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A ot a serious problem here”

“What is it?” Yamada asked as she continued to type

“When I was hacking into the code, I somehow activated a timer”

All heads turned toward him He looked ashen

Murph went over to his ter for a password If the correct one wasn’t input within three minutes, the drive would erase itself and the entire

10

Memories churned to the surface for Max Hanley as Vietnae screen in front of hi the Vietna Delta, sweating through every square inch of his unifor at the incessant mosquitoes as he and his fellow sailors waited for the ambushes they kneould come His crewmates were some of the best oneHe almost joined them when his boat was destroyed and he was captured He spent six

Now, more than forty years later—with twenty extra pounds at his belly and a ring of ginger circling his chrome dome where a full head of hair used to be—it was hard to believe he was sitting in air-conditioned comfort as he watched another battle unfold on the saon Located directly below the -dressing bridge in the superstructure, virtually every function of the ship could be handled froh a new Cray supercoon’s computer nearly matched the sophistication of the NSA’s, if not its raw co power

With its banks of touch screen workstations and a h-definition screen that dominated the front of the rooht out of Star Trek, so e seat at the center of the room where Max sat had been dubbed the “Kirk Chair” by Mark Murphy and Eric Stone The Oregon could even be operated from controls in the chair’s arineer, Max would nor station at the back, but with Juan away on the mission, the Corporation’s vice president was in command of the ship

Linda Ross, a Navy vet and the Corporation’s vice president of operations, sat at the helm, which was usually Eric’s station Except for Juan, Eric was the Oregon’s best ship handler, but Linda wasn’t far behind them

“I’ve got a fishing boat right in our path a h voice ure, elfin features, and upturned nose, but having served as an officer aboard an Aegis cruiser, she spoke with authority Known for updating her hair color and style regularly, she had recently grown out her dark tresses and tinged thehts “Shall I adjust course toward the coast?”

“Yes,” Max said “I don’t want to get any farther away fro boat a wide berth, but once we’re past theinal distance”

“Changing course,” she said, and deftly

“Max, I just got a call from Murph,” said Hali Kasim, the ship’s Lebanese-American communications specialist He lowered the old-fashioned headset he preferred, but his ot a problem down in the hold He’s on his way back up here”

“Did he say what kind of problem?”