Antonio and the others close behind him, he raced forward, pushed through a door in the corridor that was supposed to be electronically locked, and glided effortlessly through another. Speed was of the essence. Though Havoc could be connected to the solar arrays in minutes, the task had to be executed, and his team's exit from the building accomplished, before power returned to reveal the intrusion.

Kuhl moved swiftly toward one final door, gripped its handle, and pushed it open.

The ISS module was directly in front of him on a large palletized staging work stand.

Despite his need for haste, Kuhl paused in the doorway for the barest instant, feeling a surge of momentous achievement.

Then he moved forward, Antonio and the others entering at his heels, coming up to stand beside him.

"Halt right where you are, all of you," a voice abruptly said from his right. "Another step and we'll blow your brains out."

Ricci held his VVRS rifle out at waist level, aiming it at the man with the backpack, eyeing him steadily through his NVGs. Beside him along the right side of the room, their own rifles angled toward the door, were half a dozen Sword ops also equipped with goggles. On the left were an equal number of men.

"Drop your weapons," he said. "I hope you understand English, because you've got exactly three seconds before we open fire."

The men in the entryway did not move.

"Two," Ricci said.

His front teeth clicking together, Kuhl turned toward Antonio. It would be a pity to lose the men who were with him, but there was no choice.

"We fight," he whispered. Lying to Antonio as he had lied to the perimeter assault team. "To the end. "

With a quicksilver movement, Antonio brought his gun up and pivoted toward Ricci, but Ricci took him down with a staccato burst to his midsection before he could release a shot.

The momentary distraction was all Kuhl had desired.

As the remaining members of his team split the darkness with automatic fire, he spun on his heels, thrust his arm out at the door that would return him to the outer hall, and pushed it open.

He was halfway through the entry when Ricci lunged from behind and caught hold of his backpack.

The man beside the TRAP T-2 firing commander stared into his handheld monitor. "Jeeps are still coming on."

The commander breathed. Didn't those dumb bastards realize what kind of hell storm they were heading into?

"Fire at will," he said into his headset.