Ten thousand people jam the aisles, the corridors, the elevators, and
the escalators of America, the Mall--a giant Rubik's Cube of a structure
with its own amusement park located in the spacious center atrium. Of
those people, nine thousand nine hundred and eighty-eight have come to
shop.
The other twelve have come to kill.
Ray Cruz, one of the heroes of Hunter's last bestseller, Dead Zero, is
in the mall with his fiancée and her family. The retired Marine sniper
thought he was done with stalking and killing--but among the trapped
thousands, he's the only one with a plan and the guts to confront the
self-proclaimed "Brigade Mumbai." Now all he needs is a gun.
FBI Sniper Dave McElroy has a gun. But positioned on the roof of the
vast building and without explosives or fuses--or the go-ahead from his
superiors--he is cut off from his targets and forced into the role of
witness to the horror unfolding below.
Having learned the lessons of Columbine, the feds believe that immediate
action is the only solution. But Douglas Obobo, the charismatic and
ambitious commandant of the state police, orders cooperation, tolerance,
communication, and empathy for the gunmen. He feels that with his
superior negotiating skills, he can make contact with the shooters and
gently nudge them into surrender. But what if their goal all along has
been unparalleled massacre--and they're only waiting for prime time?
