Chapter 1

Yauyos, Peru

Chemical Plant

The late evening mist was both a blessing and a curse. It shrouded Jack from prying eyes as he approached the compound's perimeter defenses; but it also obscured his view of the sentries above. He hefted himself onto the roof of an outbuilding and adjusted his night vision goggles. Shadowy green shapes moved back and forth between the chemical drums and other equipment strewn haphazardly around the yard.

Without warning, a searchlight blazed into operation, loud voices shouted in Spanish, and gunshots broke out at the main gate. Jack cursed silently as his goggles captured the high-intensity beam and transformed it into a cornea-burning supernova. Temporarily blinded, he ripped off his goggles and slid to the ground, taking cover until his vision cleared. He stood there for several moments, blinking and adjusting to the darkness.

The gunfire at the gate increased in tempo, and he heard engines roaring to life and tires screeching as they peeled out of the compound - searching for an intruder, he assumed.

Had he somehow set off the alarm?

As he weighed his options, he heard the soft crunch of approaching footfalls behind him. He froze; relying on camouflage and stealth for protection. Every nerve tingling, every muscle taut, Jack analyzed the sounds, gauging their source (small, well-trained individual) and distance (getting closer). He remained stock still until they were scant feet away from him - just within reach.

He spun around and grabbed the intruder's jacket, trapping him against the wall of the shed. But he stopped in mid-punch, his fist wavering in the air, waiting. His vision was still obscured by the earlier glare, but the outline of this ... person... was familiar. "You," he seethed. "What are you doing here?"

His wife. His nemesis. A jolt ran down his spine, the now-familiar frisson of wanting her, but wishing her exorcised from his life at the same time. He didn't question the absurdity of crossing paths with her in the middle of his - and apparently her - rogue operation in the Peruvian jungle. Absurd, yes. But not surprising.

Irina Derevko stood motionless, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he was physically threatening her. Was it his imagination, or did she shiver slightly? A trick of the light, Jack thought.

After a long moment she blinked and focused on his face. Her features were inscrutable, as always. "I could ask the same of you," she countered. "I-"

Whatever she was going to say was cut off by a muffled boom in the plant beneath them. Irina threw herself on top of him, taking them both to the pavement - hard. When he struggled to get up, she slammed him down again. "Wait!" she hissed.

Seconds later, the ground shuddered again as a second explosive went off. This one was closer than the first. Irina raised her head slightly. An orange glow lit the night, and Jack could see the smile that curved her lips as she watched the main building's east wing go up in flames.

"That should keep them busy, don't you think?" Irina's breath along the side of his cheek highlighted the intimacy of the moment - an unwanted intimacy. Jack was relieved when she shifted and rose to her feet. Seemingly unaware of his discomfort, she turned and offered Jack a hand to help him up.

Jack's eyes narrowed as he considered the woman above him. "Keep them busy," he said acerbically, "Yes, it alerts them to the intrusion." He stood on his own, ignoring her proffered hand. "And what is your role in all this?"

"Rambaldi." she said shortly. "Look, Jack." She continued. "I'm sure I'm the last person you wanted to see here. So, why don't we just agree to stay out of each others way?"

"That depends on where Sloane is," Jack ground out.

"I have no idea." She snapped.

"You don't? Pity. Assuming, then that you aren't going to detain me, I'm proceeding to my objective."

"Fine." Irina turned and picked up her pack, slinging it over her shoulders. "I'd stay away from the south side of the compound if I were you." With that, she began climbing the access ladder to the catwalk.

Jack watched her stalk away. In another lifetime, he may have pursued her, identified her objective. Countered her power play, neutralized or captured her. But his daughter was dead, and all considerations beyond avenging her he deemed... trivial.

And there was no other long-term strategy he cared to devise.

He watched her disappear into the night, and with effort, shook off the emotional jolt of seeing the mother of his child; and willed himself to fix on the objective. Training took over, and he donned his night-vision goggles and waited a moment for his eyes to adjust. Soon he was maneuvering around the pipelines and heavy equipment that made up the factory yard; a pale shadow in the sodium lights above.

Jack was forced to admit that whatever Irina had done - and for whatever reason - was effective for his purposes as well. Most of the guards had either gone out on a fruitless patrol or continued to monitor the landscape outside the walls.

His objective was a squat, white-washed concrete bunker in the center of the yard housed the control room and other facilities. It had only one entrance, and two sentries stood outside, nervously grasping their AK-47s. A video camera slowly panned left to right above them.

Jack huddled behind a rusting holding tank. He tossed a smoke grenade at the feet of a guard, and took advantage of the two seconds of confusion to squeeze four rounds from his silenced Glock. The guards crumpled. By the time the cameras swerved back to his position, he was inside the building.

The next camera was at a 'T' intersection fifty feet down the hall. Jack shot out the lights above him and continued, unerringly, to the control room. The reinforced steel door was locked; impenetrable except for the motor that operated it from the inside. He tore off his goggles and traded his Glock for a submachine gun and flash grenade. Taking up a position off-center to the doorway, he waited.

Predictably, the confusion with the cameras drew out the guards. Jack rolled the grenade along the floor into the main room, and mowed down the men in the doorway. The grenade ignited, filling the control center with smoke and temporarily stunning the men inside.

Someone retained the presence of mind to engage the closing mechanism for the vault-like door. Jack charged through the narrowing gap, shooting the guard. At the control panel, Jack switched the door into reverse and it swung fully out on its hinges, crushing a defender behind it.

The smoke from the grenade obscured Jack's vision as well, so he fired blindly into the room. Some shots struck their targets, and others sparked against the consoles ringing the room. The answering fire gradually slowed, and then halted, and the smoke began to clear. Jack slammed the main door shut and secured it, preventing anyone else from entering.

He reloaded his Glock and methodically checked the room, sinking one well-placed bullet into each of the casualties to ensure that he would not be ambushed. Satisfied the control room was cleared of guards and the doors sealed, Jack took advantage of the momentary reprieve. He paused to wipe the sweat from his forehead and take a few deep breaths.

Reaching into his rucksack, he pulled out the datatriever he had borrowed from Marshall and placed it on top of the main server. A few keystrokes later, he had insinuated himself into the network and was in the process of a total data dump into the device. The blue bar on the screen indicated he had four minutes to go.

Leaving that for the time being, he jogged to the main security station in the control room and began working the controls for the hundred cameras situated throughout the plant. He rapidly flipped through the series of cameras - the several blank screens indicated stations damaged by Irina's explosions or his own efforts. Most of the guards, it seemed, had been persuaded to embark on the wild goose chase Irina had begun.

He had to give credit where credit was due. Regardless of her megalomaniacal motivations.

Click...click... there. He stopped scrolling and saw Irina herself taking out two guards with a burst of machine gun fire. He checked the video feed display. It read in Spanish, "Crystalline Fabrication". He recalled that she was seeking a Rambaldi item. She had seen fit to tell the truth about that, at least. He couldn't help the knot in his stomach at the thought that she was still pursuing the false prophet even as Sydney - no, he wouldn't think about that. He skipped past the grainy picture of Irina and back to the single remaining camera at the front gate.

He checked the datatrieve upload. Three minutes.

Without understanding why, Jack switched back to the camera that showed Irina. He squinted at the scene before him. What was she doing? He adjusted the zoom lens and watched as she worked on opening a clean room door with some kind of electronic locking device. The blurry video showed her shooting out a control panel, and immediately a warning buzzer sounded at another console in the room. Jack stepped over to it and noticed a pressure and temperature drop in Irina's lab.

She gained entrance, and Jack used the next camera in sequence to follow her in. Fascinated, he took in the scene at least fifty banks of glass cylinders, half full of bubbling liquid. A growing crystal was suspended in each cylinder. Irina moved quickly through the forest of glass, and Jack concluded she was setting explosive charges around the lab.

Were these crystals linked to Rambaldi? And did Irina Derevko intend to destroy them? He dismissed the idea, but conceded there were few other scenarios that would fit the facts.

Keeping one monitor on Irina, he continued to screen for hostile activity in his immediate vicinity. Click...click... Guards. He stopped the second monitor and saw a platoon of guards re-enter the main gate. Radio communications indicated they were headed towards the fabrication facility. Jack frowned.

Thirty seconds to go. The guards moved closer, and Irina continued her work, oblivious to the imminent danger. Twenty seconds until his download was complete. He silently urged her to hurry, the guards to change course. Ten seconds.

The download was complete. Jack rapidly disengaged the device and ran out of the control room. He followed the perimeter of the outbuildings and slipped into the fabrication facility. His heavy footfalls echoed in the empty corridor. Finding the lab, he rapped on the door with the butt of his rifle several times; in Morse code "Irina".

Suddenly, the door jerked open, and the muzzle of a gun was shoved in his face.

"Jack!" Irina swore softly in Russian. "What the hell is going on?" She stepped back to let him inside the room.

"You need to leave," Jack said as he shut the door behind him and slid the locks into place. "There's a troop of guards coming this way. Leave them," he indicated the rows of cylindrical tanks. "And get out of here while you can."

Irina shook her head. "I can't." She moved to a wall panel and shot through the casing. Prying the remaining bits of metal free, she sliced through the delicate wiring inside. After a moment, a section of the grid surrounding the room flickered and died. There was the hiss of pressure being released, and the liquid inside the tubes stopped bubbling. A moment later, the lights in the room flickered, to be replaced by the glow of emergency lights. "Damn. They have a generator," Irina murmured.

"It's not worth it Irina," Jack said warningly.

"It is. You don't understand." She brushed past him and headed toward the now defunct section of the security system.

Jack reloaded his weapons as Irina rifled through her pack and pulled out one last charge. Slipping past the active sections of the grid, she planted the explosive next to the largest vat of liquid.

Irina backed off. The sound of pounding feet echoed in the corridor. "/Now/ we can go." she said.

"Right," Jack agreed. He unslung his gun and stood at the door, checking over his shoulder that she was behind him. "Go left," Jack said quickly. "I'll cover the rear." He unlocked the door and swung it open, then jumped into the corridor, firing at a rapid pace. Two guards went down instantly, the others ducked for cover.

He heard Irina behind him, charging down the corridor, the popping of her AK-47 echoing in the hall. Jack walked backwards, gun trained at the guards, shooting slowly but steadily to keep them pinned down. They kept their heads low, chastened by the downing of several of their comrades.

They turned a corner, and Jack heard Irina's footfalls speed up. In response, he turned and kept pace with her. They sprinted down another corridor, but stopped cold as a guard blocked their way and peppered the hall with fire. They dove for cover, and Jack felt the sting of hot air as a bullet whizzed past his cheek. Irina stepped out from behind him and levelled her gun at the shooter. She pressed the trigger and the muzzle spat fire, riddling the man with bullets.

The guard fell, and Irina sprinted past him to the end of the hall, Jack following her. "This way!" she said, slamming her weight into the stairwell door.

Jack followed Irina into the stairwell, and the hollow echoes of their rapid footsteps rang in his ears. They flew down one flight. Suddenly, voices and gunfire erupted below them. They both pressed themselves against the wall, attempting to find cover from the gunshots and ricochets that bounced in the small space.

Irina swore and fired a blind round in the direction of their assailants. A faint scream echoed up toward them, yet the bullets still kept coming. "We're pinned down in here!" Irina hissed. She ran out of ammunition and dropped her rifle, pulling her Tokarev free of its holster.

Jack took a moment to note her sentimental choice of sidearm as he pointed his Uzi up towards the door. The guards from the upper floor were advancing. The spray of shots through the aluminum apparently caused their pursuers to re-evaluate the wisdom of entering the stairwell. With his right hand, Jack unhooked a grenade from his utility belt and bit off the pin. He caught Irina's eye as he counted to three before dropping it. It clattered and landed at the foot of the stairs.

Irina threw herself against Jack and they both hit the wall, ducking their heads as the grenade exploded with a concussive blast that threatened to collapse the rickety stairs.

"Now!" Jack called out before the dust could settle. Bits of concrete and plaster rained down on them as they charged down the stairs. They raced off the stairwell and made a beeline for the exit. The sign glowed eerily in the semi-dark of the emergency lights.

Jack saw Irina check her watch. She called out, "Ten seconds," and Jack immediately understood her meaning. The detonation was timed. They picked up their pace with new urgency and sprinted towards the main door, their boots skidding on the slick floor.

Irina's hand was on the door when the charges blew. They both half-stumbled into the main yard, the force of the explosion throwing them from the building. Behind them, the building trembled and the roof caved in, swallowing any remaining pursuers. Regaining their balance, Irina and Jack sprinted towards the main gate. The guards fired blindly into the night, and bullets bounced off of every imaginable surface. Heedless of cover, they put their trust in the huge distraction of the explosion and relied on speed to escape.

But as they exited the compound, a burst of fire came from the guardhouse. Jack raised his gun to counter it, and felt a hot stab through his thigh. He stumbled and leaned against the concrete wall before razing the guards with the last rounds of ammunition he had.

Not wanting the adrenaline to wear off, he pulled himself together and followed Irina out onto the fields that surrounded the compound.

They sprinted across the field, but Jack began to fall behind, his leg barely functional. Sheer willpower held him upright. He was determined not to be at Irina's mercy. But in the end it wasn't enough. As they descended the crest of a hill, his leg finally collapsed. He hit the ground with a grunt, and spat the dirt out of his mouth.