The Sum of All Fears.pdf - Delta Force

flicked down to the artificial horizon. He saw it tilt knowing that the danger
that had appeared was as severe as it was unexpected. He moved the cyclic to
level the aircraft, and dropped the collective to the floor. Better a hard
landing than catching a rotor in the trees he couldn't see. The helicopter
dropped like a stone – exactly three feet. Before people aboard realized that
something was wrong, the helicopter was down and safe.
'And that's why they let you fly the Boss,' the major said over the intercom.
'Nice one, Colonel.'
'I think I broke something.'
'I think you're right.'
The pilot keyed the intercom. 'Sorry about that. We caught a gust over the pad.
Everybody okay back there?'
The President was already up, leaning into the cockpit. 'You were right,
Colonel. We should have left sooner. My mistake,' Fowler said graciously. What
the hell, he thought, he wanted this weekend.
The Camp David detachment opened the chopper's door. An enclosed HMMWV pulled up
to it so that the President and his party didn't have to get too cold. The
flight crew watched them pull away, then checked for damage.
'Thought so.'
'Metering pin?' The major bent down to look. 'Sure enough.' The landing had just
been hard enough to snap the pin that controlled the hydraulic shock-absorber on
the right-side landing gear. It would have to be fixed.
'I'll go check to see if we have a spare,' the crew chief said. Ten minutes
later, he was surprised to learn that they didn't. That was annoying. He placed
a phone call to the helicopter base at the old Anacostia Naval Air Station to
have a few driven up. Until it arrived, there was nothing that could be done.
The aircraft could still be flown in an emergency, of course. A fire-team of
Marine riflemen stood close guard on the helicopter, as always, while another
squad walked perimeter guard in the woods around the landing pad area.
***
'What is it, Ben?'
'Does this place have a dorm?' Goodley asked.
Jack shook his head. 'You can use the couch in Nancy's office if you want. How's
your paper coming?'
'I'm going to be up all night anyway. I just thought of something.'
'What's that?'
'Going to sound a little crazy – nobody ever checked to make sure that our
friend Kadishev actually met with Narmonov.'
'What do you mean?'
'Narmonov was out of town most of last week. If there was no meet, then the guy
was lying to us, wasn't he?'
Jack closed his eyes and cocked his head to one side. 'Not bad, Dr Goodley, not
bad.'
'We have Narmonov's itinerary. I have people checking on Kadishev's now. I'm
going all the way back to last August. If we're going to do a check, it might as
well be a comprehensive one. My position piece might be a little late, but this
hit me last – this morning, actually. I've been chasing it down most of the day.