The Sum of All Fears.pdf - Delta Force

The truck pulled off the Interstate exactly thirty-eight hours and forty minutes
after leaving the cargo terminal at Norfolk. That was the easy part. It took
fifteen minutes and all the driver's skill to back his rig up to the concrete
loading dock outside the barn. A warm sun had thawed the ground into a
six-inch-deep layer of gooey mud that almost prevented him from completing the
maneuver, but on the third try he made it. The driver jumped down and walked
back towards the dock.
'How do you open this thing?' Russell asked.
'I'll show you.' The driver paused to scrape the mud off his boots, then worked
the latch on the container. 'Need help unloading?'
'No, I'll do it myself. There's coffee over in the house.'
'Thank you, sir. I could use a cup.'
'Well, that was easy enough,' Russell said to Qati, as they watched the man go
away. Marvin opened the doors and saw a single large box with 'SONY' printed on
all four sides, along with arrows to show which side was up, and the image of a
champagne glass to tell the illiterate it was delicate. It was also sitting on a
wooden pallet. Marvin removed the fasteners that held it in place, then fired up
the fork-lift. The task of removing the bomb and putting it inside the barn was
completed in another minute. Russell shut the fork-lift down, then draped a tarp
over the box. By the time the trucker came back, the cargo box was again closed.
'Well, you got your bonus,' Marvin told him, handing over the cash.
The driver riffled through the bills. Now he got to drive the box back to
Norfolk, but first he'd hit the nearest truck-stop for eight hours of sleep. 'A
pleasure doing business with you, sir. You said you might have another job for
me in a month or so?'
'That's right.'
'Here's how you reach me.' The trucker handed over his card.
'Heading right back?'
'After I get some sack time. I just heard on the radio there's snow coming
tomorrow night. A big one, they say.'
'That time of year, isn't it?'
'Sure is. You have a good one, sir.'
'Be careful, man,' Russell said, shaking his hand one more time.
'It's a mistake to let him go,' Ghosn observed to the Commander in Arabic.
'I think not. The only face he has really seen is Marvin's, after all.'
'True.'
'Have you checked it?' Qati asked.
'There is no damage to the packing box. I will do a more detailed check
tomorrow. I would say that we are almost ready.'
'Yes.'
***
'You want the good news or the bad news?' Jack asked.
'Good first,' Cathy said.
'They're asking me to resign my position.'
'What's the bad news?'
'Well, you never really leave. They'll want me to come back occasionally. To
consult, stuff like that.'