Executive orders - Tom Clancy [374]
Will they lie to us-our agents, I mean?
You're from Pittsburgh, Mr. Stone, right?
Yes, sir.
You worked confidential informants on the street. They ever lie to you?
Sometimes, Stone admitted.
There's your answer. They will lie about their importance, the danger they're in, damned near anything, depending on how they feel today. You have to know them and know their moods. Stone, did you know when your informants were telling sea stories?
Most of the time.
How did you tell? Clark asked.
Whenever they know a little too much, whenever it doesn't fit-
You know. their instructor observed with a grin, you people are so smart that sometimes I wonder what I'm doing here. It's about knowing people. In your careers at the Agency, you will always be running into folks who think they can tell it all from overheads-the satellite knows all and tells all. Not exactly, Clark went on. Satellites can be fooled, and it's easier than people like to admit. People have their weaknesses, too, ego foremost among them, and there is never a substitute for looking them in the eyes. But the nice thing about working agents in the field is, even their lies will reveal some of the truth to you. Case in point, Moscow, Kutuzovkiy Prospyekt, 1983. This agent we brought out, and he'll be here next week for you to meet. He was having a hard time with his boss and-
Chavez appeared at the back door and held up a phone-message form. Clark hurried through the rest of the lesson and handed the class over to his assistant.
What is it, Ding? John asked.
Mary Pat wants us up in D.C. in a hurry, something about an SNIE.
The United Islamic Republic, I bet.
Hardly worth taking the message down, Mr. C, Chavez observed. They want us up in time for dinner. Want me to drive?
THERE WERE FOUR Maritime Pre-Positioning Ships at Diego Garcia. They were relatively new ships, built for their purpose, which was to be floating parking garages for military vehicles. A third of those were tanks, mobile artillery, and armored personnel carriers, and the rest were the less dramatic trains, vehicles pre-loaded with everything from ammunition to rations to water. The ships were painted Navy gray, but with colored bands around their funnels to designate them as part of the National Defense Reserve Fleet, crewed by merchant sailors whose job was to maintain them. That wasn't overly difficult. Every few months they'd light off the huge diesel engines and sail around for a few hours, just to be absolutely sure everything worked. This evening they got a new message to increase their alert status.
One by one, the engine-room crews went below and fired up the engines. Fuel quantities were verified against written records, and various benchmark tests made to ensure that the ship was ready to sail-which was why they were maintained so lovingly. Testing the engines was not abnormal. Testing all at the same time was, and the collection of monster engines made for a thermal bloom that was obvious to infrared detectors overhead, especially at night.
That came to the attention of Sergey Golovko within thirty minutes of its detection, and like intelligence chiefs all over the world, he assembled a team of specialists to discuss it.
Where is the American carrier battle group? he asked first of all. America loved to throw them around the oceans of the world.
They left the atoll yesterday, heading east.
Away from the Persian Gulf?
Correct. They have exercises scheduled with Australia. It's called SOUTHERN CUP. We have no information to suggest that the exercise