Ed-- I must've set off an alarm of some kind. People running all around. Our French escort Colonel Ballon has got his hand full of gun. I'm supposed to get down-- bye.

The images continued to come in for a few moments longer but Rodgers wasn't watching them. He had switched to an alternate computer line, and within seconds had been patched through to the cockpit of the V-22 Osprey.

CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

Thursday, 11:07 P.M.,

Toulouse, France

"Get away from that keyboard!"

Using his left hand, Colonel Ballon pushed Matt Stoll to the floor and then pressed a button on his radio as the gunmen entered. In his right hand was his own weapon. It was the only weapon of any kind among the five of them.

Squatting on the floor beside the others, Hood counted twelve… fifteen… a total of seventeen men passing by the door and taking up positions albng the corridor wall. Except for the high windows which would require a small ladder to reach, that door was the only exit.

Hausen was lying face-down between Hood and the crouching Ballon. "Congratulations, Colonel," he said. "Dominique has swallowed your bait."

Hood knew he'd missed something which had passed between the men. Not that it seemed to matter at the moment. Certainly Ballon didn't seem to care. Alert and cool, he was preoccupied with watching the new arrivals.

In the quick glimpse he'd had of the gunmen, Hood made them out to be a ragtag bunch. They were dressed simply, in several cases shabbily, as if they didn't want to stand out in the street. And they were holding a variety of weapons. Hood didn't need Ballon to tell him that these were New Jacobins.

"I guess these guys are the kind of evidence you were looking for, huh," Stoll said anxiously.

"Levez!" one of the men shouted as they trained their weapons around the room.

"He wants us to get up," Ballon whispered. "If we do, they may shoot us."

"Wouldn't they have shot us already?" Nancy asked.

"They would have to come in for that," Ballon said. "They don't know which of us might be armed. They don't want to take casualties." He leaned toward them and said more quietly, "I've signaled my men. They will be moving toward us, taking up positions."

"By the time they're ready it may be too late," Hausen said.

"Not if we keep concealed," Ballon said, "make the enemy come to us. We're prepared for this."

"We're not," said Nancy.

"If it happens that you're caught in cross fire," Ballon said, "and my men don't see you, shout 'Blanc,' 'White.' That will let them know there are unarmed personnel."

Hausen said, "I'm going to give these animals a chance to shoot. Let's see what they're made of." With that, he stood.

"Herr Hausen!" Ballon hissed.