Executive orders - Tom Clancy [199]
YOU'VE LEARNED SO much? Daryaei asked.
It's their media, their newspeople, Badrayn explained.
They're all spies! the mullah objected.
Many think so, Ali said with a smile. But they aren't, really. They are-how does one explain them? Like medieval heralds. They see what they see and they tell what they see. They are loyal to no one except themselves and their profession. Yes, it is true that they spy, but they spy on everyone, their own people most of all. It's mad, I admit, but it's true even so.
Do they believe in anything? That was a hard one for his host to grasp.
Another smile. Nothing that I've ever identified. Oh, yes, the American ones are devoted to Israel, but even that is an exaggeration. It took me years to understand that. Like dogs, they will turn on anyone, bite any hand, no matter how kind. They search and they see and they tell. And so, on this Ryan fellow, I've been able to learn everything-his home, his family, the schools his children attend, the number of the office his wife works in, everything.
What if some of the information is lies? Daryaei asked suspiciously. As long as he'd dealt with the West, the nature of their reporters was just too foreign to him to be fully understood.
It's all easily verified. His wife's workplace, for example. I'm sure there must be some of the faithful on staff at that hospital. It's simply a matter of approaching one and asking a few harmless questions. Their home, well, that will be guarded. The same is true of the children. It's a conundrum for all such people. They must have some protection to move about, but the protection can be seen, and that tells one where they are, and who they are. Given the information I've developed, we even know where to start looking. Badrayn kept his remarks short and simple. It wasn't that Daryaei was a fool-he most assuredly was not-just that he was insular. One advantage to all his years in Lebanon was that Ali had been exposed to much and had learned much. Most of all, he'd learned that he needed a sponsor, and in Mahmoud Haji Daryaei he had a prospective one. This man had plans. He needed people. And for one reason or another, he didn't fully trust his own. Badrayn didn't wonder why. Whatever the reason was, it was good fortune, and not to be questioned.
How well protected are such people? the mullah asked, his hand playing with his beard. The man hadn't shaved in nearly twenty-four hours.
Very well indeed, Badrayn replied, noting something odd about the question and filing that fact away. American police agencies are quite effective. The crime problem in America has nothing to do with their police. They simply don't know what to do after the criminals are caught. As applied to their President ? Ali leaned back for a stretch. He will be surrounded by a highly trained group of expert marksmen, well motivated, and utterly faithful. Badrayn added these words to his presentation to see if his interlocutor's eyes changed. Daryaei was weary, and there was such a change. Otherwise, protection is protection. The procedures are straightforward. You do not need my instruction on that.
America's vulnerability?
It's severe.