Product Description THE ULTIMATE HOSTAGE CRISISTHE PLACE: The Pentagon. Headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense. The world's most safeguarded and secure building.THE EVENT: An unprecedented gathering at which the military leaders of America and Europe are to welcome into NATO its most controversial new member -- Russia.THE NIGHTMARE: In a breathtakingly precise split-second operation, a team of ruthless commandos takes over America's ultimate military command post -- from the inside. Within minutes, their hostages include the top military officials of more than twenty European nations, along with America's senior military commanders, the Vice President, the First Lady, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.THE STAKES: Higher than even the president can anticipate because the enemy commandos have also seized control of a top-secret orbital weapon -- codenamed "Quicksilver" -- powerful enough to decimate America and change the balance of power in the world forever! From Publishers Weekly Terrorists take over the Pentagon and gain control of the ultimate satellite superweapon, called Quicksilver, in this warp-speed techno-thriller with the most engaging underdog protagonists since Jurassic Park. A cadre of multinational terrorists murder a busload of Annapolis midshipmen headed for a NATO ceremony at the Pentagon, and then use their victims identities to clear security, taking VIP hostages and gaining control of the building. The president barely escapes, but he loses his security force and leaves most of his cabinet, and the First Lady, behind. Midshipman Amy Nuke Bethune happened to miss her ill-fated bus, but made it to the Pentagon just in time to get trapped inside, bad news for the commandos who offed her classmates. She joins up with Tom Chase, an irreverent ex-FBI electronics whiz and consultant to General Vanovich, the developer of Quicksilver, now held hostage. Meanwhile, the terrorists take satellites out of orbit and wipe out a Colorado base with Quicksilver while making impossible demands. Major Margaret Sinclair (a former Delta Force commando, Toms ex-wife and Vanovichs second-in-command) persuades the White House to send her in instead of nuking the buildingand all the hostageswith a deep penetration bomb. Amys guerrilla skills and Toms smarts plow through defenders as they aim for the terrorist stronghold, unaware of the enemys level of access to Quicksilver codes. Although the disaster formula is familiar, and the terrorists motivation is not entirely credible, the hair-trigger plot and heroics are gripping, and the mix of formidable but feminine heroines and reluctant heroes adds a new twist to the scenario. This followup to the Reeves-Stevenses bestselling Icefire insures their entre to the techno-thriller elite. 75,000-copy first printing; major ad/promo; author tour. (May) FYI: The authors also co-write a Star Trek series with William Shatner.Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Kirkus Reviews Disaster looms again in the Reeves-Stevens's latest thriller, following the threat of asteroid impact and superviruses of 1998's Icefire. This time out, its the utterly secure Pentagon that comes under threat as terrorist commandos take over the world's most highly protected building on the event of the US welcoming new NATO partners from the former USSR. Not only the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Vice President are taken prisoners, but the cherry on top is that the terrorists have come in control of Quicksilver, a marvel of weaponry far superior to the atomic bomb in fearsomeness. Protecting the savaged US is the National Infrastructure Agency, whose ultrasecret activities ask for skills never before required from American agents. Leading NIA is Air Force Major General Milo Vanovich, aided ably by Army Major Margaret Sinclair. What is this Quicksilver they must protect at all costs? An electromagnetically invisible platform orbiting the planet at 200 miles, and directed by a