Executive orders - Tom Clancy [532]
Those were two very big thoughts. Ryan started pondering the first one. Dan Murray's head turned to his roving inspector and they traded looks on the second.
Christ, Ed, the FBI Director said a moment later.
Think it through, Dan, the DCI said. We have a President. We have a Senate. We have a third of the House. We do not have a Vice President yet. The presidential succession is still dicey, no really powerful figures, and the top level of the government is still gutted. Toss in this epidemic, which has the whole country tied up in knots. To almost anybody outside, we look weak and vulnerable.
Ryan looked up as Andrea came back in. Wait a minute. They made a play for Katie. Why do that if they want me out of the way?
What's this? Price asked.
The other side has demonstrated a frightening capability. One, Foley said, they got all the way into the Iraqi President's security detail and blew him away. Two, the operation last week was run by a sleeper agent who's been here more than a decade, and in that time did nothing at all, but when he woke up, he cared enough to assist in an attempt on a child.
Murray had to agree with that: That's occurred to us, too. The Intelligence Division is thinking about it right now.
Wait a minute, Andrea objected. I know every person on the Detail. For God's sake, we lost five of them defending SANDBOX!
Agent Price, Mary Pat Foley said. You know how many times CIA's been burned by people we knew all about-people I knew. Hell, I lost three agents to one of those fucking moles. I knew them, and I knew the guy who shopped 'em. Don't tell me about paranoia. We are up against a very capable enemy here. And it only takes one.
Murray whistled as the argument took its full form. His mind had been racing for the past few hours in one direction. Now it had to race in another.
Mrs. Foley, I-
Andrea, Inspector O'Day said, this isn't personal. Take a step back and think about it. If you had the resources of a nation-state, if you were patient, and if you had people who were really motivated, how would you do it?
How did they do Iraq? Ed Foley took up the argument. Would you have thought that was possible?
The President looked around the room. Fabulous, now they're telling me not to trust the Secret Service.
It all makes sense if you think like the other guy, Mary Pat told them. It's part of their tradition, remember?
Okay, but what do we do about it? Andrea asked, her face openly stunned at the possibility.
Pat, you have a new assignment, Murray told his subordinate. With the President's permission, that is.
Granted, POTUS breathed.
Rules? O'Day wanted to know.
None, none at all, Price told him.
IT WAS APPROACHING noon over the United Islamic Republic. Maintenance was going well on the six heavy divisions based in the south-central part of the country. Nearly all the tracks on the mechanized fighting vehicles had been replaced. A healthy spirit of competition had developed between the former Iraqi divisions and those moved down from Iran. With their vehicles restored to full fighting order, the troopers drew ammunition to bring all of the T-80 tanks and BMP infantry carriers to full basic-loads.
The battalion commanders looked over the results of their training exercise with satisfaction. Their newly acquired GPS locators had been like magic, and now the Iraqis understood one of the reasons why the Americans had treated them so harshly in 1991. With GPS one didn't need roads at all. The Arabic culture had long termed the desert a sea, and now they could navigate on it like sailors, moving from point to point with a confidence they had never known before.
Corps and divisional staff officers knew why this was so important. They had just been issued new maps, and with them a new mission. They also learned that their three-corps mechanized force had a name, the Army of God. By tomorrow, sub-unit commanders