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Chapters (96)
  1. Cover
  2. Berkley titles by David Ricciardi
  3. Dedication
  4. Epigraph
  5. CHARACTER LIST
  6. PROLOGUE
  7. ONE
  8. TWO
  9. THREE
  10. FOUR
  11. FIVE
  12. SIX
  13. SEVEN
  14. EIGHT
  15. NINE
  16. TEN
  17. ELEVEN
  18. TWELVE
  19. THIRTEEN
  20. FOURTEEN
  21. FIFTEEN
  22. SIXTEEN
  23. SEVENTEEN
  24. EIGHTEEN
  25. NINETEEN
  26. TWENTY
  27. TWENTY-ONE
  28. TWENTY-TWO
  29. TWENTY-THREE
  30. TWENTY-FOUR
  31. TWENTY-FIVE
  32. TWENTY-SIX
  33. TWENTY-SEVEN
  34. TWENTY-EIGHT
  35. TWENTY-NINE
  36. THIRTY
  37. THIRTY-ONE
  38. THIRTY-TWO
  39. THIRTY-THREE
  40. THIRTY-FOUR
  41. THIRTY-FIVE
  42. THIRTY-SIX
  43. THIRTY-SEVEN
  44. THIRTY-EIGHT
  45. THIRTY-NINE
  46. FORTY
  47. FORTY-ONE
  48. FORTY-TWO
  49. FORTY-THREE
  50. FORTY-FOUR
  51. FORTY-FIVE
  52. FORTY-SIX
  53. FORTY-SEVEN
  54. FORTY-EIGHT
  55. FORTY-NINE
  56. FIFTY
  57. FIFTY-ONE
  58. FIFTY-TWO
  59. FIFTY-THREE
  60. FIFTY-FOUR
  61. FIFTY-FIVE
  62. FIFTY-SIX
  63. FIFTY-SEVEN
  64. FIFTY-EIGHT
  65. FIFTY-NINE
  66. SIXTY
  67. SIXTY-ONE
  68. SIXTY-TWO
  69. SIXTY-THREE
  70. SIXTY-FOUR
  71. SIXTY-FIVE
  72. SIXTY-SIX
  73. SIXTY-SEVEN
  74. SIXTY-EIGHT
  75. SIXTY-NINE
  76. SEVENTY
  77. SEVENTY-ONE
  78. SEVENTY-TWO
  79. SEVENTY-THREE
  80. SEVENTY-FOUR
  81. SEVENTY-FIVE
  82. SEVENTY-SIX
  83. SEVENTY-SEVEN
  84. SEVENTY-EIGHT
  85. SEVENTY-NINE
  86. EIGHTY
  87. EIGHTY-ONE
  88. EIGHTY-TWO
  89. EIGHTY-THREE
  90. EIGHTY-FOUR
  91. EIGHTY-FIVE
  92. EIGHTY-SIX
  93. EIGHTY-SEVEN
  94. Children of Fallen Patriots Foundation
  95. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  96. What’s next onyour reading list?

The copilot was leaning against the main entrance door with his arms folded across his chest and he motioned for Jake to board. Jake searched for any telltale signs that a Graves-organized ambush was afoot, but the flight officer exuded the same professional calm he always had.

In ten minutes, they were airborne and headed north, but Jake was glued to the moving map display for every second of the trip. There was an Agency black site in Romania, and one word from Graves and a few degrees’ deviation from the flight plan could mean the difference between Jake spending a couple of days with Athena or the rest of his life in a cell, pumped full of drugs and, for all practical purposes, vanished from the face of the earth.

The relief was palpable when the pilots started their descent over the Aegean Sea and landed uneventfully in Athens.

The staff at the general aviation terminal brought over the unremarkable Fiat sedan Jake had reserved, and he took the rental car southwest along the Attiki Odos toll road toward Vouliagmeni. He’d been driving for twenty minutes when he noticed a white Škoda hatchback shadowing him a hundred yards back.

For an intelligence officer, losing a tail was easy. The hard part was doing it covertly. Emergency-brake turns and driving the wrong way through traffic could be effective, but such drastic maneuvers also confirmed that you were a person of interest. Jake wanted his pursuers to believe that they’d lost contact not because of his skill, but through their own carelessness.

He exited the highway onto a long, divided boulevard and pulled into a busy gas station. He spent a few minutes in the convenience store making a cover stop—a plausible detour his tail wouldn’t alert to—while he discreetly watched for the Škoda, another surveillance vehicle that might have taken its place, or any other sign that he’d been made.

But he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. He appeared to be clean.

Jake returned to the Fiat and drove onto the boulevard, glancing down side streets as he passed. A full block down, parked on the side of the road and facing the boulevard, was the Škoda. He kept driving normally until the little Czech sedan was out of sight.

Then he floored the accelerator.