“Get me a map of the area, leading from the target building to the center of Makati,” Vic said almost immediately after the team had failed to locate the courier and the bomb.

Annja spread out the map of metro Manila that they’d brought with them from the Embassy. Vic took it from her and traced his finger over the area the search team had just covered. From there, he drew a line leading right into the heart of the city.

“He’ll want the quickest route. He can’t take the chance that he’ll be found if he takes a more circuitous route. Every second he’s out there adds to the risk.”

“Will he drive?” Annja asked.

Vic shook his head. “Doubt it. A car stuck in traffic? Too much of a chance that he’ll get bogged down. No, they’ve got a schedule they want to keep. He’s got to be in Makati at the height of rush hour, when there will be maximum casualties.”

“So no car. That leaves him walking what—about two miles?”

“About that, yeah.”

Vic’s phone buzzed. He grabbed at it. “Yeah?”

He listened for another moment and then nodded. “Yeah, send it right over.” He hung up and looked at Annja. “The search team found a suicide video left behind by the courier. Calls himself Miki. That ring a bell with you?”

“Nope,” Annja said.

“Yeah, well, they’ve got a still coming in so we can get a look at this guy and see who we’re actually after.”

“That’s good, right?”

Vic nodded. “Very good. Now we have a definitive target.”

MIKI WALKED THE STREETS heading to the city center. The sun beat down on his head and shoulders. He hadn’t known that carrying the bomb would be so difficult. And the sun’s heat didn’t help. He already felt all sweaty. The bomb was heavier than he’d realized.

He knew appearances were important. He had to look as normal as possible. And hefting fifty pounds in his backpack wasn’t exactly the most normal thing he could be doing.

He stopped at a food cart and bought himself a bottle of water. He drank it down fast, looking around.

He felt scared.

What if they knew he was coming? What if they knew what he looked like?

Miki smiled. How could they possibly know that? His communications had been secure with Agamemnon. No one knew who he was. No, there should be no trouble making it to the target area.

Miki shifted the weight, tightened the straps and continued on his way.

ANNJA STARED at the picture on the screen on Vic’s phone. “He looks young.”

“They always are.”

“Always?”

Vic nodded. “Disillusioned with society, they’re natural recruits for extremist philosophies. It’s easy pickings for someone who knows how to do it the right way.”

“And you think Agamemnon chose him for this job exclusively?” Annja asked.

Vic frowned. “Knowing Agamemnon, he probably had a number of candidates picked out for it. But he lost some of his men in the jungle.”

“Thanks to you.”

Vic shrugged. “I don’t know if Luis was his choice for courier. Luis was known. Agamemnon would want someone we didn’t know about. A lower-level soldier who was impressionable and eager to make a name for himself.”

Annja leaned back. “So, how do we play it?”

“We find an interception point. And then we stop him.”

“Stop him?”

Vic looked at her. “Yes.”

MIKI HEADED EAST, tracing his way along the route he’d memorized earlier. It was the quickest path into the city. The only problem was it kept him outside in the brilliant sunlight.

Sweat soaked him. It almost felt as if he was back in the jungle. He smiled. Who would have thought that he would have this chance to do something this great for the cause?

Certainly not him. Maybe not Eduardo, either.

Miki frowned. Eduardo. My poor old friend. Shot and killed by the American sniper. Well, this is for you, my dear pal.

Miki kept his legs moving.

Slowly but surely, he advanced toward the target.

“THE TRICK WILL BE positioning myself where I think I can get the best shot off without any collateral damage.”

“Collateral damage?”

Vic shrugged. “It’s unlikely. The ammunition I use has been specially modified to stop once it enters the brain. It won’t exit and cause another wound. It should just drop him like a bag of cement.”

“How?” Annja asked.

Vic tapped the back of his skull. “It enters here and demolishes the stem of the brain where all the life functions are controlled. Everything stops and the target literally drops into a puddle of nothing.”

Annja shook her head. “He seems so young.”

Vic shook his head. “We can’t think about that, Annja. That kid has a nuke strapped to his back. And besides, he’s twenty-one years old according to the intelligence we’ve got on him.”

Annja glanced at the data sheet that had just come over the car’s fax. Miki Felemenana had been born on Cebu and graduated from high school just before his recruitment into Agamemnon’s gang. He had a large family left behind.

“They might be counting on him,” Annja said.

“For what?”

“Money?”

Vic frowned. “Annja, you’re letting this get to you on a personal level. You have to shut it off and concentrate on the mission. Right now, that mission is making sure we stop the bomb. I’m sorry this kid is so young, but he knows what he’s doing. “

Annja sighed. “I know it. I just wish there was another way.”

MIKI CROSSED THE STREET with the throng of people, blending into the crowds. A police motorcycle flew past him with its siren on.

Miki gasped.

A girl nearby glanced at him with a strange look on her face. Miki smiled. “Sorry, I thought that guy was going to hit me,” he mumbled.

“Well, get off the street, then,” she said. She frowned at him and walked away.

Miki made it to the sidewalk. Ahead of him, he could see the taller buildings that were the gateway to Makati. Beyond, the heart of Philippines wealth lay ready for him to destroy it. He saw the innumerable banks and high-priced condominium complexes. A number of embassies were housed there, as well.

Miki grinned. Soon enough, they would be no more.

“THERE.”

Vic pointed at an area on the map. Annja peered closer.

“You’re going to position there?” she asked.

Vic leaned forward and showed the driver the map. “Yeah. It will give me the largest field of fire.”

“Are you sure that’s how he’ll come into the area?”

Vic shrugged. “We don’t have a lot of choice, do we? If he’s trying to get there in the shortest amount of time, then the route we drew is the one he’ll take. We’ve got to get to him before that bomb goes off.”

THE BOMB FELT HEAVIER. In the distance, Miki heard more sirens.

He frowned. The police activity seemed more than it was normally. Granted, he’d been in the jungle for the past week, but he’d been here enough to know what was normal and what was not.

The number of sirens he heard was definitely not normal.

He paused. They might know about him.

The timer would detonate the bomb in just twenty minutes. But twenty minutes was a lot of time. And if the cops knew about him, they could grab him and then defuse the bomb. Then the entire mission would be a bust.

He glanced around. To his left, a small bus station offered rest rooms.

Miki headed for it.

VIC FIT THE EARPIECE into his ear. “Radio check.”

Annja nodded. “Good.”

She heard the command center at the Embassy come back and announce they had him loud and clear.

Vic grabbed his rifle. “You ready?”

Annja nodded.

Vic opened the door and they slid out. Two Filipino cops waited for them. Vic introduced himself, and together they rushed into the large building in front of them.

“You’re sure this is the best location?” Annja asked.

“It’ll give me the angle I need,” Vic said. “You coming?”

Annja sighed. “Yeah.”

MIKI REEMERGED from the bathroom and pocketed the remote detonator. He felt much better now. He’d turned off the bomb’s timer and would use the remote-control switch to set it off instead.

That way, if the cops did know he was coming, he could simply blow it up right before they grabbed him.

And the mission would succeed.

He smiled and turned left, continuing to head toward Makati.

He had a quarter of a mile left to travel. Already, the number of people swirling around him had grown exponentially. Ahead of him, thousands more entered the buildings that ringed this portion of the city.

So many people, he thought. So many who would die instantly.

He felt almost godlike.

VIC SPREAD THE BLANKET on the roof of the building and then unzipped his rifle case. As he slid the rifle out, Annja could see his face switching to game mode. Vic was now starting to enter the zone.

“You okay?” she asked.

He glanced at her. “Just running it down. I’ve got a checklist in my head I have to go through.”

“Anything I can do?”

He nodded. “Take the binocs and start scoping out the scene below. Let me know if you see our boy. I’ve got to adjust for windage and elevation before I can shoot.”

Annja took the binoculars and looked down from the roof. The scene below was chaos. People swarmed everywhere.

How in the world were they ever going to find a single man carrying a bomb?