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TOOK NEARLY five minutes to get Directors Yeager, Kim, and Mahajan patched into a video call.
    “I assume you’ve all heard about the attacks,” Celeste began.
    “Heard of them?” Mahajan said. “It’s happening here!”
    “In Jaipur?”
    “Yes! There have been several explosions along our walls.”
    “Any ground forces?”
    “Not yet. But the last blast was only a few minutes ago.”
    “Director Kim? Director Yeager?” Celeste asked. “Any problems where you are?”
    Both men reported that their bases, too, were under fire, but felt confident their security teams would get things under control. Unlike most bases, the four with directorate members also housed a specially trained Project Eden strike team.
    The conference room door opened. Dalton hurried in and handed Celeste a piece of paper.
    “What is that?” Kim asked.
    “A list of bases that have been hit,” Celeste said without looking up. “It’s about a fifty-fifty mix of survival stations and Project bases.”
    They were all silent for a moment.
    “What about Dream Sky?” Kim asked.
    Celeste looked over at Dalton, who mouthed, “No problems.”
    “Untouched,” Celeste announced.

5
     
    EVERTON, VERMONT
    1:47 AM EST
     
     
    C HLOE WAS THE last to arrive at the rendezvous point.
    “Trouble?” Ash asked.
    “Of course not,” she said. She held out the black Project Eden snowsuit and headgear she’d taken from her target. “This looks about your size.”
    As he took the clothes from her, he sensed something amiss. “You all right?”
    “Fine,” she answered quickly. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
    He studied her as she walked off but decided not to press. Mission stress, he thought. God knew they were all feeling it.
    After removing his jacket, he was able to pull the snowsuit over the rest of his clothes. Once he zipped it up, he tested his range of movement and was satisfied the security outfit wouldn’t restrict him too much. He then motioned for the others to gather around.
    “Phase two will not be nearly as easy as phase one. If you have any questions, now would be the time to ask.” He paused, but no one said anything. “All right, then. Remember, once your group’s in position, no one moves until you receive the signal. Good luck.”
    He headed over to where the four who’d be going with him waited. Three men—Edward Powell and two from Powell’s advance team—were also wearing snowsuit uniforms confiscated from other Project Eden sentries. The only one not dressed this way was Curtis Wicks.
    To Wicks, Ash said, “You ready?”
    “Would it matter if I wasn’t?” Wicks asked.
    __________
     
    D REAM SKY LEVEL zero was at the very top of the facility, nearest the surface. It consisted of only two rooms—a large open space known as Transition, and the smaller area called the security control center that was accessed through a short hallway.
    The transition room was well named. In the center, a ladder led down from the unassuming hut entrance in the snow-covered field above Dream Sky, and at the end opposite the control center were the two elevators that provided the means to reach the rest of the facility.
    There was a second entrance, but it had been sealed off a few days after Implementation Day, so with the ladder currently being the only way in and out, securing Dream Sky was not difficult. Still, vigilance was imperative, hence the rotating squads of lookouts in town, and the two men in the control center monitoring an array of security cameras.
    The most excitement those on control-center duty experienced was when a new topside squad went out and the old one returned. Other than that, the tedium was nearly unbearable.
    To survive their shifts, Morris and Lochmere—the two on graveyard that night—had devised a system where one would monitor the screens and the other would do whatever he wanted for fifteen minutes before they switched.
    “Can’t believe people used to read this crap,” Morris said, thumbing through