Executive orders - Tom Clancy [440]
Robby, how about you and Sissy fly up, too. I'll have a helo waiting for you here.
Anything you say, pal.
Okay, Dan, Ryan told the speakerphone. We're going to Camp David. Keep me informed.
Will do, the FBI Director promised.
THEY HEARD IT on the radio. Brown and Holbrook were heading north on US Route 287 to join Interstate 90-East. The cement truck drove like a pig, even with its multirange gearbox, top-heavy, slow to accelerate, and almost as slow to brake. Maybe the interstate would be better driving, they hoped. But it did have a decent radio.
Damn, Brown said, adjusting the dial.
Kids. Holbrook shook his head. We have to make sure no kids are around, Ernie.
I think we can handle that, Pete, assuming we can horse this rig all the way there.
What do you figure?
A grunt. Five days.
DARYAEI TOOK IT well, Badrayn saw, especially with the news that all of them were dead.
Forgive me for saying so, but I did warn you that-
I know. I remember, Mahmoud Haji acknowledged.
The success of this mission was never really necessary, so long as the security arrangements were properly looked after. With that, the cleric looked closely at his guest.
They all had false travel documents. None had a criminal file anywhere in the world, so far as I know. None had anything to connect him with your country. Had one been taken alive, there was a chance, and I warned you about that, but it appears that none were.
The Ayatollah nodded, and spoke their epitaph: Yes, they were faithful.
Faithful to what? Badrayn asked himself. Overtly religious political leaders weren't exactly uncommon in this part of the world, but it was tiresome to hear. Now, supposedly, all nine of them were in Paradise. He wondered if Daryaei actually believed that. He probably did; he was probably so sure that he believed that he could speak with God's own voice, or at least had told himself so often that he thought he did. One could do that to himself, Ali knew, just keep repeating any idea enough, and however it had first entered one's mind-for political advantage, personal revenge, greed, any of the baser motivations-after enough repetitions it became an article of faith, as pure in purpose as the words of the Prophet himself. Daryaei was seventy-two, Badrayn reminded himself, a long life of self-denial, focused on something outside himself, continuing on a journey that had begun in his youth with shining purpose toward a holy goal. He was a long way from the beginning now, and very close to the end. Now the goal could be seen so clearly that the purpose itself could be forgotten, couldn't it? That was the trap for all such men. At least he knew better, Badrayn told himself. For him it was just business, devoid of illusions and devoid of hypocrisy.
And the rest? Daryaei asked, after a prayer for their souls.
We will know by Monday, perhaps, certainly by Wednesday, Ali replied.
And security for that?
Perfect. Badrayn was totally confident. All of the travelers had returned safely, and reported in every case that their missions had been properly carried out. Whatever physical evidence they'd left behind-just the spray cans-would have been collected as trash and carted away. The plague would appear, and there would never be any evidence of how it might have gotten there. And so what had apparently failed today was not a failure at all. This Ryan fellow, relieved though he might be at the rescue of his child, was now a weakened man, as America was a weakened country, and Daryaei had a plan. A good one, Badrayn thought, and for his help in implementing it, his life would change forever now. His days as an international terrorist were a thing of the past. He might have some position in the expanding UIR government-security or intelligence, probably, with a comfortable office and a sizable stipend, able finally to settle down in peace and safety. Daryaei had his dream, and might even achieve it. For Badrayn, the dream was closer still, and he need now not do a thing more to make it a reality. Nine men had died to make it so. That was their misfortune.