The Sum of All Fears.pdf - Delta Force

shortened it.
Wasn't that just great? Ryan almost laughed at his incredible stupidity. Just
what else of himself would he destroy? But did it matter?
His work mattered. That he was sure of. That was what had landed him in this
mess, one way or another. That was the prime destructive factor in his life, but
he could no more leave that than he could change anything else.
'Nancy, please ask Mr Clark to come in.'
John appeared two minutes later. 'Aw, hell, Doc!' he observed almost
immediately. 'Now, what's the wife gonna say?'
'Not a thing.'
'Bet you're wrong on that.' Clark turned to open a window for ventilation. He'd
quit a long time before. It was the one vice that he feared. It had killed his
father. 'What do you want?'
'How's the hardware?'
'Waiting for your go-ahead to build it.'
'Go,' Jack said simply.
'You got a go-mission order?'
'No, but I don't need it. We'll call it part of the feasibility study. How long
to slap things together?'
'Three days, they say. We'll need some cooperation from the Air Force.'
'What about the computer side?'
'That program has already been validated. They've taken tapes from six different
aircraft, and smoothed out the noise. It's never taken them more than two or
three hours to do an hour of tape.'
'Mexico City to D.C. is . . .'
'Depending on weather, just under four hours, max. Doing the full tape will be
an overnighter,' Clark estimated. 'The President's schedule is what?'
'Arrival ceremony is Monday afternoon. The first business session is the
following morning. State dinner Tuesday night.'
'You going?'
Ryan shook his head. 'No, we're going to the one a week earlier – geez, that's
not too far off, is it? I'll call the 89th Wing at Andrews. They do training
hops all the time. Getting your team aboard won't be hard.'
'I have three capture teams selected. They're all ex-Air Force and Navy elint
spooks,' Clark said. 'They know the business.'
'Okay, run with it.'
'You got it, Doc.'
Jack watched him leave and lit up another.
CHAPTER 29
Crossroads
MV Carmen Vita cleared the Straits of Gibraltar right on schedule, her Pielstick
diesels driving her at a constant nineteen knots. The crew of forty officers and
men (this ship did not have any women in the crew, though three of the officers
had their wives with them) settled down for the normal sailing routine of
watch-keeping and maintenance. They were seven days out from the Virginia Capes.