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Clancy, Tom - Ballance of Power

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by Balance of Power [lit]


  wheelchair and all its electronic conveniences now

  seemed an integral part of his body. But

  he had never adjusted to losing Yvonne.

  Yvonne had been a fellow CIA agent-a

  formidable enemy, a devoted friend, and the wittiest

  person he'd ever known. She had been his life and his

  lover. When they were together, even on the job, the

  physical boundaries of the universe seemed very

  small. It was denned by her eyes and by the curve of

  her neck, by the warmth of her fingers and the playfulness of

  her toes. But what a rich and full universe that

  had been. So rich that there were still mornings when,

  halfawake, Herbert would reach his hand under her

  pillow and search for hers. Not finding it, he'd

  squeeze her lumpy pillow in his empty fingers and

  silently curse the killers who'd taken her from

  him. Killers who had gone unpunished. Who were still

  permitted to enjoy their own lives, their own loves.

  Now Herbert had to mourn the loss of Martha

  Mackall. He felt guilty. Part of him was

  pleased that he wasn't the only one grieving now.

  Mourning could be an oppressively lonely place

  to be. Less guiltily,

  72 OP-CENTER

  Herbert also wasn't willing to laud the dead just because

  they were dead, and he was going to have to listen to plenty of that

  over the next few days and weeks. Some

  of the praise would be valid. But only some of it.

  Martha had been one of Op-Center's keystones

  since the organization's inception. Regardless of her

  motivation, Martha had never given less than her

  utmost. Herbert was going to miss her intelligence,

  her insights, and her justified self-confidence. In

  government, it didn't always matter whether a person

  was right or wrong. What mattered was that they led, that

  they roused passions. From the day she arrived in

  Washington Martha certainly did that.

  Yet in the nearly two years that he had known

  Martha Mackall, Herbert had found her to be

  abrasive and condescending. She often took credit

  for work done by her staff-a common enough sin in

  Washington, though a rare occurrence at

  Op-Center. But then, Martha wasn't devoted

  solely to Op-Center. Since he'd first encountered

  her when she worked at State, she had always applied

  herself to the advancement of the cause that seemed most

  important to her:

  Martha Mackall. For at least the last five or

  six months she'd had her eyes on several

  ambassadorial positions and had made no

  secret of the fact that her position at Op-Center

  was simply a stepping stone.

  On the other hand,

  Herbert thought,

  when patriotism isn 'I enough to drive you to do your

  best, ambition is a workable substitute.

  As long as the job got done, Herbert wasn't one

  to throw stones.

  Herbert's cynicism burned off quickly, though, as

  BALANCE OF POWER 73

  he crossed the threshold into Hood's small,

  woodpaneled office. "Pope" Paul had that

  effect on people. Hood believed in the goodness of

  humankind and his conviction as well as his even temper

  could be contagious.

  Hood finished pouring himself a glass of tap water

  from a carafe on his desk. Then he rose and walked

  toward the door. Herbert had been the first to arrive,

  and Hood greeted him with a handshake and tightlipped

  solemnity. Herbert wasn't surprised to see the

  director's dark eyes lacking their usual spirit and

  vigor. It was one thing to get bad news about an

  operative on a covert mission. Reports like that

  were statistical inevitabilities and a part of you was

  always braced for that kind of loss. Each time the

  private phone or fax line beeped, you

  half-expected a coded communique with a

  heart-stopping phrase like "The stock market is

  down one" or "Lost a charge card- cancel account."

  But to hear about the death of a team member who was on a

  quiet diplomatic mission to a friendly nation during

  peacetime-that was another matter. It was disturbing

  regardless of what you thought about the person.

  Hood sat on the edge of his desk and folded his

  arms. "What's the latest from Spain?"

  "You read my e-mail about the explosion off the

  coast of San Sebastian, up north?"'"

  Hood nodded.

  "That's the last thing I have," Herbert replied. "The

  local police are still pulling body parts and

  pieces of yacht from the bay and trying to ID the

  peo-

  74 OP-CENTER

  pie. No one has claimed responsibility for the

  attack. We're also monitoring commercial and

  private broadcasts in case the perps have something

  to say."

  "You wrote that the yacht blew up midship,"

  Hood said.

  "That's what two eyewitnesses onshore said,"

  Herbert replied. "There hasn't been any

  official word yet."

  "And there isn't likely to be," Hood said.

  "Spain doesn't like to share its internal matters.

  Does the midship location mean anything?"

  Herbert nodded. "The blast was nowhere near the

  engines, which means we're almost certainly looking at

  sabotage. The timing may also be significant.

  The explosion occurred soon after Martha was shot."

  "So the two events could be related," Hood said.

  "We're looking into it," Herbert replied.

  "Starting where?"

  Hood was pushing more than usual, but that wasn't

  surprising. Herbert had felt that way after

  Beirut. Apart from wanting the killer found and

  punished, it was important to keep one's mind

  active. The only other option was to stop, mourn, and

  have to deal with the guilt.

  "The attack on Martha does adhere to the modus

  operand! of the Homeland and Freedom group,"

  Herbert said. "In February of 1997 they

  killed a Spanish Supreme Court judge.

  Justice Emperador. Shot him in the head at the

  front door of his building."

  "How does that tie in to Martha?"

  "Judge Emperador heard labor law cases,"

  Herbert

  BALANCE OF POWER 75

  said. " "He had nothing to do with terrorists or

  political activism."

  "I don't follow."

  Herbert folded his hands on his waist and answered

  patiently. "In Spain, as in many countries,

  judges involved in terrorist matters are given

  bodyguards. Real bodyguards, not just for show. So

  Homeland and Freedom typically goes after friends and

  associates in order to make a point to the

  principals. That's been their pattern in a

  half-dozen shootings since 1995, when they tried

  to murder King Juan Carlos, Crown Prince

  Pelipe, and Prime Minister Aznar. The

  failure of that operation had a chilling effect."

  "No more direct frontal assaults," Hood

  said.

  "Right. And no more prime targets. Just atta
cks

  on the secondaries to rattle the support

  structure."

  Two other people had arrived as Herbert was speaking.

  "We'll talk about all this in a minute," Hood

  said. He took a swallow of water and rose as

  staff psychologist Liz Gordon and

  somber-looking press officer Arm

  Farris walked in. Herbert saw Ann's eyes

  catch Hood's for a moment. It was an open secret

  along the executive corridors of Op-Center that

  the young divorcee was more than fond of her married

  boss. Because Hood was so unreadable-a talent he

  had apparently developed as mayor of Los

  Angeles-no one was quite sure how Hood felt about

  Arm. However, it was known that the long hours he spent

  at OpCenter had put a strain on his relationship

  with his wife, Sharon. And Arm was attractive and

  attentive.

  Martha's shell-shocked number-two man, Ron

  76 OP-CENTER

  Plummer, arrived a moment later with Op-Center

  attorney Lowell Coffey 11 and Deputy

  Assistant Secretary of State Carol

  Lanning. The slim, gray-haired,

  sixty-four-year-old Lanning had been a very

  close friend and mentor to Martha. Officially, however,

  that wasn't the reason she was here. Hood had asked

  Lanning to come to Op-Center because an American

  "tourist" had been shot abroad. It was now a

  matter for her division of the State Department, the

  Security and Counselor Affairs-the nuts and

  bolts group which dealt with everything from

  passport fraud to Americans imprisoned

  abroad. It was the job of Lanning and her staff

  to work as liaisons with foreign police departments

  to investigate attacks on American citizens.

  Like Hood, Lanning was temperate by nature and an

  optimist. As she sat down beside Herbert, the

  intelligence chief found it extremely unsettling

  to see Lanning's bright eyes bloodshot and her thin,

  straight mouth pulled into a deep frown.

  Mike Rodgers was the last to arrive. He strode

  through the door quickly, his eyes alert and his chest

  expanded. His uniform was smartly pressed, as always,

  and his shoes were brightly polished.

  God in Heaven bless the general,

  Herbert thought. Outwardly, at least, Rodgers was

  the only one who seemed to have any fight in him.

  Herbert was pleased to see that Rodgers had regained

  some of the grit he had lost in Lebanon. The rest

  of them would need to draw upon that if they were going to carry

  on here and revitalize Darrell McCaskey and

  Aideen Marley in Spain.

  Hood went back to his desk and sat down.

  Everyone

  BALANCE OF POWER 77

  else took seats except for Rodgers.

  The general folded his arms, squared his shoulders, and

  stood behind Carol Lanning's chair.

  "As you all know," Hood began, "Martha

  Mackall was murdered in Madrid at

  approximately six p.m. local time."

  Although Hood was addressing everyone in the room, he

  was looking down at the desk. Herbert understood.

  Eye contact could do him in. And he had to get through

  this.

  "The shooting happened as Martha and Aideen Marley

  were standing at a guard booth outside the Palacio

  de las Cortes in Madrid," Hood went on.

  "The lone gunman fired several shots from the street

  and then escaped in a waiting car. Martha died at the

  scene. Aideen was not hurt. Darrell met her at

  the palace. They headed back to their hotel with a

  police escort."

  Hood stopped and swallowed hard.

  " "The police escort was made of handpicked

  operatives attached to Interpol," Herbert continued

  for him, "and Interpol will continue to look over their

  shoulders for as long as they remain in Spain. The

  laxness of palace security has got us wondering

  if at least some of the guards weren't in on the

  plot-which is why we turned to Darrell's

  friends at Interpol for security, rather than relying on

  government-appointed police. We've got a lot

  of background data on the Interpol crew, due

  to the time agent Maria Comeja spent working with

  Darrell here in Washington," Herbert added.

  "We're very comfortable with how Darrell

  78 OP-CENTER

  and Aideen will be looked after from this point forward."

  "Thank you. Bob," Hood said. He looked up.

  His eyes were glistening. "Martha's body is en

  route to the embassy. It will be flown back as soon

  as possible. At the moment, we have a service

  scheduled at the Baptist Evangelical Church in

  Arlington for Wednesday morning, ten a.m."

  Carol Lanning looked away and shut her eyes.

  Herbert's hands were still folded on his waist and he

  glanced down at his thumbs. Before Herbert had

  attended Op-Center's annual sensitivity

  training seminar, he would have thought nothing about leaning

  over and putting his arms around the Deputy

  Assistant Secretary of State. Now if he

  wanted to comfort her, all he was supposed to do was ask

  if she wanted anything.

  Hood beat him to it. "Ms. Lanning," he asked,

  "would you care for some water?"

  The woman opened her eyes. "No, thank you.

  I'll be all right. I want to get on with this."

  There was a surprising edge in her voice. Herbert

  snuck a glance at her. Carol's lips were

  straight now, her eyes narrow. To him, it didn't

  look like she wanted water. What Carol Lanning

  seemed to crave was blood. Herbert knew

  exactly how she felt. After the Beirut

  embassy bombing, he would have had no trouble nuking the

  entire city just to get the bastards who killed his

  wife. Grief was not a merciful emotion.

  Hood looked at his watch. He sat back in his

  chair. "Darrell will be calling in five minutes."

  He looked at Plummer. "Ron, what do we do

  about the mission? Is Aideen qualified to continue?"

  BALANCE OF POWER 79

  Plummer leaned forward and Herbert looked at him.

  Plummer was a short man with thinning brown hair and

  wide eyes. He wore thick, black-framed

  glasses on a large hooked nose. He had on

  a dark gray suit badly in need of dry cleaning

  and scuffed black shoes. The tops of his socks were

  falling over his ankles. Herbert hadn't had many

  dealings with the former CIA intelligence analyst for

  Western Europe. But Plummer had to be

  good. No one who dressed so carelessly could get

  by on anything but talent. Besides, Herbert had had a

  look at the psych workup Liz Gordon had done

  of Plummer before he was hired. Herbert and Plummer

  had both detested the CIA director Plummer

  had worked under. That was enough of a character endorsement for

  Herbert.

  "I can't answer for Aideen's state of mind,"

  Plummer said, with a nod to Liz Gordon. "But

  apart from that I'd say that Aideen is very capable of

  co
ntinuing the mission."

  "According to her file," Carol said, "she hasn't had

  a great deal of diplomatic experience."

  "That's very true," Plummer said. "Ms.

  Marley's methods are rather less diplomatic than

  Martha's were. But you know what? That just may be

  what's needed now."

  "I like the sound of that," Herbert said. He looked

  at Paul.

  "Have

  you decided to continue the mission?"

  "I won't decide that until I talk

  to Darrell," Hood said. "But my inclination is

  to keep them over there."

  "Why?" Liz Gordon asked.

  Herbert couldn't decide whether it was a question or a

  challenge. Liz's manner could be intimidating.

  80 OP-CENTER

  "Because we may not have a choice," Hood said. "If

  the shooting was random-and we can't dismiss that

  possibility, since Aideen is alive and a

  Madrid postal worker was the other victim-then the

  killing was tragic but not directed at the discussions.

  If that's the case, there's no reason not to keep the

  talks online. But even if the shooting was directed

  at us we can't afford to back down."

  "Not back down," Liz said, "but wouldn't it be

  wise to step back until we're sure?"

  " 'American foreign policy is determined by the

  Administration, not by the barrel of a gun," Lanning

  said. "I agree with Mr. Hood."

  "Darrell can arrange for security with his people at

  Interpol," Hood said. "This won't happen again."

  "Paul," Liz pressed, "the reason I mention this

  has nothing to do with logistics. There's one thing you

  need to consider before deciding whether Aideen should be a

  part of this process."

  "What's that?" asked Hood.

  "Right about now she's probably coming out of the first stage

  of alarm reaction, which is shock," Liz

  told him. "That's going to be followed almost immediately

  by countershock, a quick increase in the adrenocortical

  hormones-steroid hormones. She's going to be

  pumped."

  "That's good, no?" Herbert asked.

  "No, it isn't," Liz replied. "After

  countershock, a resistance phase settles in.

  Emotional recuperation. Aideen's going to be

  looking for someplace to turn that energy loose. If

  she was not too diplomatic before, she

  BALANCE OF POWER 81

  may become an unguided missile now. But even

  that's not the worst of it."

  "How so?" Hood asked.

  Liz rolled her broad shoulders forward. She

  leaned toward the group, her elbows on her knees.

  "Aideen survived a shooting in which her partner died.

 

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