Executive orders - Tom Clancy [241]
The question froze Goodley's eyeballs in place, staring down at a blank spot on his desk. He had no guidance on this. Yes, he'd learned that President Ryan had discussed cooperation with Golovko, that he'd also discussed the matter with Ed Foley, and that both had decided to go forward with it. But nobody had told him the parameters for giving information back to Moscow, and he didn't have time to call Langley for instructions, else he would appear weak to the Russians, and the Russians didn't want America to appear weak at the moment, and he was the man on the spot, and he had to make a decision. That entire thought process required about a third of a second.
Yes, Minister, we do. Your timing is excellent. Director Foley and I were just discussing the development.
Ah, yes, Dr. Goodley, I see that your signals people are as efficient as ever. What a pity that your human sources do not match their performance.
Ben didn't dare to respond at all to the observation, though its accuracy caused his stomach to contract. Goodley had more respect for Jack Ryan than he did for any man, and now he remembered the admiration Jack had often expressed for the man on the other end of the phone.
Welcome to the bigs, kid. Don't hang any curveballs. He ought to have said that Foley had called him.
Minister, I will be speaking to President Ryan within the hour, and I will pass your information along. Thank you for your timely call, sir.
Good day, Dr. Goodley.
United Islamic Republic, Ben read on his desk pad. There had once been a United Arab Republic, an unlikely alliance between Syria and Egypt doomed to failure in two respects. The separated countries had been fundamentally incompatible, and the alliance had been made only to destroy Israel, which had objected to the goal, and done so effectively. More to the point, a United Islamic Republic was a religious statement as much as a political one, because Iran was not an Arab nation-as Iraq was-but rather an Aryan one with different ethnic and linguistic roots. Islam was the world's only major religion to condemn in its scripture all forms of racism and proclaim the equality of all men before God, regardless of color-a fact often overlooked by the West. So, Islam was overtly designed to be a unifying force, and this new notional country would play on that fact with its very name. That said a lot, enough that Golovko didn't even need to explain it, and it also said that Golovko felt that he and Ryan were on the same wavelength. Goodley checked the wall clock again. It was nighttime in Moscow, too. Golovko was working late-well, not all that late for a senior official. Ben lifted the phone and hit #3 again. It took him less than a minute to summarize the call from Moscow.
We can believe anything he says-on this issue, anyway. Sergey Nikolay'ch is a pro from way back. I imagine he twisted your tail just a little, right? the DCI asked.
Ruffled the fur some, Goodley admitted.
It's a carryover from old days. They do like their status games. Don't let it bother you, and don't shoot back. Better just to ignore it, Foley explained. Okay, what's he worried about?
A lot of republics with '-stan' at the end, Goodley blurted out, without thinking.
Concur. This came from another voice.
Vasco?
Yeah, just walked in. And then Goodley had to repeat what he'd told Ed Foley. Probably Mary Pat was there, too. Individually, both were good at what they did. In the same room, thinking together, they were a deadly weapon. It was something you had to see to understand, Ben knew.
This looks to me like a big deal, Goodley observed.
Looks that way to me, too, Vasco said over the speakerphone. Let us kick a few things around. Be back to you in fifteen or twenty.
Would you believe Avi ben Jakob is checking in with us? Ed reported, after a background noise on the line. They must be having a really tough day.
For the moment it was just irony that the Russians were both the first to check in with America (and that they were