The Sum of All Fears.pdf - Delta Force

Dinner was fine, all the better to make it home in time to have it with the
kids. Cathy had evidently gotten home from work at a reasonable hour and had
taken the time to fix a good one. Best of all, they'd talked. Afterwards, Jack
had helped her clean up. Finally, the kids went off to bed, and they were alone.
'I'm sorry I snapped at you,' Cathy said.
'It's okay, I guess I deserved it.' Ryan was willing to say almost anything to
calm things down.
'No, I was wrong, Jack. I was feeling bitchy, and I had cramps, and my back
hurt. What's wrong with you is that you're working too hard and drinking too
much.' She came over to kiss him. 'Smoking, Jack?'
He was amazed. He hadn't expected to be kissed. More than that, he expected an
explosion if she discovered that he'd smoked. 'Sorry, babe. Bad day at the
office. I wimped.'
Cathy held his hands. 'Jack, I want you to cut back on the drinking, and get
your rest. That's your problem, that and the stress. We'll worry about the
smoking later, just so you don't smoke around the kids. I haven't been very
sympathetic, and I've been a little wrong myself, but you have to clean up your
act. What you've been doing is bad for you, and bad for us.'
'I know.'
'Go to bed. You need sleep more than anything else.'
Being married to a physician had its drawbacks. Chief among those was that you
couldn't argue with one. Jack kissed her on the cheek and did as he was told.
CHAPTER 30
East Room
Clark arrived at the house at the proper time and had to do something unusual.
He waited. After a couple of minutes, he was ready to knock on the door, but
then it opened. Dr Ryan (male) came out partway, then stopped and turned to kiss
Dr Ryan (female), who watched him walk off, and, after his back was fully
turned, fired off a beaming smile at the car.
All right! Clark thought. Maybe he did have a new career set up. Jack also
looked fairly decent, and Clark told him so as soon as he got in the car.
'Yeah, well, I got sent to bed early,' Jack chuckled, tossing his paper on the
front seat. 'Forgot to have a drink, too.'
'Couple more days like that and you just might be human again.'
'Maybe you're right.' But he still lit up a cigarette, somewhat to Clark's
annoyance. Then he realized just how smart Caroline Ryan was. One thing at a
time. Damn, Clark told himself, that is some broad.
'I'm set up for the test flight. Ten o'clock.'
'Good. It is nice to put you to some real work, John. Playing SPO must be boring
as hell,' Ryan said, opening the dispatch box.
'It has its moments, sir,' Clark replied, pulling onto Falcon's Nest Road. It
was another quiet day on the dispatches, and soon Ryan had his head buried in
the morning Post.
Three hours later, Clark and Chavez arrived at Andrews Air Force Base. A pair of
VC-20Bs had already been scheduled for routine training flights. The pilots and