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    Crash and Burn: A Sigma Force Short Story
    Crash and Burn: A Sigma Force Short Story
    Crash and Burn: A Sigma Force Short Story
    Ebook71 pages1 hour

    Crash and Burn: A Sigma Force Short Story

    By James Rollins

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    About this ebook

    From #1 New York Times bestselling author James Rollins comes a shocking short story, where a chance mishap leads to the discovery of a weapon like no other in . . . Crash and Burn.

    On a transatlantic flight, the two black sheep of Sigma Force—Seichan and Kowalski—must set aside their mutual dislike as a mysterious fiery force knocks their aircraft out of the sky. This unlikely duo must use every skill, weapon, and bit of ingenuity to survive a night on a remote volcanic island, where their only refuge is the haunted, bat-plagued grounds of a seemingly deserted resort. But something horrific awaits the two, something born of the latest science but rooted in our basest human instincts. To survive they will need to learn to work together—but even then, it may be too late. 

    Included with this short story is a sneak peek at The Seventh Plague, which raises the question: If the biblical plagues of Egypt truly happened, could they happen again? The frightening answer: Yes.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateNov 15, 2016
    ISBN9780062676757
    Author

    James Rollins

    James Rollins is the author of international thrillers that have been translated into more than forty languages. His Sigma series has been lauded as one of the “top crowd pleasers” (New York Times) and one of the “hottest summer reads” (People magazine). In each novel, acclaimed for its originality, Rollins unveils unseen worlds, scientific breakthroughs, and historical secrets—and he does it all at breakneck speed and with stunning insight. He lives in the Sierra Nevada.

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      Book preview

      Crash and Burn - James Rollins

      title page

      Contents

      Cover

      Title Page

      Contents

      Crash and Burn

      What’s True, What’s Not

      An Excerpt from The Seventh Plague

      Prologue

      Chapter 1

      About the Author

      Also by James Rollins

      Copyright

      About the Publisher

      Crash and Burn

      April 17, 7:48 p.m.

      Airborne over the North Atlantic

      You’ve got to be kidding me.

      A wolf whistle of appreciation drew Seichan’s attention across the plush cabin of the Gulfstream G150. The configuration of the private jet allowed for four passengers, but at the moment she shared this flight from D.C. to Marrakesh with only one other traveler, but his size and bulk filled most of the plane’s starboard side.

      Joe Kowalski stood well over six feet, most of it muscles and scars. His legs stretched from one chair to the other, his boots propped on the leather seat. He cradled a long case open on his lap. He rubbed a finger along his lower lip, his craggy brows pinched in concentration as he studied the contents cushioned in the box. His other hand traced the contours of the snub-nosed shotgun resting there.

      Nice, he muttered.

      Seichan frowned at him. "How about not playing with a gun at thirty-five thousand feet."

      Talk about the wrong time, wrong place.

      He scowled at her concern and picked up the weapon, turning it one way, then the other. It’s not like it’s loaded. He cracked the action open, exposing the double chambers—along with the two shells resting there. He quickly removed them and cleared his throat. "At least, not now."

      The case also held a belt of extra rounds. While the gun’s side-by-side double barrels looked like something out of the Old West, Seichan knew there was nothing old-fashioned about the weapon. The label stamped inside the case confirmed this:

      Property of Homeland Security Advanced Research Project

      The military prototype was called the Piezer. The stock of the weapon housed a powerful battery. Each 12-gauge shell—rather than being filled with buckshot or rock salt—was packed with piezoelectric crystals capable of holding an electric charge. Once powered up, the weapon would electrify the load, and with a pull of a trigger, the fired shell would explode in midair, blasting out a shower of shocking crystals, each carrying the voltage equivalent of a Taser. With no need to trail wires, the nonlethal weapon had a range of fifty yards, perfect for crowd control situations.

      I thought we agreed to keep your new toy locked up until we landed, she said.

      Per mission protocol, their weapons—including her sheathed daggers—were stored in a camouflaged crate, one engineered to withstand most scrutiny.

      He shrugged sheepishly. Plainly he must have gotten bored and decided to break those rules, wanting something to play with during the long flight.

      Pack it back up, she told him. Crowe said you could field test the weapon in your spare time, but he meant on the ground.

      And preferably well away from me.

      They would be going their separate ways once they reached Morocco. She had been sent by Director Painter Crowe to investigate the black-market trafficking of stolen antiquities in Marrakesh. The funds financed various terrorist groups, and with her own past ties to such organizations, she was perfectly suited to infiltrate and expose the operation.

      Kowalski, on the other hand, was hitching a ride, about to begin an extended leave of absence from Sigma Force. Once she landed in Marrakesh, he would continue on to Germany, to visit his girlfriend in Leipzig, where the woman was working at a genetics lab.

      Besides sharing this flight, Seichan and Kowalski also shared the dubious honor of being the black sheep of Sigma Force. The covert group was part of DARPA, the Defense Department’s research-and-development administration. Its members were former Special Forces soldiers who had been retrained in various scientific disciplines to act as field agents for DARPA, to protect U.S. interests against various global threats.

      She and Kowalski did not fit that mold.

      She was a former assassin, now employed off the books by Sigma. Kowalski had been a navy seaman who happened to be at the wrong place and wrong time, but who proved adept enough at blowing things up to serve as extra muscle and support for the group.

      And while she and Kowalski shared this outsider status, the two could not be more different. He was all-American, loud and brash, rough around the edges, with a pronounced Bronx accent. She was Eurasian, svelte and nimble, trained for the shadows.

      Still, despite their differences, she recognized a commonality. She had

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