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  History:

  Metcalf took over as head of DARPA following the untimely death of Sean McKnight [TLO]—and after Painter Crowe turned down the job. Inflexible and by-the-book, he often butts heads with Painter, who sometimes feels that his new boss is tying his hands. Nevertheless, Painter has learned not to underestimate the general’s formidable intelligence, even if he sometimes finds it politic to go behind Metcalf’s back—and ask for permission after the fact.

  Gossip has it that only the President’s support has allowed Painter to keep his job, but that support definitely has it limits. It remains to be seen how effectively Metcalf and Crowe will be able to work together in the future—especially now that Painter’s investigations into the Guild are leading Sigma into shark-infested political waters.

  3

  ALLIES AND ENEMIES

  For better or for worse, Sigma Force does not exist in a vacuum. Invariably, other individuals take an interest in, or may become involved with, the various mysteries, conspiracies, and menaces that fall under Sigma’s purview. Some may fall into Sigma’s orbit by accident, while others may actively involve themselves in these affairs, but, over the years, a few key players have crossed the team’s path on multiple occasions—and may well do so again.

  The following profiles are intended to familiarize you with these individuals.

  VERONA, VIGOR

  Physical description:

  Monsignor Vigor Verona is a wiry Italian priest in his sixties, with curly salt-and-pepper hair and a neatly-trimmed goatee. He prefers to dress casually in jeans, a tee-shirt, and cardigan, but will don his formal black cassock when the occasion calls for it. He remains fit and active for a man his age, despite a serious injury a few years ago.

  History:

  Vigor is a distinguished Vatican official and scholar who has assisted Sigma Force on several occasions. His knowledge of archaeology and ancient history, along with his intimate connections within the Catholic Church, has proven invaluable in the past.

  A popular professor at Gregorian University in Rome, he headed the Pontifical Institute of Christian Archaeology for several years. Although deeply devoted to the Church, he maintains a rigorous scientific outlook. A placard above his office door bore the same inscription that once graced Plato’s door: “Let no one enter who does not know geometry.”

  Unknown to his adoring students, Verona had another vocation as well: for over fifteen years he served as spy for the Vatican. His archaeological studies provided the perfect cover for him to travel widely—and report back to the Church’s covert intelligence service.

  He first joined forces with Sigma to investigate a brutal attack on a German cathedral—and the theft of a sacred relic: the bones of the Magi [MOB].

  Later, after being promoted to prefect of the Vatican’s Secret Archives, he provided Sigma with a complete dossier on an obscure Polish priest who was not nearly as ordinary as he appeared [BO].

  He next assisted Sigma in a quest for the secret diary of Marco Polo—and the cure to a terrifying epidemic [TJS].

  The following year, he was a severely injured by an explosion in Saint Peter’s Basilica, placing him in a coma. Although he suffered a brain fracture, he eventually awoke from the coma, not long after Sigma traced the explosion to [REDACTED]. He is expected to make a fully recovery [TDK].

  Vigor Verona sees himself a secret warrior, standing between the Vatican and the world. His lifelong battle to defend the Church has sometimes led him to fight beside Sigma Force and its agents—and may do so again.

  Relationships:

  Vigor is devoted to his niece, Lieutenant Rachel Verona, whom he practically raised. His older sister is Rachel’s mother. His mother, Camilla, escaped from Austria during WWII before settling in Italy.

  Prior to his involvement with Sigma Force, he had worked with Kathryn Bryant to track down a ring of international art thieves, back when Kat was employed by Naval Intelligence. They were reunited three years later when he first called on Sigma for assistance [MOB].

  VERONA, RACHEL

  Physical description:

  An attractive Italian woman in her thirties, Lieutenant Rachel Verona bears a resemblance to a young Audrey Hepburn, with snowy skin, high cheekbones, and caramel-colored eyes. She used to keep her ebony hair short, but has started wearing it longer.

  History:

  After Rachel’s father died in a traffic accident when she was fifteen, she was largely raised by her doting uncle Monsignor Vigor Verona, who instilled in her a lasting love of history and art. Under his tutelage, she spent many summers exploring Rome’s museums and staying with the nuns of Saint Brigida, not far from Gregorian University where her uncle taught archaeology.

  Although he might have preferred her to take her vows and follow him into the Church, Vigor recognized that she was too much of hellion to make a proper nun and encouraged to pursue her own passions. After earning a graduate degree in psychology and art history, she was recruited straight out of the university by the Carabinieri Corps, Italy’s military police force, where she spent another two years at officer’s training college, studying international law, before going to work for Tutela del Patrimonio Culturale, a special unit devoted to combatting the theft of precious art and antiquities.

  She first encountered Sigma Force when her uncle recruited her to help investigate the theft of the Magi’s bones. Agents from Sigma, including Gray Pierce, joined her in tracking down the international conspiracy behind the crime [MOB].

  Rachel was not involved with Gray’s next mission, but they did rendezvous in Poland afterwards [BO].

  Roughly two years later, Rachel contacted Sigma again when her uncle was injured in a bombing. Joining forces with Sigma once more, she barely survived an adventure that found her working beside both Gray and a possible romantic rival, Seichan [TDK].

  Rachel continues to work for the Carabinieri, protecting Rome’s cultural treasures.

  Relationships:

  Rachel had an on-again, off-again romance with Gray Pierce. Although they had deep feelings for each other, and even talked marriage on occasion, the demands of separate careers on separate continents ultimately persuaded them to go their separate ways. At present, both are resolved to move on with their lives, although who knows what will happen if and when they are ever thrown together again?

  With regards to her family, Rachel has a mother and older sister who do not really understand her the way her uncle does. She had more in common with her grandmother Camilla, a feisty survivor of World War II who thought that a woman was naked without a gun.

  The other great love of Rachel’s life is her silver Mini Cooper convertible, which she drives at alarming speeds, much to the dismay of her passengers.

  SEICHAN

  Physical description:

  An attractive Eurasian woman in her early thirties, the enigmatic assassin known only as Seichan has almond-shaped green eyes flecked with gold. Her slender features are a mix of Vietnamese and European, possibly French, with tanned bronze skin and full lips. Her dark hair was once cut in a severe bob, but she has gradually let it grow longer. Her slim, lithe figure is both hard and soft. She often dresses in black and favors tight motorcycle gear. Her favorite color is silver, as indicated by her tastes in jewelry and automobiles. Her trademark silver dragon pendant resembles one once worn by her mother.

  History:

  Sometimes an ally, sometimes an adversary, Seichan is a dangerous mystery whose true allegiances are always in doubt. Her full story has yet to come to light, but this much is known:

  Seichan can barely remember her parents. Her most vivid memory: a weeping woman being dragged away from her by men in military uniforms. Her mother? Probably, but not even Seichan knows for sure. The identity of her father remains unknown. Raised in a squalid orphanage outside Seoul, Korea, she suffered starvation, slaps, beatings, and violations even more intimate before ending up on the streets. She spent her younger years as a half-feral teen, running the slum
s of Bangkok and the alleys of Phnom Penh. Survival on the streets required vigilance, cunning, and brutality—talents that attracted the attention of the Guild, who trained her to be an assassin in their employ.

  Her first known encounter with Sigma came when she clashed with Gray Pierce at an infectious disease lab in Fredericks, Maryland, where she appeared to be on a mission of sabotage. Seichan shot Gray on that first meeting, but later claimed to know that he was wearing a suit of liquid body armor—as was she. Afterwards, she left him a keepsake: a curled-dragon pendant on a silver chain [MOB].

  Shortly thereafter, their paths crossed again during a mission involving the stolen bones of the Magi. At the time, she appeared to be working as mercenary for Guild, playing Sigma against [REDACTED] and demonstrating a talent for double and triple crosses. She and Gray eventually joined forces against a common enemy, but based their temporary partnership on expedience and mutual distrust [MOB].

  Gray was still wearing her dragon pendant a year later when she left him a teasing note in Copenhagen, informing him that she and the Guild were staying clear of the matter at hand. “WATCH YOUR BACK. KISSES,” she wrote, and, for once, she appeared to be telling the truth. That was the end of her involvement in the affair [BO].

  She was not heard from again until another year later, when she turned up unexpectedly at Gray’s parents’ doorstep, wounded and on the run from The Guild, with whom she’d had a serious difference of opinion. Enlisting Monsignor Vigor Verona as well, she convinced Gray to help her save the world from [REDACTED]. Taken into custody afterwards, she escaped with the help of Gray, but not before Sigma surgically planted a tracking device inside her abdomen [TJS].

  Sigma tracked her for a year, hoping she would lead them deeper into the secrets of the Guild. But she found out about the tracker and had it removed before joining with Gray and Rachel Verona to uncover a Guild plot to [REDACTED]. At the time, it was uncertain if she was attempting to rejoin the Guild or infiltrate it, although Gray wanted to believe they were on the same side—despite her often ruthless methods [TDK].

  Her pursuit of the shadowy leaders of the Guild led her next to the catacombs of Paris, where a close call with a doomsday cult bought a cryptic clue to the Guild’s true origins [TSK], which she later shared with Gray and Sigma Force [TDC].

  At present, Seichan remains on the run, pursued by both the Guild and intelligence agencies throughout the globe, including those of the United States. The Mossad maintains a shoot-to-kill order on her and rest of the world regards her as a wanted terrorist and assassin-for-hire. Only Sigma sees her as an asset, albeit one of questionable loyalty.

  Among her bad habits: a tendency to smoke when stressed.

  Relationships:

  A loner and survivor by nature, Seichan resisted her attraction to Gray Pierce for years, even as she occasionally teased and taunted him. They have saved each other’s lives on numerous occasions—and double-crossed each other almost as often. At least four years after she first shot him in the chest, they finally acted on their long-simmering feelings for each other [TDC], but what kind of future can a Sigma agent and a fugitive assassin have?

  4

  CASE HISTORIES

  As Sigma Force knows too well, history has a way of impacting the present just when you least expect it, and a working knowledge of past events can sometimes be the difference between life and death. The following operations represent key moments in Sigma’s own history—and may hint at the shape of things to come.

  Mission Designation: Sandstorm

  Duration: November 14—December 4.

  Key Locations: England, Oman.

  The iron camel—actually a meteorite fragment shaped like a camel—sat harmlessly in the British Museum until a freak electrical storm causes it to explode. When radiation readings indicate that the explosion was caused by antimatter inside the camel, Sigma dispatches agents Painter Crowe and Coral Novak to find the origin of the antimatter, which could provide a potentially unlimited source of energy.

  The explosion exposes another artifact hidden inside an ancient sandstone statue: a hollow iron heart containing an unknown liquid. An inscription on the heart points to the lost city of Ubar, a legendary realm said to have disappeared beneath the sands of Arabia sometime around 300 A.D. Posing as civilian scientists, Crowe and Novak infiltrate an archaeological expedition led by a British noblewoman, Lady Kara Kensington, and a brilliant archaeologist, Dr. Safia al-Maaz, in hopes that a centuries-old trail will lead them to the fabled city—and a lost treasure trove of stabilized antimatter.

  But Sigma has competition. A team of Guild mercenaries, led by Painter’s former partner, is also in pursuit of the antimatter and will stop at nothing, including murder, sabotage, and kidnapping, to claim the prize for their own purposes. To further complicate matters, a third party enters the chase: a mysterious sisterhood of Bedouin women whose abilities seem almost supernatural.

  A chain of ancient clues, dating back to the fall of Ubar, guide the rival factions across Oman in a desperate race against time. The iron heart leads to the tomb of Nabi Imran, the Virgin Mary’s father, where an ancient compass points to the rugged Dhofar Mountains and the Tomb of the prophet Job, where a hidden bust of the Queen of Sheba points to a remote location deep in the vast desert known as the Rub’ al Khali or “Empty Quarter.”

  As a mega-sandstorm of Biblical proportions converges on the region, the lost city is discovered—and Crowe and his allies must find a way to avert an antimatter explosion that could lay waste to the entire Arabian Peninsula.

  Assessment:

  The Sandstorm affair marks Sigma’s first verifiable confrontation with the Guild, whom is discovered to have planted moles deep within both Sigma and DARPA. This is Painter Crowe’s last operation as a field agent before taking command of Sigma. His first priority as director would be to rebuild Sigma from the ground up in order to root out any lingering Guild infiltrators.

  Σ

  Reality Check.

  Sigma operations often require a broad knowledge of matters scientific, historical, and even paranormal. The following briefings address major topics relevant to this operation. Sigma personnel are encouraged to further explore these topics if they are so inclined.

  Σ

  Ubar: “The Atlantis of the Sands.”

  For years, the lost city of Ubar was regarded as more myth than history. Supposedly a fabulously rich and magnificent city, founded by the descendants of Noah, it was said to have been wiped out by God and buried forever beneath the deserts of Arabia. The Koran refers to it as “Iram,” a city of magnificent towers and pillars.” The One Thousand and Nights described it as a fabled “City of Brass,” and T. E. Lawrence (a.k.a. “Lawrence of Arabia”) famously called it “The Atlantis of the Sands.”

  In fact, the term “Ubar” is now believed to have referred to a people or area as opposed to being the name of city. Nevertheless, numerous explorers and archaeologists have searched for the remains of the city that inspired the legends. In the early 1990s, satellite imagery provided by NASA and others indicated the one-time presence of a major trading center at the convergence of several long-buried caravan routes in a particular region of the Empty Quarter. Excavations at Shisur, a remote village in Oman, uncovered the ruins of an ancient fortress, dating back more than two millennia, which had partially collapsed into a large sinkhole. The age and location of the site, as well as the way it had been essentially swallowed up by the desert, led some to identify this fallen fortress as the basis for the fantastic legend of the lost city, although this has since been disputed by other scholars (who do not have access to Sigma Forces classified mission logs).

  To date, there has been no “official” acknowledgement of the startling discovery made by Sigma beneath the ruins at Shisur . . . .

  Σ

  Antimatter: Not Just Science Fiction!

  When matter collides with antimatter, they annihilate each other in an explosion that generates energy. Unfortuna
tely, antimatter is rarely found on Earth, difficult to store due to its tendency to annihilate itself upon contact with matter, and incredibly expensive to produce, which is why both Sigma Force and the Guild were highly-motivated to locate a hitherto-unknown supply of antimatter—as well as the secret to storing it in a stable form.

  Antimatter is created naturally by high-energy particle collisions, as when cosmic rays strike Earth’s atmosphere. The existence of antimatter, which is composed of subatomic antiparticles, was predicted mathematically as far back as 1928, and a type of antiparticle called a positron was first detected in 1932. Today, labs such as CERN in Geneva, Switzerland and Fermilab near Chicago, Illinois use particle accelerators to generate various forms of antimatter, but the process remains extremely inefficient, time-consuming, and ridiculously expensive. It has been estimated that, at current rates, it would take CERN four billion years to produce even a gram of antimatter, which explains why we don’t have antimatter-powered cars, bombs, or spaceships yet!

  Most of the universe is made of matter, not antimatter. Why this is so, when the Big Bang theoretically created equal quantities of both, remains a puzzle, although recent experiments conducted by the Large Hadron Collider at CERN suggest that it may have something to do with varying rates of subatomic decay. CERN hopes to reach a more definite conclusion in the next few years.

  (By coincidence, particle physicists rate the certainty of possible discoveries according to a “sigma” scale, with a five-sigma rating indicating that the results cannot be dismissed as a statistical error. As far as we know, there’s no relation between this rating system and a certain covert team of killer scientists.)