The Sum of All Fears.pdf - Delta Force

is your readiness state, Major?' Keitel demanded, without giving the man a
chance to take a breath. The junior officer stopped in mid-reach for the phone,
not knowing which order he was supposed to follow first. 'Well?'
'Our readiness is in accordance with unit norms, Colonel Ivanenko.'
'You have a chance to prove that.' Keitel turned to one of the others. 'Take
this child's name!'
Less than two thousand meters away, they could see lights going on at the
American base in what had so recently been West Berlin.
'They're having a drill also,' Keitel/Ivanenko observed. 'Splendid. We'd better
be faster than they are,' he added.
'What is this?' The regimental commander, also a colonel, arrived without his
buttons done.
'This looks like a sorry spectacle!' Keitel boomed. 'This is an unannounced
readiness inspection. You have a regiment to lead, Colonel. I suggest you get to
it without asking any further questions.'
'But – '
'But what?' Keitel demanded. 'Don't you know what a readiness inspection is?'
There was one thing about dealing with Russians, Keitel thought. They were
arrogant, overbearing, and they hated Germans, however much they protested
otherwise. On the other hand, when browbeaten, they were predictable. Even
though his rank insignia was no higher than this man's, he had a louder voice,
and that was all he needed.
'I'll show you what my boys can do.'
'We'll be outside to watch,' Keitel assured him.
***
'Dr Ryan, you'd better get down here.' The line clicked off.
'Okay,' Jack said. He grabbed his cigarettes and walked down to room 7-F-27, the
CIA's Operations Center. Located on the north side of the building, it was the
counterpart to operations rooms in many other government agencies. In the center
of the twenty-by-thirty-foot room, once you got past the cipher lock on the
door, was a large circular table with a lazy-Susan bookcase in the center, and
six seats around it. The seats had overhead plaques to designate their
functions: Senior Duty Officer, Press, Africa – Latin America, Europe – USSR,
NearEast – Terrorism, and South Asia – East Asia – Pacific. The wall clocks
showed the time in Moscow, Beijing, Beirut, Tripoli, and, of course, Greenwich
Mean. There was an adjacent conference room that looked down on the CIA's
internal courtyard.
'What gives?' Jack asked, arriving with Goodley in his wake.
'According to NORAD, a nuclear device just went off in Denver.'
'I hope that's a fucking joke!' Jack replied. That, too, was a reflex. Before
the man had a chance to respond, Ryan's stomach turned over. Nobody made jokes
like that one.
'I wish it were,' the Senior Duty Officer replied.
'What do we know?'
'Not much.'
'Anything? Threat board?' Jack asked. Again it was reflexive. If there had been
anything, he would have heard it by now. 'Okay – where's Marcus?'