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SEA OF SHADOWS 79
was blocked by cloud cover, but it’s pretty clear that the subs were on
loading missiles and torpedoes.”
Doyle glanced at her watch. “Three days ago? Why are we just
finding out about this now?”
Gregory Brenthoven pursed his lips and paused for a second before
answering. “Three days ago, our German allies were not considered to be
even a remote threat. Air Force intelligence analysts didn’t regard a
routine weapons on load by an allied navy as very noteworthy. It was a
reasonable decision, based on the situation as they understood it. It hardly
seems fair to second-guess their judgment after the fact.”
“I agree,” the president said. “Is there more?”
Brenthoven looked back at his notes. “Yes, sir. Langley has been
chasing down a few leads. It turns out that a lot of the Indian pilots that
Germany has been training over the last several months might not actually
be Indian.”
“Meaning they’re Siraji?”
“That’s what we’re thinking, sir. We’re running it down, but—at this
stage—all we can say for certain is that a number of their immigration
papers have strange inconsistencies.”
“It’s starting to sound like this deal has been cooking for a while,” the
president said. “So the Germans might be ready to deliver some of the
hardware right now?”
“They may have already started, sir,” Brenthoven said. “Yesterday
evening, one of our destroyers in the Persian Gulf intercepted and boarded
a cargo ship that was attempting to run the blockade of Siraj. The Visit,
Board, Search, and Seizure teams discovered approximately three hundred
German-built, over-the-shoulder missile launchers.”
Doyle shook her head. “Greg, how in the hell did we miss something
this big?”
Brenthoven closed his notebook. “A lot of our intelligence assets—too
many—are electronic. We’re still feeling the bite from the Clinton years;
he cut our network of field operatives to ribbons. And the best electronics
in the world are no substitute for good agents working on the scene. Our
European network is especially thin; we’ve been concentrating most of our
efforts on the Middle Eastern countries.”
The president closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He released it
slowly and opened his eyes. “Where are the subs now?”
Brenthoven blinked twice and looked at the president. “Ah … we don’t
know, sir. Our last satellite imagery of them is three days old. They could
be through the English Channel by now.”