleur trailed them in. He
was still in command.
“It’s pretty much over. Just mopping up,” Eyeball announced to the
room. He glanced over at Matt Jenson. “And the girl got away.”
Jack looked exhausted. He stepped over Datta’s lifeless body and
leaned against the table next to his brother. He put a muscular arm
around Matt’s shoulders.
“How you doing, big brother?”
Matt thought about it for a moment, then shrugged.
“As you said, she was beautiful.”

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Jack nodded.
“And a double agent for the Chinese. Her boss in the Pentagon
began having suspicions, which is why I’m here. Only problem was,
she fell for the wrong Jenson.”
“Yeah, that happens.”
Jack leaned in conspiratorially.
“Especially now that you’re back in the business.”
His smile was infectious.

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