The Sum of All Fears.pdf - Delta Force

folding shovel of a military design.
'We have people – ' The American cut Ghosn off.
'Let me do it. I'll be careful.'
'Do not touch it. Use the shovel to dig around it, but use your hands to remove
the soil from the bomb itself. Marvin, I warn you, this is very dangerous.'
'Better step back, then.' Russell turned and grinned. He had to show this man
that he was courageous. Killing the cop had been easy, no challenge at all. This
was different.
'And leave my comrade in danger?' Ghosn asked rhetorically. He knew that this
was the intelligent thing to do, what he would have done had his own people done
the digging, because his skills were too valuable to be risked stupidly, but he
could not show weakness in front of the American, could he? Besides, he could
watch and see if the man was as courageous as he seemed.
Ghosn was not disappointed. Russell stripped to the waist and got on his knees
to dig around the periphery of the bomb. He was even careful of the garden, far
more so than Ghosn's men would have been. It took an hour until he'd dug a
shallow pit around the device, piling up the soil in four neat mounds. Already
Ghosn knew that there was something odd here. It was not a Mark 84. It had
roughly the same size, but the shape was wrong, and the bombcase was . . . just
wasn't right. The Mark 84 had a sturdy case made of cast steel, so that when the
explosive filler detonated, the case would be transformed into a million
razor-sharp fragments, the better to tear men to bits. But not this one. In two
visible places the case was broken, and it wasn't quite thick enough for that
kind of bomb. So what the hell was it?
Russell moved in closer and used his hands to pull the dirt off the surface of
the bomb itself. He was careful and thorough. The American worked up a good
sweat but didn't slacken his efforts even once. The muscles in his arms rippled,
and Ghosn admired him for that. The man had a physical power like none he had
ever seen. Even Israeli paratroopers didn't look so formidable. He'd excavated
two or three tons of dirt, yet he barely showed the effort, his movements as
steady and powerful as a machine.
'Stop for a minute,' Ghosn said. 'I must get my tools.'
'Okay,' Russell replied, sitting back and staring at the bomb.
Ghosn returned with a rucksack and a canteen, which he handed to the American.
'Thanks, man. It is a little warm here.' Russell drank half a liter of water.
'Now what?'
Ghosn took a paint brush from the sack and began sweeping the last of the dirt
from the weapon. 'You should leave now,' he warned.
'That's okay, Ibrahim. I'll stay if you don't mind.'
'This is the dangerous part.'
'You stayed by me, man,' Russell pointed out.
'As you wish. I am now looking for the fuse.'
'Not in front?' Russell pointed to the nose of the bomb.
'Not there. There is usually one at the front – it appears to be missing, that's
just a screw-on cap – one in the middle, and one at the back.'
'How come it don't have no fins on it?' Russell asked. 'Don't bombs have fins on
'em, you know, like an arrow?'