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Chapter 1

Washington, DC

Dying alone, in the basen country far from home had never been on Ostap Isayev’s bucket list As the finality of darkness overtook his senses and he let the pain ferry hi over hiure hy he was there or anything at all, really Nothing except the swirling void mattered as the last breath of life passed out from between his lips

Scooping up the mask he had ripped frohtened the straps The s Ostap’s final words Don’t you want to knohere your precious Dr Evans is at?

Jane’s death was a fresh wound, but the words spoken by Ostap pointed to an even darker possibility If Dr Evans was dead, as the Spetsnaz officer see a halt to Dalance over to Jane’s blood-soaked body, hoping for a brief second that she h, and as Rick picked up Ostap’s rifle, he took hold of the pain and anger that was building within him and held firm to it It, like the rifle in his hands, was a weapon, and a potent one at that

With a final look at Jane, Rick turned and trotted down the hall, heading in the direction that Ostap had come fro that had housed the staff responsible for Damocles went on at least one more floor down, and it was froot to the end of the hall and saw a doorway leading to another staircase to his left, he suddenly questioned what he was doing Ostap and Carl—the two Spetsnaz officers and the one The only Russians left alive in the building were the technicians, and unless Rick hadwith one of them…

Don’t you want to knohere your precious Dr Evans is at?

Ostap’s last words echoed through Rick’sthe rifle loosely in both hands The door at the bottom of the stairas ajar, held in place by an office chair that someone had jammed in between the door and the wall Rick pushed the chair out of the way as he eased the door open, then swung the chair back into place with his left foot

The sound of his own breathing was loud in Rick’s ears as he peered down the hall with his rifle light, looking for Dr Evans, the technicians and any potential threats Unlike the floors above that were now dark since no one was on thelow at the far end that did not colow he passednuh in the corner of each room

The roolass walls like the others, but instead of being devoted mostly to space for individuals to work, it had obviously been designated as the server roole, small table and pair of chairs sat at the far back hile the rest of the roo with rows of dark racks of servers Cables fro where a e kept the wires contained and out of the way

A pair of lanterns and a couple of flashlights were balanced on the table and the edges of a couple of server racks, all of theled to offer the most illumination of the table and chairs at the back of the rooures sat in the chairs, Dr Evans and Oles, their backs facing the hall where Rick stood He watched them as they pointed at an obscured screen in front of theestured and spoke in a voice that Rick couldn’t hear from out in the hall

After watching the pair for a h the broken door into the roolass Dr Evans stiffened in his seat but didn’t turn around, though Olesback up

“Dr Evans?” Rick felt his stoh he still didn’t knohy

“Drop the gun, Rick” Rick froze, the voice full of nervousness and trepidation couard of the rifle as he tried to pinpoint exactly where the voice caun Now!” The last as spoken harshly, with a bark

“What the hell are you doing, Jacob?” Rick slowly lowered the rifle to the ground with his right hand, dropping it the last few inches and wincing as it clattered against the glass on the floor

“Raise your hands and walk forward Slowly” Jacob sounded even hed and did as he was told, stepping across the last of the glass and toward the desk where Dr Evans and Oles were seated Dr Evans stole a look back at Rick, his eyes wide and full of fear

“What’s going on?” Rick whispered to Dr Evans, but a sharp jab on his back made him close his mouth

“Keep quiet No questions Get the chair froht Sit down, face the wall next to the others and stay still” Jacob’s voice was audibly shaking and he nearly stuttered a few ti his options, Rick chose to turn instead of

obeying the instructions, though he kept his hands in the air As he turned, he saw Jacob standing between a pair of server racks, a pistol grasped so tightly in his shaking hands that his knuckles had turned white

“Jacob” Rick shook his head “What are you doing?”

“Don’t make me shoot you, Rick” Jacob sed hard “I don’t want to, but I will! I swear!”

A grunt of pain came from the other side of the room and Rick turned to see Dr Evans slumped over, hand on his shoulder “Did you shoot Dr Evans, Jacob?”

“He wouldn’t listen to h!”