Though both men appeared to be engrossed in the game, their attention was glued to a Chinese man three tables away.

The man’s name was William Lee, and he was one of the SDU’s top undercover operatives. Tonight he was posing as an intermediary for an outlawed Chinese extremist organization that was looking to acquire weapons and explosives. The target of the operation was an arms dealer named Philip Jamek.

Extremist groups were Jamek’s best customers. He was credited with sales throughout the Philippines, Indonesia, and Japan, and was now making his services, which also included training in the arts of terrorism and assassination, available in China. The Chinese government wanted Jamek taken out of circulation once and for all, and so did Scot Harvath.

Harvath had spent months tracking down this last member of the Swiss mercenary team known as the Lions of Lucerne, who had kidnapped the American president the year before and left a trail of dead Americans in their wake. The American government believed that all of the deadly Lions had been eliminated or taken into custody, but Harvath had discovered one who had slipped through the cracks-Philip Jamek. Not only was Jamek a proven danger to the world, but Harvath had made a vow to his fallen comrades that he wouldn’t rest until every last person responsible for their deaths was brought to justice.

Harvath and Sammy Cheng watched as a waitress approached Lee and set a drink on the table in front of him. She said a few words, and he reached into his pocket to retrieve a tip. When the waitress left, Lee played with his chips for a few moments and then pretended to cough into his hand as he relayed instructions over the tiny microphone sewn into his sleeve.

“Jamek just made contact,” Sammy Cheng whispered to Harvath as he picked up the information over his earpiece.

Scot kept his eyes on the table. “The waitress who brought him the drink,” he said. “He must be close.”

“Close, or he gave the waitress the message and told her to wait ten minutes before delivering it.”

“No, he’s definitely nearby. He’s going to watch to make sure Lee’s alone.”

“He won’t be standing outside in this weather. Either he’s got a car waiting or he’s already caught one of the last taxis to the Hotel Lisboa.”

“The Hotel Lisboa? He’s moving the meet again?” asked Harvath.

Cheng nodded his head. Jamek had already switched the agreed-to meeting place several times that day, making it nearly impossible for a trap to be set. Harvath felt as if he were on a whirlwind tour of the region. They had already ridden the Star Ferry from Hong Kong to Kowloon and back, had suffered two hours of rain in Hong Kong’s Wanchai District, had gone up and down the Peak Tram, and had arrived at Hong Kong’s Jetfoil terminal just in time to catch the last high-speed boat to Macau.

Moving the game over to Macau was an additionally ingenious twist, as it took Hong Kong law-enforcement officers, which members of the SDU were, out of their jurisdiction. As crafty as this move was, Cheng had seen it coming and had gotten permission for his team to pursue Jamek into Macau. The only problem had been that the rest of the team, following behind in two nondescript vans, had been dressed in full tactical gear. They had had no time to change into plain clothes before the last Jetfoil departed and had to be left behind.

As Lee got up from his table and made his way toward the cashier’s cage with his chips, Harvath reflected on how masterfully Jamek had managed to whittle their team of over fifteen operatives down to only three. In addition to the storm, something else was brewing, and Harvath had a bad feeling about how it was going to play out.

President Jack Rutledge’s National Security Council was waiting for him with a mixture of cautious apprehension and professional unease when he entered the secure conference room beneath the White House known as the situation room. Being called in at such an ungodly hour and on a weekend had everyone on edge.

“Please be seated,” said the president as he took his place at the head of the long cherry-wood table. “Thank you for coming in so early and on a Saturday.

“As you all know, the fallout from the terrorist attack on the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina has been every bit as bad as we feared it would be. The Israelis are experiencing a surge in homicide bombings, and imams and mullahs throughout the Islamic world are encouraging additional retaliation. And, just as we had anticipated, the rhetoric has been ratcheted up by Muslim extremists who are now calling for attacks on the United States because of our support for Israel.

“To make matters worse, the Israelis are reacting to the latest attacks on their people by going after the Palestinians with a tremendous amount of force. That force is making life extremely difficult for the chief Palestinian negotiator, Ali Hasan, whom we all have seen is quickly becoming one of the key players in the peace process and somebody who will be very involved in the future of Palestine. While Hasan’s people, and much of the Arab world, are yelling for blood, he is one of the few voices calling for a peaceful resolution.

“As for the Hand of God organization, Israel claims to be investigating, but says it has no knowledge of any such group and, contrary to reports in the Arab press, is in no way supporting it. We have some reservations as to how forthcoming the Israelis are being with us, and with that said, I’d like to invite CIA director Vaile, to present his report.”

“Thank you, Mr. President,” said Vaile as his assistant passed folders to each attendee around the long table. “As you all know, the CIA has been actively investigating the terrorist attack in Medina over the last week. In particular, we have been interested in uncovering the identity of a heretofore unknown terrorist group calling itself the Hand of God. We have confirmed that the missile used in the attack was, indeed, an Israeli-manufactured TOW 2 Short. In addition to the president’s report of the growing unrest in the Islamic world since the attack, the CIA feels it is important to point out the surging popularity of the Hand of God throughout Israel. There appears to be an increased vigilante fervor among the Israeli public that their government is doing very little to put down. In fact, while most Israeli officials have halfheartedly condemned the attack in public, privately they’re praising it, which has caught the interest of our analysts over the last week.”

“Are you suggesting the Israeli government was actually involved in the attack on Medina?” asked the Homeland Security director, Alan Driehaus.

“We have no concrete proof of that, but-”

“Well, what do you have?” asked Jennifer Staley, the secretary of state, as she leafed through the folder that had been handed her.

“After the 1972 massacre of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics, Israeli prime minister Golda Meir, along with several high-ranking Israeli officials, intended to send a message, not only to those involved in the Munich massacre, but also to anyone contemplating future attacks on Israel, that such behavior would be met with deadly reprisals.

“To send the message, a covert action team from the Mossad’s assassination unit was assembled. There were to be no arrests, no trials, no appeals. Their goal was simple-kill every single person they could get to, whether their involvement in Munich was direct or indirect, and let the rest live in fear, never knowing when their time would come. And it didn’t matter where the terrorists were hiding. The team was authorized to hunt them down anywhere in the world.”

“I remember that,” said the secretary of state. “What did the Israelis name their group?”

“The Wrath of God,” said Vaile. All of the attendees who had been perusing the folders in front of them now raised their eyes and locked them on the CIA director.