Page 262 of Silent Target

A counterterrorism official and a behavioral scientist.

The wrong men with the right knowledge.

“What kind of simulations?” I asked.

Evie scanned the document. “Mass-casualty evacuations. Crowd behavior. Public compliance during emergencies.”

The room went silent.

Public compliance.

Voluntary destruction.

The innocent will choose their own deaths.

“They’re not putting a bomb inside a crowd,” I said.

Rook’s gaze sharpened. “They’re going to make the crowd run toward it.”

Before I could answer, an alert flashed across my screen.

A new message had entered the hidden conversation.

This one contained only a photograph.

Sunlight reflected off blue water. White buildings climbed the side of a cliff. Hundreds of tourists crowded a narrow walkway overlooking the sea.

I recognized the location immediately.

“Santorini,” Evie said.

A red circle appeared over the photograph, surrounding an observation platform packed with people.

Numbers began counting down beneath it.

72:00:00

Seventy-two hours.

“Is that live?” Sniper asked.

“No. The shadows are wrong for the current time.”

Rook straightened. “Then it’s a target.”

Another photograph appeared.

Times Square.

Then another.

A cruise ship terminal in Miami.

Then Waikiki Beach.

Every image showed hundreds—sometimes thousands—of civilians.

Every one carried the same seventy-two-hour clock.