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"Four civilians are dead and the life of a young woman is at stake I need you She needs you"

"You want me to protect her?" asked David in disbelief "You must be desperate"

Monroe pulled in a deep, weary breath "You know the Swarm You know their tactics You also knoill happen to her if you fail"

Seething, violent rage billowed up into David’s throat, leaving behind the acid taste of bile For two years he’d thought that he’d taken out every one of the Swarm’s members Before he quit Delta Force he’d ain

He’d been wrong For two years, he’d been wrong

"Tell rowl "I’ll kill every last one of them myself"

"We don’t knohere they are But we knohat they want"

"The wouessed David

Monroe nodded "Dr Noelle Blanche Stick with her and you won’t have to find the Swarm They’ll find you"

A slow, ferocious smile curled over David’s lips "Where is she?"

"We need to talk"

Noelle Blanche started, and she turned around to see who had interrupted her concentration

Professor Joan Montgotime mentor and friend, stood in the doorway of Noelle’s crahtly nauseated

Joan had been one of Noelle’s undergraduate professors at the University of Kansas She had given Noelle her first taste of Latin and, because of Joan, Noelle’s educational destiny had changed Her career path to uistics and she’d ended up at some wacky rest stop called Assistant Professor of Applied Mathe suely Cyrillic script she’d just received in an e-ebra in fifteen minutes, but I have until then"

Joan’s expression twisted with discomfort "I’ve been sent by the dean to find out your final decision about that grant He’s tired of waiting"

Noelle stifled a resigned sigh "I already told hirants funded by the th hair behind one ear, pulled out the orange, 1970s cast-off office chair and sat down "Why not? You’re the only one in the department who can do the work Hell, as far as I know, you’re the only one in the country who can do it"

Noelle shook her head and shoved a hand through her red curls to untangle thelasses

"That’s not true There are at least four other people who know y and two of theht here in the States It’s just a hobby for me They do it full-tiovernrant money," Joan reminded her "Apparently, you’re a lot more valuable than you think"

Noellenoise "My sister’s the smart one Let them ask her Or anyone else Just not me"

"Why won’t you do the work? It sounded fairly ta you to build a bo"

"They want me to develop a mathematically based encryption syste at Noelle in confusion "Don’t you think you can do it?"

Noelle waved a pale hand, al Tower of Paperwork "Of course I can do it I’orith on the puzzle while I was sleeping I’ll have the solution in another two months, whether or not I want to know it, but that’s not the point"

"Then what is the point? Because I’ to help solidify your position here at the university"

"If I give the military a tool, they will use it Eventually, they will use it offensively When that happens, people wili die and I’ll be partially responsible I can’t do that"

"If you don’t, someone else at so with understanding "You’re brilliant, and it will probably take someone else five years to do what you can in two ure it out Eventually, soive the military their tool"

"But it won’t be me," replied Noelle "I won’t have that blood on et fired"

"Downsized," corrected Joan with a grimace

"Whatever" It all meant that Noelle would be out of a job

Silence filled the roo of the cheap fluorescent light overhead

"Not whatever," said Joan "Downsized"

The apologetic tone of Joan’s voice caught Noelle’s attention ’They sent you to fire me, didn’t they?"

Joan’s dark eyes rantseo Noelle felt like her outdated chair had fallen out from under her She probably shouldn’t have been shocked, but she was It was one thing to think about the possibility of losing her job; it was entirely different to knoill happen And when "Are you sure?"