The Sum of All Fears.pdf - Delta Force

Adler in Moscow, Rome, and Jerusalem, and Jack Ryan in Rome and Riyadh. They'd
done very well, and neither would ever get much credit. Such were the rules of
history, President Fowler concluded. If they'd wanted credit, they ought to have
tried for his job.
Two liveried Swiss Guards opened the immense bronze doors, revealing the
corpulent form of Giovanni Cardinal D'Antonio. The sun-bright TV lights
surrounded him with a man-made halo that nearly elicited a laugh from the
President of the United States of America. The procession into the room began.
***
Whoever had built this thing, Ghosn thought, knew a thing or two about designing
for brute force. It was odd, he thought. Israeli equipment always had a delicacy
to it – no, wrong term. The Israelis were clever, efficient, elegant engineers.
They made things as strong as they had to be, no more, no less. Even their
ad-hoc gear showed foresight and meticulous workmanship. But this one . . . this
one was over-engineered to a fare-thee-well. It had been hurriedly designed and
assembled. It was almost crude, in fact. He was grateful for that. It made
disassembly easier. No one had thought to include a self-destruct device that
he'd have to figure out first – the Zionists were getting devilishly clever at
that! One such sub-system had nearly killed Ghosn only five months earlier, but
there was none here. The bolts holding the cylinder in place were jammed, but
still straight, and that meant it was just a matter of having a big enough
wrench. He squirted penetrating oil onto each, and after waiting for fifteen
minutes and two cigarettes, he attached the wrench to the first. The initial
turns came hard, but soon the bolt allowed itself to be withdrawn. Five more to
go.
***
It would be a long afternoon. The speeches came first. The Pope began, since he
was the host, and his rhetoric was surprisingly muted, drawing quiet lessons
from Scripture, again focusing on the similarities among the three religions
present. Earphones gave each of the chiefs of state and religious figures
simultaneous translations, which were quite unnecessary, as each of them had a
written copy of the various speeches, and the men around the table struggled not
to yawn, for speeches were only speeches, after all, and politicians have
trouble listening to the words of others, even other chiefs of state. Fowler had
the most trouble. He'd be going last. He surreptitiously checked his watch,
keeping his face blank as he pondered the ninety minutes left to go.
***
It took another forty minutes, but finally all the bolts came out. Big, heavy,
non-corrosive ones. This thing had been built to last, Ghosn thought, but that
merely worked to his benefit. Now, to get the cylinder out. He took another
careful look for possible anti-tamper devices – caution was the only defense in
a job like his – and felt around the inside of the pod. The only thing connected
was the radar transceiver, though there were three other plug connections, they
were all vacant. In his fatigue, it did not strike Ghosn as odd that all three
were facing him, easily accessible. The cylinder was jammed in place by the
telescoped framing, but with the bolts removed, it was just a matter of applying
enough force to drag it clear.