The Sum of All Fears.pdf - Delta Force

and play with the kids.'
'Good man.' Van Damm patted his arm. 'You bring this job off and your going-away
statement from the Boss will sparkle. We'll have Callie Weston write it, even.'
'You stroke like a pro, Arnie.' Ryan shook his hand and walked off to his car.
Van Damm would have been surprised to see the smile on his face.
***
'Do you have to do it that way?'
'Elizabeth, ideological differences notwithstanding, he has served his country
well. I disagree with him on a lot of things, but he's never lied to me, and
he's always tried to give me good advice,' Fowler replied, looking at the
plastic-stick microphone. He suddenly wondered if it was working.
'I told you what happened last night.'
'You got your wish. He's on the way out. At this level, you do not throw people
out the door. You do it in a civilized and honorable way. Anything else is
smallminded and decidedly stupid, politically. I agree with you that he's a
dinosaur, but even dinosaurs get a nice spot in the museums.'
'But – '
'That's all. Okay, you had words with his wife last night. I'm sorry about that,
but what kind of person penalizes someone for what their wife did?'
'Bob, I have a right to expect your support!'
Fowler didn't like that, but responded reasonably. 'And you have it, Elizabeth.
Now, this is neither the time nor the place for this sort of discussion.'
***
Marcus Cabot arrived at Andrews Air Force Base just after lunch for his flight
to Korea. The arrangements were more luxurious than they looked. The aircraft
was a U.S. Air Force C-141B Starlifter, an aircraft with four engines and an
oddly serpent-like fuselage. Loaded into the cargo area, he saw, was essentially
a house trailer complete with kitchen, living and bed rooms. it was also heavily
insulated – the C-141 is a noisy aircraft, especially aft. He went out the front
door to meet the flight crew. The pilot, he saw, was a blond captain of thirty
years. There were, in fact, two complete flight crews. The flight would be long,
with a fueling stop at Travis Air Force Base in California, followed by three
mid-air 'tankings' over the Pacific. It would also be singularly boring, and he
would sleep through it as much as possible. He wondered if government service
were really worth it, and the knowledge that Ryan would soon be gone – Arnold
van Damm had gotten the word to him – didn't improve his outlook. The Director
of Central Intelligence strapped himself in and started to read through his
briefing documents. An Air Force non-com offered him a glass of wine, which he
started on as the aircraft taxied off the ramp.
***
John Clark and Domingo Chavez boarded their own flight later that afternoon for
Mexico City. It was better, the senior man thought, to get settled in and
acclimated. Mexico City was yet another high-altitude metropolis whose thin air
was made all the worse by air pollution. Their mission gear was carefully packed
away, and they expected no trouble with customs clearance. Neither carried a
weapon, of course, as this sort of mission did not require it.
***