What neither the Kenyans or the Brits knew was that the U.S. had an ace up its sleeve. Posing as American and Canadian journalists in the crowd of reporters surrounding the embassy were several Delta recon teams with some very special surveillance gear. Their bulky videocameras contained thermal imagers that sould "see" through the walls of a building and read the heat signatures of the prople inside. The shotgun microphones were actually laser mics that when fired at a window could read vibrations in the glass and translate them into sound. Right under everyone's nose, Delta quietly assembled detailed information on the location of every hostage and terrorist in the embassy. Wallis stayed in touch with the teams via a radio earpiece tucked in his left ear.

So far, they had ascertained that all the hostages were being kept in the main ballroom on the first floor. There were twenty-two bad guys in the building. Four were down in the ballroom, another four patrolled the first floor hallways. There were eight on the second floor; four at the front and four in the back. On the top floor stood one man at each corner. One more man wandered throughout the building and one stayed in the secure room in the Ambassador's office, coming out only occaisionally. It was assumed this was the guy in charge and the rover was his lieutenant.

The laser mics told them a little more. The shooters spoke in guttural Swahili. The rover barked orders at them but never in English. His voice matched the voice they were told was on the other end of the phone. What concerned Wallis was the boss man. No one could find out anything about him. He could be the key to the whole thing.

"Halo, Major."

Wallis' thoughts were interrupted by the junior British diplomat on scene. What was his name? Smyth? What did he want?

"How did you know I was a major?" Wallis asked. The Brit smiled.

"Captain Howard Smyth, Her Majesty's 22nd Special Air Service."

Now Wallis smiled. SAS was here too. He felt a little better.

"Smyth, good to see you. At least we're not alone here."

"Not completely. We only have one recce team about. I assume your lads are out there somewhere?"

"Yeah," Wallis replied. "All around the embassy. We've got a pretty good target layout now."

"Ah," Smyth smiled back. "You Yanks and your gadgets. Where did you say the hostages were?"

Smart aleck.

"First floor ballroom, as you've probably heard from your recce team. I assume they have a thermal imager of their own."

"Touche, Major. Just confirming our data. So what is the assault plan?"

"We're taking a page from your book. Just like Princess Gate. We'll hit the roof and rappel down the sides. We'll hit all three floors simulaneously." Wallis referred to the dramatic 1980 rescue of the Iranian Embassy in London. The SAS made history that day.

"Right," Smyth replied, pleased. "Sounds like you know who to learn from. How is the search team getting on?"

"We haven't heard from them since they landed. They should be checking in soon. I wonder how your girl is doing. Think she can hang?"

Smyth grinned. Lara Croft was near legend in the U.K.

"I'm sure that Ms. Croft is keeping the British end up."

**********************

After a four hour cross-country march the search team neared the objective. D.C. saw it first. He signalled the team to halt then crawled forward about 30 meters to get a better look. Jack's voice crackled in his earpiece.

"Talk to me, Dave."

"I think I see it. Rock formation, about six feet high. Looks just like the drawing."

Lara and Jack looked at each other. The drawings were right. Jack keyed his mike.

"We're coming in."

Jack, Lara and Terrell joined D.C. at the obelisk-shaped rock. It was barely visible in the starless night, but it looked nearly identical to the drawing Lara carried. The foursome stood in a rough circle around it, staring.

"Well, what now?" Jack asked. Lara touched the rock, moving her fingers deliberately over its smooth surface. She studied it closely, looking for anything that might indicate what to do next.

"Check for hidden switches, carvings, anything," she ordered."The answer must be here."

The men stepped forward to inspect the rock. As Terrell stepped up to touch it, the ground suddenly gave way under his feet. He disappeared into a hole, landing in a heap.

"OW!" he shouted. The other three jumped, startled. D.C. peered into the hole and saw Terrell trying to stand in the darkness.

"You okay pardner?"

"Yeah. My butt's killing me though. What happened?"

Lara leaned over the the edge of the hole.

"Must be the cave entrance. Probably overgrown after all these centuries. Well, at least we found the way in. What can you see down there, Terrell?"

"Nuthin'. Wait a sec." Givens pulled out his night goggles. "Oh yeah, baby. This is it. It goes as far as I can see..."

"Well let's get going, people," Jack ordered.

The other three stepped carefully into the hole. D.C. stopped to set up the satcom at the opening. He took a moment to align the dish and set the unit to REMOTE mode, slaving the satcom to a tactical radio like the team members carried. That would allow the team members to operate the satcom from their personal radios.

"Satcom's set up, Boss."

"Okay. I better check in. Open the channel."

D.C. hit a few keys and the connection was open. At the other end would be the Delta duty officer in the Pentagon. Everyone else could hear the conversation in their earpieces.

"Reebok, this is Adidas. Come in."

The voice at the other end was clear as a bell despite being 7,000 miles away.

"Adidas, this is Reebok. Say your status."

"Reebok, Adidas. We're in the cave. Moving forward. Over."

"Understand, Adidas. Be advised, Nike says that our Blue friends are on scene, over."

"Roger that, Reebok. Adidas out." He switched off the satcom.

"Who are the 'blue friends'?" Lara asked. Everyone else grinned.

"Blue is our code for Brits. He said that the SAS is there in Nairobi."

"Excellent," Lara said, grinning. "They'll keep your blokes out of trouble."

D.C. leaned over to Terrell.

"Why did I know she would say something like that?" he whispered. Givens smirked.

"Well," Jack announced. "We're on your turf now, Lara. What next?"

Lara fished her flashlight out of her pack and switched it on. They were in a narrow gray stone cavern. It was just large enough to fit in, but it extended far into the inky darkness. Finally, she thought. I'm back in my element.

"Right. Follow me, lads," she said.

CHAPTER SEVEN