Executive orders - Tom Clancy [88]
Sergey's an old friend, Jack said with a friendly smile. All the way back to when he had a pistol in my face. He's always welcome in my house. Let Arnie know about the scheduling?
I will do that, Mr. President.
Ryan nodded and moved off. The Prince of Wales had the Indian Prime Minister in a holding pattern, awaiting Ryan's appearance.
Prime Minister, Your Highness, Ryan said with a nod.
We thought it important that some matters be clarified.
What might those be? the President asked. He had an electrical twitch under his skin, from knowing what had to be coming now.
The unfortunate incident in the Indian Ocean, the Prime Minister said. Such misunderstandings.
I'm glad to hear that
EVEN THE ARMY takes days off, and the funeral of a President was one such day. Both Blue Force and OpFor had taken a day to stand down. That included the commanders. General Diggs's house was on a hilltop overlooking a singularly bleak valley, but for all that it was a magnificent sight, and the desert was warm that day from Mexican winds, which allowed a barbecue on his walled and hedged back yard.
Have you met President Ryan? Bondarenko asked, sipping an early-afternoon beer.
Diggs shook his head as he flipped the burgers and reached for his special sauce. Never. Evidently he had a piece of getting the 10th ACR deployed to Israel, but, no. I know Robby Jackson, though. He's J-3 now. Robby speaks very well of him.
This is American custom, what you do? The Russian gestured to the charcoal burner.
Diggs looked up. Learned it from my daddy. Could you pass my beer over, Gennady? The Russian handed the glass to his host. I do hate missing training days, but But he liked a day off as much as the next guy.
This place you have here is amazing, Marion. Bondarenko turned to survey the valley. The immediate base area looked typically American, with its grid of roads and structures, but beyond that was something else. Scarcely anything grew, just what the Americans called creosote bushes, and they were like some sort of flora from a distant planet. The land here was brown, even the mountains looked lifeless. Yet there was something magnificent about the desert-and it reminded him of a mountaintop in Tajikistan. Maybe that was it.
So, exactly how did you get those ribbons, General? Diggs didn't know all the story. His guest shrugged.
The Mudjeheddin decided to visit my country. It was a secret research facility, since closed down-it's a separate country now, as you know.
Diggs nodded. I'm a cavalryman, not a high-energy physicist. You can save the secret stuff.
I defended an apartment building-the home for the scientists and their families. I had a platoon of KGB border guards. The Mudje attacked us in company strength under cover of night and a snowstorm. It was rather exciting for an hour or so, Gennady admitted.
Diggs had seen some of the scars-he'd caught his visitor in the shower the previous day. How good were they?
The Afghans? Bondarenko grunted. You did not wish to be captured by them. They were absolutely fearless, but sometimes that worked against them. You could tell which bands had competent leadership and which did not. That one did. They wiped out the other half of the facility, and on my side-a shrug-we were bloody lucky. At the end we were fighting on the ground floor of the building. The enemy commander led his people bravely-but I proved to be a better shot.
Hero of the Soviet Union, Diggs remarked, checking his burgers again.