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It had been an hour since she had left the dock at Palermo, and Dick Canidy, sitting on the transom and peering toward shore through a pair of battered binoculars, was beginning to question his skills.

He let the binocs hang from the strap around his neck, looked again at his watch, then back toward land—and then there came a small explosion followed by a second one, and then by a much louder one.

It lit the night.

“That third one,” he said to no one in particular, “must have been the fuel cell cooking off. Or…maybe there was something more onboard that ship.”

“Whatever it was,” the professor replied, “judging by the fire plume, it totally consumed everything aboard.”

There was a loud rush of water about one hundred yards north of their position. Everyone turned to see the great black bulk of a submarine. It was lit by the glow in the sky.

Canidy turned to the professor.

“There’s our ride,” he said. “Too bad we can’t stick around to see the villa go up. That’s going to be one of my masterpieces.”

W.E.B. Griffin is the author of six bestselling series: The Corps, Brotherhood of War, Badge of Honor, Men at War, Honor Bound, and Presidential Agent. He has been invested into the orders of St. George of the U.S. Armor Association, and St. Andrew of the U.S. Army Aviation Association, and is a life member of the U.S. Special Operations Association; Gaston-Lee Post 5660, Veterans of Foreign Wars; China Post #1 in Exile of the American Legion; and the Police Chiefs Association of Southeast Pennsylvania, South New Jersey, and Delaware. He is an honorary member of the U.S. Army Otter & Caribou Association, the U.S. Army Special Forces Association, the U.S. Marine Corps Raider Association, and the USMC Combat Correspondents Association. Visit his website at www.webgriffin.com.

William E. Butterworth IV has been a writer and editor for major newspapers and magazines for twenty-five years, and has worked closley with his father for several years on the editing of the Griffin books. He lives in Texas.