"Ron, we want you to go at once to thirty-four degrees, thirty minutes
north, seventy-five degrees east," Lewis said.
"That's Jaudar," Friday said, looking at the map.
"Is that where the cell is? In the village?" "No," Lewis said.
"That's where you'll rendezvous with Striker."
Friday stood up.
"Gentlemen, I have a chopper here. I can be there in under an hour.
Striker won't be landing for at least four hours. I might be able to get
to the cell by then."
"So would your partner," Lewis reminded him.
"And?" Friday pressed.
"We haven't finished our security check on the Black Cat," Lewis said.
"We can't take the risk that he'll turn the Pakistanis over to his
people."
"That won't happen," Friday assured the new NSA chief.
"I'll make sure of it." "You can't guarantee that," Lewis said.
"We also agree that Mr. Kumar should go with you and we can't be certain
of his actions either. Mr. Herbert and I have discussed this and we're
in agreement. You will meet Striker in Jaudar.
They will have up-to-the-minute coordinates of the cell and the
resources to get you and your companions into the mountains.
If anything changes, we'll let you know."
"We're wasting time," Friday protested.
"I could probably be in and out by the time Striker arrives."
"I admire your enthusiasm," Herbert said.
"But the leader of the cell is cagey. They've been moving in shadows and
beneath overhangs wherever possible. We don't know for certain what
weapons they're carrying. They may have a rocket launcher. If you come
after them in an Indian chopper they will probably shoot you down."
"If you tell us where they are we can circle wide and intercept them,"
Friday pointed out.
"There's also a chance that a Pakistani aircraft might try to slip in
and rescue the cell," Herbert said.
"We don't want to precipitate a firefight with an Indian aircraft. That
could give the Indians even more ammunition to launch a major
offensive."
Friday squeezed the phone. He wished he could strangle the deskbound
bureaucrat. He did not understand field personnel.
None of them did. The best field ops did not like sitting still. And the
best of the best were able to improvise their way in and out of most
things. Friday could do this.
More than that, he wanted it. If he could grab the cell and bring them
home he would have a chance to get in with their Pakistani controllers.
Having strong ties to New Delhi, Islamabad, and Washington would be
invaluable to an operative in this region.
"Are we on the same page?" Herbert asked.
Friday looked down at the map.
"Yes," he said. And as he looked he remembered something that Herbert
had told him about the explosion. It had occurred at approximately eight
thousand feet. That would put the cell on the southwest side of the
range. Everything north of that, up through the glacier and the line of
control, was at a higher elevation.
Friday's grip relaxed. To hell with desk jockeys in general and Bob
Herbert in particular.
"We'll brief you again when we have Striker's precise ETA and location,"
Herbert said.
"Do you have any questions?"
"No," Friday replied calmly.
"Is there anything you wanted to add. Hank?" Herbert asked.
Lewis said there was nothing else. The NSA head thanked Friday and the
men hung up. Friday returned the phone to its cradle.
"What is it?" Captain Nazir asked.
"What we've been waiting for," Friday said.
"They found the cell?" Nazir asked.
Friday nodded.
"And my granddaughter?" Apu asked.
"She's with them," Friday said. He did not know if she was or not, of
course. But he wanted Apu with them. The farmer had harbored the enemy
cell. If they needed to forestall any action by India, Apu's confession
would play very well on Pakistani TV.
Friday looked at the map. Herbert had told him that the cell was
sticking to the mountain ledges. That meant that if the chopper started
following the line of the range at eight thousand feet and flew up one
side and then down the other they were sure to encounter the cell.
Friday glanced down at the inset come projection and smiled. The
round-trip was less than two hundred miles.
He would have them. And he would have that do-nothing Herbert.
"Come on," Friday said to Nazir.
"Where are we going?" the officer asked.
"To catch a terrorist cell," Friday replied.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT.
Washington, D. C. Thursday, 4:02 a. m.
Paul Hood's office was just a few steps away from Op Center
high-security conference room. Known as the Tank, the conference room
was surrounded by walls of electronic waves that generated static for
anyone trying to listen in with bugs or external dishes.
Hood entered after everyone was already there. The heavy door was
operated by a button at the side of the large oval conference table.
Hood pushed it when he sat down at the head of the table.
The small room was lit by fluorescent lights hung in banks over the
conference table. On the wall across from Hood's chair the countdown
clock was dark. When they had a crisis and a deadline, the clock flashed
its ever-changing array of digital numbers.
The walls, floor, door, and ceiling of the Tank were all covered with
sound-absorbing Acoustix. The mottled gray and-black strips were each
three inches wide and overlapped one another to make sure there were no
gaps. Beneath them were two layers of cork, a foot of concrete, and then
another layer of Acoustix. In the midst of the concrete, on all six
sides of the room, was a pair of wire grids that generated vacillating
audio waves. Electronically, nothing left the room without being utterly
distorted. If any listening device did somehow manage to pick up a
conversation from inside, the randomness of the changing modulation made
reassembling the conversations impossible.
"Thank you all for coming," Hood said. He turned down the brightness on
the computer monitor that was set in the table and began bringing up the
files from his office. At the same time. Bugs Benet was busy raising
Colonel August on the TAC-SAT. In order to make sure Striker stayed in
the loop, August and Rodgers were taking turns sleeping enroute to
Turkey.
"No problem," Lowell Coffey said. He had been pouring water from a
pitcher into a coffee machine on a table in the far corner. The
percolator began to bubble and pop.
"The roads were empty. I managed to sleep on the way. Anybody think to
get doughnuts?"
"That was your job," Herbert pointed out.
"You were the only one who wasn't here." He maneuvered his wheelchair
into his place at Hood's right.
"I've got mid rats in my office if you're hungry," said Liz Gordon as
she settled in to Hood's left.
"No, thanks." Coffey shuddered as he sat across from Hood.
"I'll stick to the coffee."
"You've got official military mi
dnight rations?" Herbert asked.
"A three-course packet," Liz said.
"Dried apricots and pineapple, jerky, and cookies. A friend of mine at
Langley gave them to me. I think you've worked with her. Captain
Mclver?"
"We worked on some black ops stuff together," Herbert said. He smiled.
"Man, mid rats. I haven't had them in years. They always hit the spot in
the wee small hours."
"That's because you were tired and not selective," said the admittedly
dilettantish Coffey.
Hood's data finished loading a moment before Bugs Benet called. Hood
sent the files to the other computer stations around the table. Liz and
Coffey scanned the files as Hood's assistant informed him that he had
Colonel Brett August ready to be patched through from the C-130
Hercules. Hood put the telephone on speaker and looked across the table.
"We're ready to go," Hood said to the others.
Everyone came to attention quickly.
"Colonel August, can you hear me?" Hood asked.
"As clear as if you were in the cabin with us, sir," the Striker
commander replied.
"Good," Hood replied.
"Bob, you've been talking to New Delhi. Would you please bring everyone
up to speed?"
Herbert looked at his wheelchair computer monitor.
"Twenty-one hours ago there was an attack on a market in Srinagar,
Kashmir," Herbert said. He spoke loud enough for the speakerphone to
pick up his voice.
"A police station, a Hindu temple, and a busload of Hindu pilgrims were
destroyed.
With intel from the NRO and from your NSA contact who happened to be
on-site, we have reason to believe that the attack on the station was
the work of the Free Kashmir Militia, a militant organization based in
Pakistan. However, we suspect that the attacks against the Hindu sites
may have been organized by India itself. We believe that elements in the
Special Frontier Force, the cabinet, and the military may be trying to
win public support for a quick, decisive nuclear strike against
Pakistan."
No one moved. The only sounds were the hum of the forced air coming
through the overhead vents and the crackling of the coffee machine as it
finished brewing.
"What about the Pakistani terrorists?" Coffey asked.
"At this moment the cell is desperately trying to cross the Himalayan
foothills--we believe to Pakistan," Herbert replied.
"They have a prisoner. She's an Indian woman who apparently coordinated
SFF actions to make the attack on the Hindu sites look like the work of
the Pakistani Muslims. It is imperative that they reach Pakistan and
that their hostage be made to tell what she knows."
"To defuse the outraged Indian populace that will otherwise be screaming
for Pakistani blood," Liz said.
"Correct," Herbert said.
"So far, the first attempt to capture the Pakistanis failed. SFF
commandos were sent into the mountains. They were all killed. We do not
know what other pursuit options are being considered or whether the cell
has contacted Pakistan. We don't know what rescue efforts Islamabad may
be attempting to mount."
"They'd probably be chopper HAP searches," August said.
"Explain," Hood said.
"Hunt and peck," August told him.
"The cell would not risk sending a radio beacon to Pakistan or
suggesting a rendezvous point. That would be too easy for an Indian
listening post at the line of control to pick off. Pakistan doesn't have
the satellite resources to spot the cell so they would have to fly in
and crisscross suspected routes of egress. And they'd use helicopters
instead of jets, to stay below Indian radar."
"Good 'gets," " Herbert said.
"Paul, there's something that's bothering me," Coffey said.
"Do we know for certain that the NSA operative was an observer and not a
participant? This action may have been planned a couple of weeks ago,
timed to draw attention from their attempted coup in Washington."
Coffey had a point. The former head of the NSA, Jack Fenwick, had been
working to replace President of the United States Michael Lawrence with
the more militant Vice President Cotten. It was conceivable that Fenwick
may have helped to orchestrate this crisis as a distraction from the
anticipated resignation of President Lawrence.
"We believe that Friday is clean, though right now we have him
quarantined with an Indian officer," Hood replied.
"I suspect that if Friday were involved with this he would be trying to
get out of the region and keep us out as well."
"Which could also mean he is involved," Liz pointed out.
"In what way?" Hood asked.
"If you're suggesting, as I think you are, that Striker try to help the
cell get home, it would be in Mr. Friday's interest to stay close to
them and make sure they do not succeed."
"That could work both ways," Herbert said.
"If Striker goes in after the cell we can also keep an eye on Friday."
"I want to emphasize here that we have not yet made a final
determination on the mission. Colonel," Hood said.
"But if we do try to help the Pakistanis the key to success is a timely
intervention. Bob, you've been in contact with HQ Central Air Command."
"Yes," Herbert said.
"We're dealing directly with Air Chief Marshal Chowdhury and his senior
aide. I told the ACM that we may want to change the way we insert
Striker."
"You're thinking about an airdrop," August said.
"Correct," replied Herbert.
"I asked the ACM for jump gear. He said it will definitely be on the
Himalayan Eagles squadron AN-12. But I did not tell him what we may be
asking you to do in the region. The good news is, whatever you do will
be well shielded. The Indian military continues to be ultra secretive
about your involvement. The SFF and the other people behind the Srinagar
attacks do not even know that Striker is enroute to the region."
"What about the Indian officer who is with Mr. Friday?" Colonel August
asked.
"Are we sure we can trust him?" "Well, nothing is guaranteed," Herbert
said.
"But according to Friday, Captain Nazir is not looking forward to the
prospect of a nuclear attack. Especially when he and Friday are headed
toward Pakistan."
"I was just thinking about that," August said.
"Do you think you can include lead-lined long Johns in the Indian
requisition form?"
"Just get behind Mike," Herbert said.
"Nothing gets past that sumbitch. Not even high-intensity rads."
There was anxious chuckling about that. The laughter was a good tension
breaker.
"We've got Friday and Nazir enroute by chopper to a town called Jaudar,"
Herbert said.
"I know where that is," Colonel August said.
"It's southeast of the region we were supposed to be investigating."
"If we decide to move forward with a search and rescue, you'll be
hooking up in the mountains north of there," Herbert said.
"That's where we've pinpointed the cell."
"Colonel August, if we decide to go ahead with this
mission you'll have
to jump your people into the Himalayas near the Siachin Glacier, link up
with the cell, and get them through the line of control," Hood said.
"This is an extremely high-risk operation. I need an honest answer. Is
Striker up for it?"
"The stakes are also high," August said.
"We have to be up for it."
"Good man," Herbert muttered.
"Damn good man."
"People, one thing I have to point out is that the Indians are not going
to be your only potential enemies," Liz said.
"You also have to worry about the psychological state of the Pakistani
cell. They're under extreme physical and psychological duress. They may
not believe that you're allies. The nature of people in this situation
Clancy, Tom - Op Center 8 - Line of Control Page 21