The one point glowed brilliant yellow. As Brognola was speaking, the yellow point had expanded, the camera zooming in until the yellow smear, now streaked and dappled with orange and red, filled the screen. Brognola pointed to the white center.

"Right there, 1000° Fahrenheit. The National Security Agency parked the satellite over this hot spot, monitored it..."

The three men of Able Team were leaning back in their leather-upholstered chairs and glancing at the maps of Brazil they held. Gadgets Schwarz interrupted.

"What was the spectroanalysis?"

"Sodium oxides. Principally sodium hydroxide. Now the photos."

Gadgets stammered, blurted out: "Man, that... it... those oxides could only... Oh, shit. That's got to be wrong. That means..."

"It was radioactive..."

"Radioactive?" Carl Lyons asked. "Like atomic?"

Brognola pressed the remote control again. Black-and-white images filled the screen. With the pointer, he traced a line across the mottled ground. A break in the jungle showed here and there along it. The breaks suggested a road.

"Did the Brazilians test a bomb or something?" Rosario Blancanales asked. "Or is that Bolivian territory?"

"Not a bomb," Gadgets answered, his voice quiet.

"The site appears to be in Brazil, but only just. It's only a few miles from territory that Bolivia claims," said Hal.

"How much radioactivity?" Gadgets asked.

"What is this, a guessing game?" Lyons demanded. "Was it a bomb or not?"

"A bomb factory," Gadgets answered. "How much radioactivity, Hal?"

"We don't know..."

"A bomb factory?" Lyons asked. "What was it that happened? A nuke went off?"

"What about local people?" Blancanales broke in. "Any information on what happened to them?"