The Sum of All Fears.pdf - Delta Force

to make her play, and she knew that she had to do it with skill.
'A copy of the treaty, I think.'
'Can they read that fast?' Fowler laughed. The media was full of such
illiterates.
'You should see the speculation. The lead Times piece was faxed in this morning.
They're frantic. They'll eat it up. Besides, I ginned up some Cliff Notes for
them.'
'However you want to do it,' the President said, as he finished off his sausage.
He checked his watch. Timing was everything. There was a six-hour time
difference between Rome and Washington. That meant the treaty could not be
signed until two in the afternoon at the earliest, so as to catch the morning
news shows. But the American people had to be prepped for the news, and that
meant that the TV crews had to have the details of the treaty by three, Eastern
Daylight Time, in order to absorb everything fully. Liz would break the news at
nine, twenty minutes from now, he noted. 'And you'll be playing up Charlie's
part in it?'
'Right. It's only fair that he should get most of the credit.'
And so much for Ryan's part in the process, Bob Fowler noted without comment.
Well, Charlie was the guy who really got it moving, wasn't he? Fowler felt
vaguely sorry for Ryan. Though he also thought the DDCI something from the past,
he'd learned all that the man had done, and was impressed. Arnie van Damm
thought a lot of Ryan, also, and Arnie was the best judge of character in the
administration. But Elizabeth was his National Security Advisor, and he could
not have her and the DDCI at each other's throats, could he? No, he couldn't. It
was that simple.
'Dazzle them, Elizabeth.'
'Won't be hard.' She smiled at him and left.
***
The task proved much harder than he'd expected. Ghosn thought about asking for
help, but decided against it. Part of his aura in the organization was that he
worked alone with these things, except for the donkey work for which he would
occasionally require a few strong backs.
The bomb/device/pod turned out to be of sturdier construction than he'd
expected. Under the strong work lights, he took the time to wash it off with
water, and found a number of unexplained items. There were screw-in points which
were plugged shut with slot-bolts. On removing one, he found yet another
electrical lead.
More surprising, the bombcase was thicker than he'd expected. He'd dismantled an
Israeli jamming pod before, but though it had mostly been of aluminum
construction, there had been several places where the case had been of
fiberglass or plastic, which was transparent to electronic radiation.
He'd started on the access hatch, but found it nearly impossible to pry open and
tried to find something easier. But there wasn't anything easier. Now he
returned to the hatch, frustrated that several hours of work had led nowhere.
Ghosn sat back and lit a cigarette. What are you? he asked the object.
It was so much like a bomb, he realized. The heavy case – why hadn't he realized
that it was so damned heavy, too heavy for a jamming pod . . . but it couldn't