Line of Control - Tom Clancy [100]
"You're right," he said.
"Why the hell would they be doing that?"
"Maybe there's a shortcut?" Hood suggested.
"A secret path through the glacier?"
Herbert brought up the detailed photographic overviews from NASA's Defense Mapping Agency. These photographic maps were marked with coordinates and were used to target satellites. Herbert asked the computer to mark the area that Viens was studying now. Hood leaned over Herbert's wheelchair and looked closely at the monitor as a faint red cursor began to pulse on the region the cell was crossing.
"There's no shortcut," Herbert said.
"What the hell are they doing? They're actually taking a longer route to the line of control."
"Will August still intercept them?" Hood asked.
"Yes," Herbert said. The intelligence chief pointed to a region slightly north of where the cell was.
"Brett came down here. He's heading southeast. He'll just be meeting them a lot sooner than we expected." Herbert studied the map.
"But this still doesn't make sense. This route isn't going to take the Pakistanis through more accessible terrain. It's farther from the LOC, it's not at a lower altitude, and it doesn't look easier to negotiate."
"Maybe they've got a weapons cache or another hideout along the way,"
Hood suggested.
"Possibly," Herbert said. He went back to the live NRO image.
"But they were relatively close to the border where they were. Why would they want to give the Indians more time to catch them?"
The interagency phone line beeped. Herbert punched it on speakerphone.
"Yes?" Herbert said.
"Bob, it's Viens," said the caller.
"It's getting dark in the target area. The light is now down enough for us to switch to heat-scan without being blinded. We'll be able to track the cell easier." "Go ahead," Herbert said. He hit the mute button on the phone.
Herbert and Hood continued to look at the overhead map.
Hood was studying the area at the foot of the plateau.
"Bob, if we move the satellite will we be able to look into this valley?" Hood asked, pointing at a grid marked "77." "I don't know,"
Herbert told him. He glanced over at his boss.
"Paul, I want to find Mike too. But we only have the one satellite in the region. Do we want to tie it up looking for him?"
"Mike could have lost or damaged his radio in the fall," Hood said.
"If he's alive there might be something he can do for Brett. We need every resource we can get over there."
"Even if they're two thousand vertical miles and God knows how many as-the-crow-flies miles away?" Herbert asked.
"We don't know for certain where Mike is," Hood pointed out.
"We need to find out."
Before the intelligence chief could consider what Paul Hood had said, Viens came back on the line.
"Bob, are you looking at the new satellite photos?" Viens asked.
Herbert killed the mute function.
"No," he replied and immediately jumped back to the feed from the Omni Com "Is there a problem?" "Maybe," Viens said.
"Even when the cell was under the ledge we always caught a glimpse of a head or arm so we knew we still had them. What do you see now?"
Herbert and Hood both leaned closer to the monitor as the image formed.
The picture looked psychedelic, like something from the sixties. Hot, red shadows were spilling out along a field of green-colored rocks and snow.
The shadows of only three people.
"What the hell's going on there?" Herbert asked.
"I don't know," Viens admitted.
"Some of the terrorists could have been lost along the way."
"It's also possible they turned on Friday and the Indian officer,"
Herbert thought aloud.
"Maybe there were casualties.
We should try and get them on the radio."
"No," Hood said.
"Contact August and let him know there are three individuals ahead.
Tell him they may be hostile and that he is to use discretion whether to shadow rather than engage. Stephen, can you get me a look at grid 77 on file map OP-1017.63?"
"I'll bring that map up, see if it's in the Omni Com focal range," Viens replied.
"It'll only take a minute."
"Thank you," Hood said.
Herbert shook his head.
"What reason would