The Sum of All Fears.pdf - Delta Force

he'd expected much else from Marcus Cabot. The man was a drone. It really was
that simple. He enjoyed the prestige that went with his post, but he didn't do
anything. Ryan got most of the work, none of the credit, and all of the blame.
Maybe that would change. He had the Mexican operation fully in hand, had taken
that over entirely from the Directorate of Operations, and, by God, he'd get the
credit for this. Maybe then things would get better. He pulled out the file for
the operation and decided that he'd go over every detail, check every possible
contingency. This one would work, and he'd make those White House bastards
respect him.
***
'Go to your room!' Cathy shouted at Little Jack. Both an order and an admission
of failure. Then she walked out of the room, tears in her eyes. She was acting
stupidly, shouting at the kids when she should be confronting her own husband.
But how? What could she say? What if what if it were true? Then what? She kept
telling herself that it couldn't be, but that was too hard to believe. How else
to explain it? Jack had never failed at anything in his life. She remembered
with pride the fact that he'd risked his life for her and the children. She'd
been terrified, the breath frozen in her throat, walking along the beach,
watching her man advance towards men with guns with his life and others in the
balance. How could a man who had done that betray his own wife? It didn't make
any sense.
But what other explanation was there? Didn't he find her exciting anymore? If
so, why not? Wasn't she pretty enough? Didn't she do everything – and more –
that a wife could? The simple rejection was bad enough – but to be set aside, to
know that his energy and vigor was serving some other, unknown woman with cheap
perfume was more than she could bear.
She had to confront him, had to get it into the open, had to find out.
How? she asked herself. That was the question. Could she discuss it with someone
at Hopkins . . . a psychiatrist, perhaps? Get professional advice . . . ?
And risk having it get out, risk having her shame widely known? Caroline Ryan,
Associate Professor, pretty, bright Cathy Ryan can't even hold onto her own
husband? What do you suppose she did wrong? her friends would whisper when she
was elsewhere. Sure, they'd all say that it couldn't be her fault, but then
they'd pause and look embarrassed, and after a moment they'd wonder aloud what
she might have done differently, why she hadn't noticed the signals, because,
after all, a failed marriage was rarely the work of a single partner, and Jack
wasn't really the sort to play around, was he? The embarrassment of it would be
worse than anything in her life, she thought, forgetting for the moment times
that had been far worse.
It didn't make any sense. But she didn't know what to do about it, though at the
same time she knew that doing nothing was probably the worst thing of all. Was
it all a trap? Did she have any choices at all?
'What's the matter, Mommy?' Sally asked, a Barbie in her hands.
'Nothing, honey, just leave Mommy alone for a while, okay?'
'Jack says he's sorry and can he come out of his room?'
'Yes, if he promises to be good.'
'Okay!' Sally ran out of the room.