CONTENTS

       Cover

       Title Page

Dreamland

Paradise

‘What Is Going on Here?’

       World Gone Mad

       High Stakes

       Resistance

       Snakes in the Jungle

       ‘Hang On’

       Paradise Regained

       About the Author

       Also by the Author

       Copyright

       About the Publisher

       DREAMLAND

      DUTY ROSTER

       LIEUTENANT COLONEL TECUMESH ‘DOG’ BASTIAN

      Dreamland’s commander has been mellowed by the demands of his new command – but he’s still got the meanest bark in the West, and his bite is even worse.

       MAJOR JEFFREY ‘ZEN’ STOCKARD

      A top fighter pilot until a near-fatal crash at Dreamland left him a paraplegic, Zen runs the Flighthawk program and has now accumulated more air-to-air kills than any other active pilot in the air force. But he’s got a grudge bigger than the wheelchair life has confined him to.

       CAPTAIN BREANNA ‘RAP’ STOCKARD

      Zen’s wife has seen him through his injury and rehabilitation. But can she balance her love for her husband with the demands of her career … and ambitions?

       MAJOR MACK ‘THE KNIFE’ SMITH

      Mack Smith is the best pilot in the world – and he’ll tell you so himself. He left Dreamland to reshape the Brunei air force in his own egotistical image.

       CAPTAIN DANNY FREAH

      Danny commands ‘Whiplash’ – the ground attack team that works with the cutting-edge Dreamland aircraft and high-tech gear. Freah’s wife and friends want him to run for Congress. The war hero would be a shoo-in – but does he want to give up the excitement of Dreamland?

       JENNIFER GLEASON

      Computer specialist Jennifer Gleason is one of the creative geniuses at Dreamland, responsible for the multi-mode combat computer that helps control the Flighthawks. She’s also Dog’s lover – but her emotional and intellectual sides don’t always get along.

       JED BARCLAY

      The young deputy to the national security advisor is Dreamland’s link to the president. Barely old enough to shave, the former science whiz kid now struggles to master the intricacies of world politics. Zen Stockard is his cousin – and Zen still can’t figure out how the skinny kid who used to follow him around on a tricycle grew up and got a real job.

       LIEUTENANT KIRK ‘STARSHIP’ ANDREWS

      Starship flew through flight school and was on the fast track to a career flying the air force’s frontline interceptors, like the F-15 and F-22. But family commitments made him change his plans. Now he has a post at Dreamland flying the U/MF-3 Flighthawk robot planes, where he’s finding that no amount of training can prepare him for real combat.

       AND IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC …

       PRINCE PEHIN BIN AWG

      The nephew of the sultan of Brunei and the unofficial protector of the air force, bin Awg has an enviable collection of Cold War aircraft – and a well-earned reputation as a partier. Can he mature in time to save his uncle’s realm … and his own neck?

       CAT MCKENNA

      A one time Royal Canadian pilot, McKenna has found work plying the skies for a shadowy Russian arms dealer. But when her paycheck bounces, she looks for a new job – and ends up locking horns with Mack Smith.

       CAPTAIN DAZHOU TI

      Years ago, Dazhou’s Chinese grandfather was disinherited by the sultan of Brunei. Now he wants revenge – and has a secret Malaysian warship to insure that he gets it.

       SAHURAH NIU

      A devout believer, Sahurah is convinced that he has a place in Paradise – and is willing to kill thousands to reach it.

I

       Paradise

       Malay, Negara Brunei Darussalam (State of Brunei, Abode of Peace) 6 October 1997, (local) 1302

      Breanna Stockard tossed her backpack to the ground, put her hands on her hips, and took a deep breath. The Pacific Ocean spread out before her, a blanket of azure silk. A few white clouds wandered casually in the distance, drifting across the sky like a pair of vacationers easing across a solitary beach. Civilization might lay in the distance – there were oil derricks somewhere offshore, and merchant ships did a brisk trade at the nearby harbor – but from where she stood Breanna had no hint that she and her husband Jeff ‘Zen’ Stockard weren’t the only people in the world.

      This is what God looks at everyday, she thought to herself. Paradise.

      Breanna took another deep breath. A month ago, she had found herself stranded in the Pacific during a fierce storm, tossed back and forth in a tiny life raft. It seemed impossible that this was the same ocean now.

      Maybe it wasn’t. Maybe that hadn’t even happened. Ten days here in the wonderful paradise of Brunei – helping train pilots to fly the EB-52 Megafortress ‘leased’ to the kingdom as part of an eventual three-plane arms deal – had purged her of all unhappy memories.

      One more week and it might even be impossible to have an unpleasant thought ever again.

      Zen had surprised her yesterday by turning up for