The man staggered to one side but didn’t go down. He grabbed Breanna, still flailing at him, and pulled his arm back to pistol-whip her.

“Stop!” said Dr. Gustov. “If you’re looking for me, I am here. Leave the others alone.”

Danny heard shouts as he reached the landing on the fourth floor. He grabbed at the door, then turned back as the first Czech security man reached him.

“Give me your pistol,” he told the man.

“But—”

“Don’t you have a backup weapon?”

The man hesitated, then reached down to his ankle where a small Glock was strapped. Danny took the gun and began to run toward the commotion.

Zen watched the Black Wolf’s face. There was obviously something going on, though it was impossible to tell exactly what.

Most likely the men he was going to kill were on their way here. What would happen when they arrived? Would Stoner kill him, too?

“Stoner, what’s going on?” Zen demanded. “Why are you doing all this?”

The man glared at him but said nothing, his hand pressed over his ear to listen to the radio.

“The Mark Stoner I knew was a patriot,” said Zen. “A CIA officer as dedicated as any person I’ve ever met.”

“Shut the hell up,” barked Stoner, pointing the gun at him. “Shut the hell up or I’ll shoot your tongue out.”

Breanna fell to the floor as the intruder released her. She saw Dr. Gustov, the minister, standing erect across the room, head high, jaw jutting forward, as if daring the man to shoot him.

The man grinned, and raised his gun.

“Don’t shoot him!” shouted Breanna. “Stop! Don’t shoot him!”

Three loud pops followed.

Breanna looked back toward Gustov.

He was still standing.

The intruder was lying on the ground, the back of his head shattered by bullets. Blood was spurting everywhere.

“Bree! Bree!”

Danny Freah loomed in the doorway.

The Black Wolf frowned. Green had gone off mission and entered the room without orders.

The Black Wolf pressed his hand to his ear, trying to hear what was going on.

“Green?” he demanded. “Report. What’s the situation? Green?”

“There’s gunfire upstairs,” said White.

“Investigate.”

“On my way.”

Green had obviously decided to take matters into his own hands. There was no excuse for that. He’d deal with him later, in the helicopter.

It should be only minutes away.

“What happened to you?” repeated Zen.

The Black Wolf looked over at him. He’d almost forgotten he was there.

“Who are you?” said the Black Wolf.

“Your friend,” said Zen.

“I don’t have any friends.”

“You did, fifteen years ago.”

“I didn’t exist then,” he answered.

The Black Wolf stared at the man in the wheelchair who called himself Zen.

It was so familiar, yet so far away.

Danny put his knee in the back of the man on the floor, dropping down to make sure he was dead. Blood was spurting from his head, flowing like water from a small fountain.

“Is everyone OK?” Danny asked. He looked across the room. The only one standing was an older gentleman, whose face was white. “You all right?”

“I am OK,” said Minister Gustov.

“It’s OK, it’s OK,” said Breanna, rising from the side of the room nearby. She leaped over the body and ran to the door on the left, yelling to her daughter and niece in the bathroom that it was all right.

The two Ukrainians on the floor groaned. Danny turned his gun toward the one against the wall on the far left, but it was obvious he wasn’t one of the Wolves—he was normal-sized, and a little pudgy.

One of the Czech officers yelled at someone in the hall.

“Stay here!” Danny told the others, bolting out of the room.

Gunfire erupted in the hallway as Caroline opened the door to the bathroom.

“Stay down. Get behind something—get in the bathtub,” Breanna yelled.

“Mama!” cried Teri.

“Stay down, Teri. I’m here.”

Breanna pulled the door closed, stayed outside—she could do more out here, she thought, racing to see what had happened to the dead man’s gun.

“The head! They’re only vulnerable in the head!” shouted Danny as the security officers began firing at the man near the elevator.

It was a mad, crazy scramble. Danny pressed against the side of the hallway, ducking down as bullets whizzed down the corridor.

“Danny, what’s going on?” hissed Breanna, crouching behind him.

“Get back in the room.”

“No. Who’s shooting?”

“He’s near the elevator. One of the guards who came with me tried to stop him.”

“He’s with the Wolves?”

“I don’t know—I haven’t seen them.”

“The man in the room, was he one of them?”

“I’m pretty sure. They’re all huge.”

There was fresh gunfire. Someone began screaming in pain.

“Stay down,” said Danny. He slid to one knee, steadied the Glock in both hands. It was a small pistol, .22 caliber—nothing against these guys.

Two more quick shots and the screaming stopped.

A bad sign.

“Aim for the head,” he said, raising his pistol.

The man turned the corner. Danny fired instantly, emptying the magazine.

His first shot grazed the man’s face; the second and third hit lower. The man swung his gun in Danny’s direction.

Something exploded in Danny’s ear. Again and again.

The Wolf assassin got off a single, errant shot before falling to the ground, dead.

The Black Wolf heard White go down. He’d been ambushed on the fourth floor.

It was time to abort.

“Blue, Red, we leave by the back,” he told the others over the radio.

“What’s going on?” asked Blue.

“We leave by the back.”

“What about the people in the locker?”

“Leave them. I have a hostage,” the Black Wolf said.

Zen braced himself as the Black Wolf approached, not exactly sure what he was going to do.

“You’re not going to shoot your way out of this, Stoner,” he said. “But I can help.”

“Shut up.”

“Listen, Mark—”

The Black Wolf grabbed the back of his wheelchair and spun him around. He pushed him toward the kitchen. Zen started to reach for the wheels, but they were moving so fast he realized he wouldn’t be able to stop.

“We’re taking a cripple as hostage?” said the gunman in the kitchen when they entered. “We should take someone who won’t slow us down. There’s a girl—”

“I’m a U.S. senator,” said Zen. “I’m worth more.”

Zen felt himself being lifted from his chair from behind.

“Shut your mouth,” growled the Black Wolf, flipping him over his shoulder as if he were a sack of potatoes.

Breanna clasped her hands together to keep them from shaking as she lowered the pistol. Her shots had hit the would-be assassin squarely in the forehead.

Danny Freah turned around and looked at her. Neither one of them spoke.

Breanna’s legs trembled as she rose.

“I can’t hear,” said Danny. “My ears.”

“Teri!” said Breanna, turning back to the room.

No one inside had moved. She ran to the bathroom.

“Teri! Caroline!”

“We’re OK!” yelled Caroline.

“It’s all right—you can open the door,” said Breanna.

They cracked the door cautiously, then pushed it open. Breanna pulled both of them close.

“The Czech security forces are surrounding the building,” said Danny, coming behind her.

“Zen—the elevator attendant said he went to the basement.”

Danny pointed to his ears. He still couldn’t hear well.

“Zen is downstairs. In the basement,” said Breanna, pointing downward.

“Zen? They’ll get him. The Czechs are surrounding the building.”

“Here’s a helicopter with troops now,” said General Josef, going to the window. “It’s landing right across the street.”

Zen tried to turn his eyes and brain into a human video camera, recording everything that he saw happening around him, in case it would be important later. Stoner carried him through a narrow, twisting hallway that zigged out from below the building, ending in a set of steps. They were up them in a flash. Light poured over him—they were out in a small open area, moving across gravel.