is

doing?” Dan asked.

“I don’t know,” the doctor admitted. “I don’t concern myself with matters outside this hospital. Relax, people. You know how secretive Ben can be. Now get out of here. I have work to do.”

They got, but they were not happy. All they could do now was wait, with all of them wondering if General Ben Raines had slipped an oar.

“The meeting is set for just after dark tonight,” the signalman told Ben. “Khamsin will cross over by boat and meet you in Lafayette Plaza.”

Ben thanked him and turned to Georgi Striganov.

“Have your people secure some rooms there, Georgi. You know the drill.”

“Consider it done,” the Russian told him. He didn’t know exactly what Ben had in mind, only that he trusted the general to do something completely off the wall and totally unexpected. Georgi knew that firsthand. During the years they had battled each other, Ben Raines had boxed him around every time they’d met on the field of battle.

The Russian knew that whatever the Libyan terrorist was desirous of from Ben Raines, it would not be what he was expecting.

Tina and Buddy stayed close to their father, in the hopes he would reveal his plan to them. But he did not.

The Night People launched attacks during the night.

But the Rebels were dug in so deeply, their positions so well-fortified, all the creepies managed to accomplish was the death of more of their people.

Even though the Night People still outnumbered the Rebels, diey could not put them to rout.

With low curses, the night crawlers melted away with a few bloody attacks.

“Coming across,” a Rebel with night glasses informed Ben. “They’ll be ashore in a couple of minutes.”

“I’ll be in the building,” Ben told him.

“Please escort the Hot Wind to me.”

“Yes, sir.”

Ben checked the mike. “Can you hear me, Nate?”

“Loud and clear, General,” the doctor manning the PSE equipment called from the room above them.

Ben sat down at the table and waited. The Libyan terrorist came into the room all smiles and good cheer. He held out his hand as Ben stood up.

“My dear General Raines! At last we

meet. I am honored, sir.”

Ben forced a smile on his face and shook the man’s hand, sizing him up. He was stocky and powerful, and Ben guessed his age in the mid-forty range.

Twenty years back, Ben recalled, this man had been one of the most feared terrorists in all the world.

Hundreds of men, women, and children had died because of the bombs he had masterminded and planted around the world.

Marines had been brutally massacred in Lebanon because of this man. American hostages had been tortured and starved and killed at this man’s orders.

Ben resisted an impulse to tear the bastard’s arm out of the socket and beat him to death with it.

“How good to see you, General Khamsin. Please, sit

down. I have tea.”

“Good, good!” The Libyan smiled, but the humor did not reach his dark eyes.

The tea poured and sugared, the men stared at each other across the table. Ben’s personal bodyguards stood behind him, facing the Hot Wind’s bodyguards. There was no love lost in the exchange of glances between the two heavily armed groups.

Ben watched as the Libyan’s eyes flicked toward Jerre. Ben had guessed accurately:

Jerre was to have been a target. Probably still was.

Thanks, probably, to Ashley. That turncoat son of a bitch was becoming as hard to kill as Sam Hartline had been.

Khamsin opened the dance. “I made a regrettable decision in agreeing to align my forces with the Night People, General Raines. I did not realize how dangerous they were.”

That lie probably sent the graph out of control on Nate’s PSE equipment.

“They must be stopped,” Ben said.

“Yes. For the good of the entire world.”

“And once that is done, we can make peace with each other and coexist?”

“But of course, General Raines! I am so weary of fighting. I am, after all, nothing more than a farmer. It is my desire to till the rich soil of South Carolina and live in peace.”

“I can certainly relate to that,” Ben said, trying hard to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. “I, too, want nothing more than a section of land to farm.”

Tina almost choked on that.

Ben Raines wanted to farm about as much as a raccoon could fly a 747.

She didn’t know what her dad was up to, but she certainly knew both men were lying through their teeth.

“It is agreed then, that we must join forces to defeat the Night People?” Khamsin said.

“Yes. All we need to work out is where your people will land and what sections of the city you will occupy.”

Khamsin waved his hand. “Minor details, my dear general. We can work that out in five minutes.”

It was agreed that Khamsin’s men would cross over the next night, by boat, landing at the docks between 72nd and 86th streets. At dawn, they would strike at the Night People, with Khamsin’s army controlling the middle of