The computer identified the language as Kazakh—the language spoken in Kazakhstan, the former Soviet republic that still had close ties with Russia.

“Open his line up again,” Danny told Flash. As soon as it was open, Danny had the MY-PID issue the command to surrender in Kazakh. The words worked as well in Kazakh as they did in English, which was not at all.

“Out,” said Danny, motioning with his finger across his throat. Flash killed the audio. “Flick him in and out. We may be able to use the radio to misdirect him.”

“Gotcha.”

“Circuit is secure,” Danny said over the radio. “From now on, when I say ‘Talking to Wolves,’ assume they can hear whatever you say, until I broadcast a clear.”

He took stock of the situation. They had one man in the large training building, two in the house. If necessary, they could bring the Moldovans in to help.

It shouldn’t come to that. He had them outnumbered more than four to one.

He was used to kicking ass, even when he was the underdog. Now he saw what it felt like to be on the receiving end.

“If we can get them down to the third floor, we can go at them from top and bottom,” said Boston. “We can get more guys up on the roof.”

“We don’t know if they have weapons down there,” said Danny.

“If they had more weapons, they’d have them out by now.”

“We can afford to wait,” said Danny.

“What about their reinforcements? Those guys Nuri spotted in the village.”

Danny had forgotten about them. He glanced at his watch. It was past seven.

“Nuri, you on?”

“I’m here.”

“Those Russians you saw in town—”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Secure the road.”

“Already working on it.”

“Tell the police no radios. The Wolves may have something inside to pick them up.”

“Right.”

Danny turned his attention back to the men in the house. He would have just ordered the Rattlesnakes to blow the damn thing up and be done with it if not for the fact that Tiny would die in the process.

He might already be as good as dead.

“Boston, who are our best shooters?” he asked.

“Everybody’s pretty good, Cap.”

“The best guys for head shots if you were the hostage.”

Boston thought for a moment. No one on the team was a poor shot, but not everyone had been trained as a sniper. That meant literally hundreds and even thousands of rounds over and over, under all sorts of circumstances.

They had six men and one woman, if Danny remembered correctly. Who were the best two?

“I guess I’m going with Squeeze and Hooch,” said Boston. “Squeeze ’cause she’s fast, and Hooch because, you know, he’s ice.”

“Tell them to put sniper kits on and get ready. They’re going wherever the bad guys go. Tell them if it looks to them like it’s going to crap, to take their shots. Head shots—these guys don’t go down easy. Tell them they’re not going to be second-guessed. Under no circumstances do the people in that building leave alive.”

“Under no circumstances,” repeated Boston.

“No circumstances,” said Danny. Clearly, these men were too dangerous to allow them to escape. “Tell them not to pay any attention to anything I say over the radio, unless I precede it with the word ‘Whiplash.’ Got that?”

“ ‘Whiplash’ is the safety word,” said Boston.

“Nothing else I say counts.”

“Got it, boss.”

Danny looked over at Flash.

“Still in the attic,” Flash told him. “Moving around. Getting something—I think they’re going for the roof.”

“What’s going on in the training building?” Danny asked.

“He’s moving around in one of the office areas.”

“Have the Rattlesnakes destroy the cottage with the aircraft,” said Danny. “Kill the helicopters. Then take out the garage.”

Rockets began firing from the helicopters within seconds. The cottage with the skeleton chopper erupted in a burst of flame. The garage merely crumbled, the sides collapsing on the vehicles.

“What are you doing, American?” demanded one of the Wolves over the radio. “You are to cease fire.”

“Open the circuit,” Danny told Flash.

Flash gave him a thumbs-up.

“We’re not going to let you out,” said Danny.

“We will kill your man, then kill you!”

Boston waved at him, signaling that Squeeze and Hooch were ready.

“Wait!” said Danny. “Don’t kill him.”

The man laughed.

“They’re coming up through the roof,” said Flash.

“Bean, get down,” said Danny over the radio.

Bean looked down from the roof. Danny waved, signaling that he wanted Bean to comply. The trooper tossed his pack down, then grabbed the line and rappelled to the ground.

While Bean was coming down, the Wolves kicked at the hole in the roof, making it bigger. One pulled himself through. Then the other handed Tiny up and came out himself.

By now the sky had lightened considerably. The men on the house were dark shadows, but it was easy to tell which was Tiny and which were the bad guys. The Black Wolf members looked like defensive linemen, though they moved as gracefully as any halfback. They stood upright on the roof, secure in their balance. One of the men had a rifle. The other held Tiny in one arm. He had Tiny’s own submachine gun in his other hand, pressed against the Whiplash trooper’s temple as if it were a pistol.

Was one of them Stoner? Danny thought of yelling his name, trying to make some sort of plea, then decided it would be a waste of time.

“You will move back!” shouted the man with the rifle. “Those helicopters—they will land! And you are doing a trick with the radio,” he added. “Turning my headset off. Do not do this.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not a fool, American. No more this turns off, or your man dies. Then you. Move the helicopters back!”

“Have the Rattlesnakes back off, but keep the big building in their sights,” Danny told Flash, mike off. “I don’t want the guy in there to get away.”

Flash gave the command for the helicopters to back off a hundred meters.

“Team, hold your positions,” said Danny over the radio.

“Move back!” demanded the Wolves.

“Where do you want us to go?” asked Danny.

“Back! Back!”

Nuri couldn’t see exactly what was going on at the house, but from what he heard over the radio, it sounded like Danny was going to let them get away.

“Danny, what are you doing?” he demanded.

“Shut up, Nuri, and mind your business,” snapped Danny.

Shut up? Mind his business?

Nuri felt a flush of anger—then realized that Danny was playacting for the benefit of the Wolves in the house.

What was he planning?

Lacu looked at him.

“Your men should hold their positions,” Nuri told him.

“They have a hostage?” asked the deputy minister. “We have snipers.”

“It’s under control,” said Nuri.

“We have a car approaching on the highway,” said one of the Moldovans, running up. He was out of breath; he’d run with the message because of the instructions not to use the radio. “They’re coming to the roadblock.”

The Russians from the hotel. Reinforcements.

“Stop it,” said Nuri. Then he thought of something. “Wait. The snipers—have them meet me by the road.”

“If they stay that close together, we’re not getting a shot,” said Boston. “He must figure we have snipers.”

“They’re not dumb. We know that,” said Danny. “But they have to separate from Tiny to get down.”

“You and I would have to separate,” said Boston. “I’m not sure these guys have to do anything we’d have to do.”

Nuri could see the Russian car slowing as the two policemen put their hands up to flag it down. There were two police cars blocking the road behind it.

If they started to back up, what would he do?

Shoot them. But he needed the car intact. And he couldn’t use the radio to tell them.

He saw one of the policemen in tactical gear running to his right. One of the snipers.