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Back Balance of Power Save as PDF
Chapters (53)
  1. BALANCE OF POWER
  2. Acknowledgments
  3. About The Creators
  4. ONE
  5. TWO
  6. THREE
  7. FOUR
  8. FIVE
  9. SIX
  10. SEVEN
  11. EIGHT
  12. NINE
  13. TEN
  14. ELEVEN
  15. TWELVE
  16. THIRTEEN
  17. FOURTEEN
  18. FIFTEEN
  19. SIXTEEN
  20. SEVENTEEN
  21. EIGHTEEN
  22. NINETEEN
  23. TWENTY
  24. TWENTY-ONE
  25. TWENTY-TWO
  26. TWENTY-THREE
  27. TWENTY-FOUR
  28. TWENTY-FIVE
  29. TWENTY-SIX
  30. TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. TWENTY-NINE
  33. THIRTY
  34. THIRTY-ONE
  35. THIRTY-TWO
  36. THIRTY-THREE
  37. THIRTY-FOUR
  38. THIRTY-FIVE
  39. THIRTY-SIX
  40. THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. THIRTY-NINE
  43. FORTY
  44. FORTY-ONE
  45. FORTY-TWO
  46. FORTY-THREE
  47. FORTY-FOUR
  48. FORTY-FIVE
  49. FORTY-SIX
  50. FORTY-SEVEN
  51. FORTY-EIGHT
  52. FORTY-NINE
  53. FIFTY

Try to get away, she thought. Let Luis know somehow. Hope that someone could get in. There were a lot of "maybes" in all of that. Perhaps too many on which to hang the fate of a nation of over forty million.

She wondered what her chances would be of getting the captain's gun, making her way through the detention room, forcing herself into the throne room, and putting a bullet in Amadori's forehead.

Probably not very good. Not with twenty or so soldiers between here and there. Somehow, she had to get in there legitimately and talk to the general. Tell him something that would slow him down. Then get back to Luis and help figure out some way of toppling the bastard.

The captain returned before María had finished her cigarette. He strode through the doorway of the Hall of Columns and stopped. He smiled sweetly and she knew then she'd won.

"Come with me, María," he said. "You have your audience."

María thanked him-always thank the messengers in case you need a favor later-and lifted her shoe. She extinguished the cigarette on her sole. As she walked toward the captain she slipped the cigarette back in the pack. He gave her a curious look.

"It's a habit I picked up in the field," she said.

"Don't waste your resources?" he asked. "Or don't risk starting a fire, which can attract attention?"

"Neither," she replied. "Don't leave a trail. You never know who's going to come after you."

"Ah," the captain smiled knowingly.

María smiled back, though for a different reason. She'd just tested the officer with a heads-up and he'd failed. She'd hinted that she was schooled at infiltration, that she knew more than he did, and the captain had let it go. He didn't stop and take a second look at her. He was leading her right to the general.

Perhaps Amadori had made a few other mistakes in getting his coup underway. With any luck, María would be able to find them.

And then somehow, some way, get out to report them.

TWENTY-SIX

Tuesday, 8:11 a.m.

Zaragoza, Spain

The C-141But transport set down heavily on the long runway at the Zaragoza Airbase, NATO'S largest field in Spain. The four twenty-one-thousand-pound Pratt and Whitney turbofans howled as the aircraft rolled to a stop. The plane had made a refueling stop at the NATO base in Iceland before completing the eighthour trip against daunting headwinds.