The Sum of All Fears.pdf - Delta Force

igidity must have been a reminder to its wearer of his place in this world, and
the next.
'Hello, Jack!'
'Hi, Father. This is Charles Alden, Father Tim Riley.' Handshakes were
exchanged, and places at the table selected. A waiter came in and took drink
orders, closing the door as he left.
'How's the new job, Jack?' Riley asked.
'The horizons keep broadening,' Ryan admitted. He left it at that. The priest
would already know the problems Jack was having at Langley.
'We've had this idea about the Middle East, and Jack suggested that you'd be a
good man to discuss it with,' Alden said, getting everyone back to business. He
had to stop when the waiter returned with drinks and menus. His discourse on the
idea took several minutes.
'That's interesting,' Riley said, when it was all on the table.
'What's your read on the concept?' the National Security Advisor wanted to know.
'Interesting . . .' The priest was quiet for a moment.
'Will the Pope . . . ?' Ryan stopped Alden with a wave of the hand. Riley was
not a man to be hurried when he was thinking. He was, after all, an historian,
and they didn't have the urgency of medical doctors.
'It certainly is elegant,' Riley observed after thirty seconds. 'The Greeks will
be a major problem, though.'
'The Greeks? How so?' Ryan asked in surprise.
'The really contentious people right now are the Greek Orthodox. We and they are
at each other's throats half the time over the most trivial administrative
issues. You know, the rabbis and the imams are actually more cordial at the
moment than the Christian priests are. That's the funny thing about religious
people, it's hard to predict how they'll react. Anyway, the problems between the
Greeks and Romans are mainly administrative – who gets custody over which site,
that sort of thing. There was a big go-round over Bethlehem last year, who got
to do the midnight mass in the Church of the Nativity. It is awfully
disappointing, isn't it?'
'You're saying it won't work because two Catholic churches can't – '
'I said there could be a problem, Dr Alden. I did not say that it wouldn't
work.' Riley lapsed back into silence for a moment. 'You'll have to adjust the
troika . . . but given the nature of the operation, I think we can get the right
kind of cooperation. Co-opting the Greek Orthodox is something you'll have to do
in any case. They and the Muslims get along very well, you know.
'How so?' Alden asked.
'Back when Mohammed was chased out of Medina by the pre-Muslim pagans, he was
granted asylum at the Monastery of St Catherine in the Sinai – it's a Greek
Orthodox shrine. They took care of him when he needed a friend. Mohammed was an
honorable man; that monastery has enjoyed the protection of the Muslims ever
since. Over a thousand years, and that place has never been troubled despite all
the nasty things that have happened in the area. There is much to admire about
Islam, you know. We in the West often overlook that because of the crazies who
call themselves Muslims – as though we don't have the same problem in
Christianity. There is much nobility there, and they have a tradition of