The Sum of All Fears.pdf - Delta Force

with minor injuries. Chief of Station has nothing he can report to us except
that it really happened, and we have that on tape. Nobody seems to know where
the TV crew is. We did not have any assets at the site when all this happened,
so we're going exclusively from the news coverage.' Again, Ryan didn't add. The
morning was bad enough. 'Temple Mount is shut down, guarded by their army now,
nobody in or out, and they've closed access to the Wailing Wall also. That may
be a first. Our embassy over there has not said anything, they're waiting for
instructions from here. Same story for the others. No official reaction from
Europe yet, but I expect that to change within the hour. They're at work
already, and they got the same pictures from their Sky News service.'
'It's almost four,' Alden said, wearily checking his watch. 'In three hours
people are going to have their breakfast upset – what a hell of a thing to see
in the morning. Gentlemen, I think this one's going to be big. Ryan, you called
it. I remember what you said last month.'
'Sooner or later, the Arabs had to wise up,' Jack said. Alden nodded agreement.
It was gracious of him, Jack noted. He'd said the same thing in one of his books
several years earlier.
'I think Israel can weather this, they always have – ' Jack cut his Director
off.
'No way, boss,' Ryan said. Someone had to straighten Cabot out. 'It's what
Napoleon said about the moral and the physical. Israel depends absolutely on
having the moral high-ground. Their whole cachet is that they are the only
democracy in the region, that they are the guys in white hats. That concept died
about three hours ago. Now they look like Bull – whoever it was – in Selma,
Alabama, except he used water hoses. The civil-rights community is going to go
berserk.' Jack paused to sip at his coffee. 'It's a simple question of justice.
When the Arabs were throwing rocks and cocktails, the police could say that they
were using force in response to force. Not this time. Both the deaders were
sitting down and not threatening anybody.'
'It's the isolated act of one deranged man!' Cabot announced angrily.
'Not so, sir. The one shot with a pistol was like you say, but the first victim
was killed with two of those rubber bullets at a range of more than twenty yards
– with two aimed shots from a single-shot weapon. That's cold, and it wasn't any
accident.'
'Are we sure he's dead?' Alden asked.
'My wife's a doc, and he looked dead to her. The body spasmed and went limp,
probably indicating death from massive head trauma. They can't say this guy
tripped and fell onto the curb. This really changes things. If the Palestinians
are smart, they'll double-down their bets. They'll stay with this tactic and
wait for the world to respond. If they do that, they can't lose,' Jack
concluded.
'I agree with Ryan,' Alden said. 'There'll be a UN resolution before dinner.
We'll have to go along with it, and that just might show the Arabs that
non-violence is a better weapon than rocks are. What will the Israelis say? How
will they react?'
Alden knew what the answer was. This was to enlighten the DCI, so Ryan took the
question. 'First they'll stonewall. They're probably kicking themselves for not