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thunder of a chopper, but she’d exceeded their search radius. As one chopper loomed close, she mentally drew out an RPG and launched it. Then plotted the plastique she could rig to the rotors so the craft and crew wouldn’t have a prayer. Her eyes drifted closed, thinking ofthe thing raining down fire on the ocean, the craft in a million pieces. Sick how the mind of a demolitions expert worked after six months’ captivity. To think, she’d once been the sweet, compliant daughter of a senator.
    Well, maybe not compliant.
    A loud bang cracked the night. Brilliance shattered the darkness.
    Dani jerked, terrified they’d found her. Only to spot a storm surging and racing toward her. The negative image of the lightning lingered in her eyes. Another bolt flashed through the sky. Within seconds rain unleashed and blanketed the area. The waters grew angry and threatening. Had she angered Poseidon? The thought would’ve seemed comical were she not facing an endless body of night-darkened liquid. A giant wave rose like the god himself.
    It’d toss her into the deep and thrash her like whipped cream. Pulse crashing, Dani wiggled her fingers into the bindings that held the boards together.
    The mountainous wall of black rose over her. Waaay over her.
    Stricken, she inhaled deeply as the water towered over her, seemingly holding its own breath—then lunged at her. It slammed her into its depths. Swirling, spinning, she clung to the raft, praying it would hold. That it would keep her afloat. Finding the surface after being plunged downward often proved impossible—and deadly.
    Miraculously, the raft plopped upward and crested another wave.
    Dani sucked in a huge breath before clamping her mouth shut and squeezing her eyes shut as the water plunged her deep again. Then … up … up … It hurled her farther—
    Crack! Thud!
    Everything went black.

    Hands pawed at her.
    “Careful!”
    “Pull her up,” a man’s voice skated down her neck.
    They’d found her! Disoriented, Dani writhed and screamed. Bruzon would beat her, rip out her soul this time. No, she couldn’t go back. She kicked. Raked fingers over flesh.
    “Argh! Dad, get her,” the nearby voice growled.
    “I radioed the Coast Guard, Grant.” A woman’s worried tone spiraled through Dani, easing her fears.
    This wasn’t Bruzon. These people were speaking English. AmericanEnglish. Not the butchered form she’d heard for months. She pushed her eyes open as she was lowered onto something hard … and dry. Blurry images danced over her.
    “What’s your name?” The dark image in front of her swayed and faded.

    Pentagon, Arlington County, Virginia
    A light rap on the glass door jerked Olin Lambert’s attention to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs lingering outside. He punched to his feet, spine stiff, and pointed to the leather seats on the opposite side of his massive mahogany desk. “Admiral, come in, sir. Have a seat.”
    “Actually,” Admiral Langston said, “I’d like you to take a ride with me.”
    Halfway between returning to his seat and standing, Olin paused, looking over his silver-rimmed glasses. A ride? He knew better than to question the admiral. He straightened and lifted his hat from the desk. He strode out the door, pulling it shut behind him.
    “I have something I think you’ll want to see,” Langston said.
    “Very good, sir.” Olin nodded to his assistant sitting at her desk and relayed a silent signal to hold his calls until he returned. He eyed the salt-and-pepper hair of the decade-younger chief as he followed him down the hall and into the elevator.
    Since assuming his role as chairman of the Joint Chiefs three months earlier, Langston had kept to himself. There was much to learn and even more to unlearn about his new boss. Would Olin be able to woo him into his court with Nightshade the way he had the man’s predecessor?
    Once the door shut, Langston pressed the elevator button. “Coast Guard picked up a woman in the