“I have an idea,” Dalton said.

Souris was back on Saba after her initial visit to the ship and had immediately hooked into the computer, disappearing into her other world after telling Cesar it would take about six hours for the necessary modifications to be completed on the Yuri Gagarin. Cesar was supervising the movement of other equipment out of the command post and on the treacherous trip down the volcano to the airfield. He paused when Souris started and opened her eyes, returning to reality without having to be called.

“There is a problem,” she announced.

“And that is?” Cesar asked.

“The retransmitters on the MILSTAR satellites have to be unlocked with a special code.”

“Do you have the code?”

“No.”

Cesar waited but when she said nothing, he asked the inevitable question: “Where is the code stored?”

“The American Space Command in Cheyenne Mountain. It’s shielded on the virtual plane.”

“How do you know this?”

Souris smiled. “There is a spy among the Americans.”

“A spy? Who? Where?”

Souris didn’t answer, closing her eyes to retreat back into her alternate world.

Cesar walked up to her and lightly slapped her on the cheek. Her eyes flashed open. “Can you get the code?”

“There might be a way.”

Dawn was less than an hour off and the launch two hours past that. Spotlights illuminated Columbia on the launch pad, allowing the thousands of people who were gathering to watch to see it. A gantry stretched from the launch tower to the shuttle waiting for the crew to board shortly. Four bolts in the bottom of each of the solid rocket boosters secured the entire flight system to the launch platform. The astronaut with the code name Eagle Six was already on board. He had checked the payload, insuring that the satellite was secure. After NASA’s unbelievable mistakes with the various Mars probes, he left nothing to chance. Now he lay back in his launch seat, a set of

headphones relaying to him the various communications come out of launch control:

“T minus three hours. The count has resumed. Perform T-three-hours snapshot on flight critical and payload items. Initiate LOX transfer line chilldown. Verify SRB nozzle flex bearing and SRB nozzle temperature requirements. Activate LCC monitoring software. The next planned hold is at T minus two hours. Go for flight crew final prep and briefing.”

21

Cesar was waiting once more as the Lear set down on the airstrip, the sun just over the ocean to the east. Valika was tired. Not just physically but emotionally. Gunning down unarmed scientists wasn’t what she had envisioned during her combat training years ago. Shooting a body suspended in solution didn’t add to her positive feelings. On top of that was the failure to bring anything back from Colorado because she had acted in haste.

“Where is Raisor?” Cesar asked.

“I believe he is dead. His body is at least.” Valika quickly summarized the action.

Cesar seemed satisfied. “So Psychic Warrior is no longer a potential threat, correct?”

“Yes, sir.” Valika noted the helicopters waiting on the edge of the airfield. “What is happening?”

“We’re getting ready to move.”

“Where is Souris?”

“She just returned from the ship. I’m sending her on the jet to the United States.”

“Why?”

“To get the unlock code for MILSTAR.” He quickly explained.

“How did she find this out?” Valika asked.

“She said there was a spy among the Americans. When I asked her for more about this spy, she wouldn’t say anything.”

“I don’t trust her,” Valika said.

“We need her. Especially since we don’t have Raisor.” “How long before we load the ship?” “It arrives this evening. I want everything prepared by then.”

“Do you have the code?” Boreas asked. He was seated at his desk, leaning back in his seat.

McFairn’s voice echoed out of the speaker phone as she replied. “Bright Gate was destroyed. We believe by the Ring.”

“Do you have the code?” Boreas got up and walked over to the outside window.

“No.”

“Time is running out for you.”

“I think time is running out for you,” McFairn said. “The Ring must be very confident to take the battle to the United States. I lost all my people there, including Kirtley. People here in Washington are asking questions.”

Boreas stood at the window staring out at the Wrangell Mountains, his hands clasped behind his back. “I know about Kirtley. I saw his transmission go off-line. But it’s not important since we don’t need Bright Gate anymore. What I do need is the unlock code.”

“What exactly do you have planned?” McFairn asked. “You’ve assured me that our goals would be in common, but I don’t see how getting you the unlock code for HAARP-MILSTAR is in my or my country’s interest.”

“Are you becoming patriotic now?”

“No, practical as always. What are we going to do about the Ring destroying Bright Gate?”

“The Ring won’t be a problem,” Boreas said. A vein throbbed in his temple and his hands twisted in fists behind his back.

“Why not?”

Boreas turned and stalked back to his desk. He leaned over the speakerphone. “I don’t have to explain myself to you. You’re nothing but a tool, do you understand? You’re so concerned about your country-your country? That’s been around for what? Two hundred and some years? A blink of an eye in the time my people have existed.

“We have been at war for millennia. Can you conceive of that? And soon, very soon, the war will be over. So don’t whine to me about your country. Get me the code!”

He slapped his hand down on the phone, cutting the connection.

McFairn stared at the now silent phone. There was only one possible way she could get the code, and that was to go to Cheyenne Mountain. She picked up the phone and ordered a jet to be ready at Andrews Air Force Base.

She tucked her dog-eared copy of Sun Tzu in her overnight bag and walked out of her office.

They’d done the best they could setting up Sybyl III and the rest of the equipment, but there were some things lacking. One was the crane they had used to lift and lower people into the tanks. Dalton, Jackson, and Barnes had to stack cartons of supplies next to their tanks and clamber up the makeshift platform. Then, making sure their lines weren’t tangled, Hammond sealed their TACPAD helmets on each, one by one. Then they blindly eased themselves down into the ooze.

Dalton resigned himself to the discomfort as the tube slithered down his throat and filled his lungs with liquid. His diaphragm fought and lost the battle as his body was slowly chilled. The white dot appeared and he focused on it. Soon he had assumed his basic avatar and was standing in the virtual world as Barnes and Jackson appeared.

Dalton was ready for action. “Jump,” he ordered and he visualized their next point. They were at the ambush site in Colombia. Their target was a compound twenty miles down the road. They proceeded there by the process of jumping along the road, staying in the virtual plane high above it, using it for guidance. The intelligence that Mentor had given them indicated the villa was home to one of the inner members of the Ring, a man named Naldo.

Dalton halted directly above the house in the center of the walled compound. Jackson and Barnes flanked him.

“Dr. Hammond?” Dalton projected the message back to the Ranch. “I’m here.” “Were you able to do what I asked?” “Yes. Sybyl’s programmed. You should be able to access it.”