alive and not throw away like garbage.”
“Shut up.”
“Why did you kill her? She seemed like a sweet woman. An innocent. And you just shot her.”
“You want to know why I killed her? Because I was starting to like her. Now tell me about the security system.”
“Go on the Web. I’m sure you can learn all you need to know…”
She jabbed the pistol deeper into his arm.
“It’s the usual. Very complex biometrics: iris patterns, fingerprints, facial readers, blood vessel authentication, and blood flow sensors, all combined with traditional password protection and token codes. The live fingerprint authentication alone includes four biological markers of pulse, blood pressure, body temperature, and the capillary patterns in the skin to verify fingerprints by analyzing ridges of the print as well as the depth of the valleys between the ridges.”
“I’ve bypassed those systems.”
“Not these. You can’t make a photocopy of someone’s thumb and use it. Or even a gel copy. These are quite literally the best in the world.”
“Which is where you come in.”
“Well, you should know the Al Maktoum family wouldn’t simply rely on those measures alone. The sheikh was an eccentric.” Chopra smiled darkly.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying you should expect the unexpected.”
“No, I’ll expect you to get us inside.”
Even as he’d spoken, Chopra was already formulating a ruse, but he could not put forth the plan without the young sheikh’s help — and therein was his greatest challenge.
“He’ll get us in,” said Hussein. “And I’ll get you the data on the oil reserves, but only if you get me something to eat.”
“So you’ll give away your nation’s assets — all for one meal.”
The boy shrugged. “Half the gold and one meal. I’m starving.”
“I’ve already ordered,” said the Snow Maiden. “And new clothes will be here shortly. You’ll both shower and change.”
“What you’re attempting is quite huge,” said Chopra. “And have you considered the radiation? Exposure has been limited to less than eight hours without full NBC suits.”
“Who do you think you’re dealing with here?”
“I don’t know. I ask. You never answer. Why don’t you tell me? Are you terrorists?”
She chuckled. “Hardly.”
“Then what is your purpose?”
“Well, that’s philosophical, isn’t it?”
Chopra stiffened. “I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”
“Then you can just listen,” she said, taking a seat across from him. “When I was a little girl, my father told my brothers and me a story about an old woman who lived in our town, and she was tired and old and couldn’t afford to eat, so she would go into the market and steal some bread or soup, or people would give her a handout. She got caught stealing some potatoes one day, and they hauled her off to jail. And my father never saw her again.”
The Snow Maiden just sat there, staring through him, reliving the moment.
“Was she put to death?” asked Chopra.
“I don’t know. I don’t think my father knew, but he never trusted the government after that. And he taught us to be afraid of the police.”
“Why does this bother you?”
“Because one day, I’ll be that woman, and they’ll lock me away because I stole some potatoes, and that will be my life.”
“I’m here to change that young man, to make him recognize that he was not born to live an ordinary life. He will change. It’s never too late.”
The Snow Maiden just looked at him, as though yearning for change herself.
Thirty-six hours later, Brent, his team, Thomas Voeckler, and Schoolie rendezvoused with the USS
They were all given a refresher course in life aboard a submarine, and Brent had been escorted to the captain’s stateroom by the ship’s XO.
Commander Jonathan Andreas was seated at a fold-out desk, working the touchpad of a small computer. Andreas, who couldn’t be much older than Brent and had salt-and-pepper hair, gestured to a chair. “Have a seat, Captain.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Our lockout trunk is good for nine, so you’ll have to lock out in two evolutions. My SEAL chiefs will provide the training to your newbies. They’ll also deliver all of your heavier gear, including your combat suits, with our wet vehicle. You’ve seen one of the SDVs in action, I assume?”
Brent nodded. The older-model SEAL Delivery Vehicle was a torpedo-shaped craft that cut through the ocean at six knots and expedited the transfer of a team’s worth of gear. Brent was thankful for the help. Anything they could do to decrease their infiltration time was welcome. Two full evolutions of the lockout trunk was going to slow them down already, and it was his intention to establish an effective web of observation posts in and around Dubai before the Snow Maiden arrived. It all sounded excellent in theory. It always did.
The lockout drills were performed quickly, with each group standing inside the trunk in rising water, exiting the submarine, and reentering. There was some concern over Thomas’s ability to remain calm, but the Splinter Cell went through the motions quite admirably. Afterward, Brent congratulated the man and said his brother would have been proud. Thomas agreed.
Lakota brushed past Brent in the confined passageway outside his stateroom and asked if he’d ever had sex onboard a submarine.
He stood there, dumbfounded, speechless, shocked even…
And then just as quickly, she sang, “Kidding…” and started away.
“That’s sexual harassment,” he said.
She glanced back salaciously. “So?”
“I could write you up for that.”
“Before or after?”
She rounded the corner, gone.
“Damn,” he muttered. If insubordination didn’t get him busted out of the Army, temptation like that would.
“Captain?” called the ship’s XO. “We have Major Dennison for you. She’s got updated intelligence on your target. If you’ll follow me…”
“Does it sound good?” Brent asked.
“There’s a lot of activity at your infiltration point. And there’s been some Russian sub movement. We might even have a shadow. You boys come with a lot of baggage.”
“Yeah. It is what it is.”
The meeting with Patti was canceled, and that same morning a private jet belonging to the
