Executive orders - Tom Clancy [598]
The Vipers came in from the west, hardly visible about four miles downrange, dropping their Mark-82 dumb bombs in the middle of the enemy formation.
Brilliant! the English-educated Major Abdullah said.
They couldn't tell how many vehicles had died as a result, but now his men knew they were not alone in their engagement. That made a difference.
IF ANYTHING, THE streets of Tehran had become grimmer still. What struck Clark and Chavez (Klerk and Chekov, currently) was the absence of conversation. People moved along without speaking to one another. There was also a sudden shortage of men, as reserves were being called up to trek into their armories, draw weapons, and prepare to move into the war which their new country had halfheartedly announced after President Ryan's preemption.
The Russians had given them the location of Daryaei's home, and their job really was only to look at it-which was easily said, but rather a different task on the streets of the capital city of the country with which you were at war. Especially if you had been in that city shortly before, and seen by members of its security force. The complications were piling up.
The man lived modestly, they saw from two and a half blocks away. It was a three-story building on a middle-class street that displayed no trappings of power at all, except for the obvious presence of guards on the front steps, and a few cars spotted at the corners. Looking closer from two hundred meters away, they could also see that people avoided walking on that side of the street. Popular man, the Ayatollah.
So, who else lives there? Klerk asked the Russian rezident. He was covered as the embassy's second secretary, and performed many diplomatic functions to maintain his legend.
Mainly his bodyguards, we believe. They were sitting in a cafe, drinking coffee and studiously not looking directly at the building of their interest. To either side, we think the buildings have been vacated. He has his security concerns, this man of God. The people here are increasingly uneasy under his rule-even the enthusiasm of the Iraqi conquest fades now. You can see the mood as well as I, Klerk. These people have been under control for almost a generation. They grow tired of it. And it was clever of your President to announce hostilities before our friend did. The shock value was very effective, I think. I like your President, he added. So does Sergey Nikolay'ch.
This building is close enough, Ivan Sergeyevich, Chavez said quietly, calling the kaffeeklatsch back to order. Two hundred meters, direct line of sight.
What about collateral damage? Clark wondered. It required some circumlocutions to make that come out in Russian.
You Americans are so sentimental about such things, the rezident observed. It amused him.
Comrade Klerk has always had a soft heart, Chekov confirmed.
AT HOLLOMAN AIR Force Base in New Mexico, a total of eight pilots arrived at the base hospital to have their blood checked. The Ebola testing kits were finally coming out in numbers. The first major military deliveries went to the Air Force, which could deploy more power more quickly than the other branches of the service. There had been a few cases in nearby Albuquerque, all being treated at the University of New Mexico Medical Center and two on this very base, a sergeant and his wife, the former dead and the latter dying-the news of it was all over the base, further enraging warriors who already possessed a surfeit of passion. The aviators all checked out clean, and the relief they felt was not ordinary. Now, they knew, they could go out and do something. The ground crews came in next. These also tested negative. All went off to the flight line. Half of the pilots strapped into F-117 Nighthawks. The other half, with the ground crews, boarded KC-10 tanker/transport aircraft for the long flight to Saudi.
Word was coming in over the Air Force's own communications network. The 366th and the F-16s from the Israeli base were doing pretty well, but everyone wanted a piece of this one, and the men and women from Holloman