The USS Enterprise (CVN-65) moved effortlessly across the black surface of the Arabian Sea, displacing nearly 100,000 tons as she cut through the dark waters. Her great bulk disturbed millions of tiny bioluminescent sea creatures, causing them to glow and leave an eerie green swath of light to mark her passage. A more sophisticated enemy with satellites or reconnaissance aircraft might have used that glowing wake to locate and attack the ship, but her enemy was not the Soviet Union or the Empire of Japan. This latest enemy had no great fleet to oppose her, nor a powerful air force to challenge her mastery of the skies. Yet an insidious new threat had emerged from the back alleys of the Middle East and the foreboding mountains of Central Asia to strike at the very heart of American power.
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