White nodded, taking the photo back. "A guy I knew at Ford-"

"Ford Air Force Base? You're kidding, right? Maybe he just looks like him."

But White had thought of that and instantly discarded it. He remembered hearing the reports of Lieutenant Dave Luger's death, three years ago in a plane crash in Alaska, test-flying a supersecret bomber. He'd never fully believed the report-the facts didn't wash and everything was too neatly wrapped.

He'd heard the rumors circulating through the Air Force about a preemptive strike against a ground-based laser site in Siberia, and about the aircraft that accomplished the mission: a modified B-52, reportedly from the High Technology Aerospace Weapons Center. How or why a research center had a strike aircraft in its inventory was still unclear. But there was never any inquiry or details about the mission and the threat from the Soviet laser-if there ever had been one-had suddenly disappeared.

As did two navigators from Paul White's old B-52 wing at Ford Air Force Base, Patrick McLanahan and David Luger.

They had gone TDY several weeks before the alleged incident. Neither had returned to Ford. Later, Paul White found out about Luger's death, and learned that his crew partner, Patrick McLanahan, had suddenly received a new duty assignment. White did not know where McLanahan had gone, or why-but he was one of the most gifted bombardiers in the nation, so White never thought McLanahan had gotten himself in trouble or kicked out of the Air Force. White had liked both men-they were sharp, very sharp-though Luger could be a bit of a hothead. Still, he'd done well at Ford, as had McLanahan.

And now Luger had, it seemed, turned up alive at a secret Commonwealth research center in Lithuania. White rubbed his chin. What was going on? Was Luger a defector? A mole?

He turned to Knowlton: "It's the guy from Ford, I'm sure of it. An American military officer in fucking Lithuania, of all places. This guy was declared dead in 1989."

Knowlton looked skeptical. "Paul, how can an American Air Force officer killed years ago suddenly turn up in Vilnius, Lithuania?"

"Stranger things have happened. Look at some of the Vietnam vets we'd written off for dead who've suddenly turned up in the past few years.

"But Vietnam was a war, Paul. You're bound to have misreported casualties. This guy-

"David Luger. That's his name." "Okay, this guy, Luger.., wasn't in a war. Was he?" White ignored the question. "I'm going to upchannel this one immediately. This can't wait. The mission Luger was on, well-if he's there and alive, people need to know it. The... uh, mission was too important."

Knowlton shook his head. "You can't make a call like that from the Mistress, Paul. You know that. An unnecessary secure communication this close to Russia, to Belarus, hell, that'll compromise us and the satellite channel both."

"Look, I know this guy. I ran him through my course at Ford."

"You gonna risk the entire MADCAP MAGICIAN program to help him? If the Russians get wind that we're anything but a marine salvage-and-rescue ship, everything goes down the drain. Years of your work, Paul."