Line of Control - Tom Clancy [52]
"Sure," Rodgers said.
"But while we're getting ahead of ourselves let's go one step further."
"All right," Herbert said tentatively.
"Striker is going in to Pakistan to look for nukes," Rodgers said.
"What if we don't find very many or even none at all?
Suppose the Indian government authorized the Srinagar attack just to rouse their population and pick a fight. A tight Pakistan cannot possibly win."
"You think they'll respond with a nuclear strike?" Herbert said.
"Why not?" Rodgers asked.
"The world wouldn't stand for it!" Herbert replied.
"What would the world do?" Rodgers asked.
"Go to war against India? Fire missiles on New Delhi? Would they impose sanctions? What kind? To what end? And what would happen when hundreds of thousands of Indians started to starve and die? Bob, we're not talking about Iraq or North Korea. We're talking about one billion people with the fourth largest military in the world. Nearly a billion Hindus who are afraid of becoming the victims of a Muslim holy war."
"Mike, no nation on earth is going to condone a nuclear strike against Pakistan," Herbert said.
"Period." "The question is not condoning," Rodgers said.
"The question is how do you respond if it happens. What would we do alone?"
"Alone?" "More or less," Rodgers said.
"I'm betting Moscow and Beijing wouldn't complain too loud, for starters. India nuking Pakistan leaves Moscow free to slam whichever republics they want with a limited nuclear strike. No more long wars in Afghanistan or Chechnya. And China probably wouldn't bitch too loud because it gives them a precedent to move on Taiwan." "They wouldn't,"
Herbert said.
"It's insane."
"No, it's survival," Rodgers said.
"Israel's got a nuclear strike plan ready in case of a united Arab attack. And they'd use it, you know that. What if India has the same kind of plan? And with the same very powerful justification, I might add. Religious persecution." Herbert said nothing.
"Bob, all I'm saying is that it's like the house that Jack built,"
Rodgers said.
"One little thing leads to another and then another. Maybe it's not those things, but it's nothing good."
"No, it is nothing good," Herbert agreed.
"I still think we're overreacting but I'll get back to you as soon as we know anything. Meantime, I have just one suggestion."
"What's that?" Rodgers asked.
"Make sure you sleep on the flight to India," Herbert said.
"One way or another you're going to need it."
CHAPTER NINETEEN.
Kargil, Kashmir Thursday, 6:45 a. m.
Ron Friday was annoyed that the call did not come from Hank Lewis. It came from Captain Nazir. To Friday, that meant on this leg of the mission Friday was reporting to New Delhi and not to Washington. That suggested the Black Cats would be watching him closely. Perhaps the Indian government did not want him talking to the NSA or anyone else about whatever they might find here. At least, not before they went on the mission.
They were to go to a chicken farm in the foothills of Kargil.
Apparently, an intelligence officer at Op-Center found a possible link between that location and the bazaar bombing.
Op-Center did not tell Hank Lewis or their Black Cat liaisons why they thought the farm might be significant or what they believed that significance to be. All they said was that the situation in the bazaar was "atypical" and that the terrorists had to be taken alive. To Friday that translated as, "We aren't sure the terrorists did this and we need to talk to them."
The pair flew to the farm in a fast, highly maneuverable Kamov Ka-25 helicopter. Captain Nazir was at the controls.
The compact sky-blue chopper was one of more than two dozen Ka-25s India bought from Russia when the Soviet Union collapsed and the military began cutting costs. Friday was not surprised to be riding in a military bird. A black National Security Guard chopper would stand out. But the skies here were full of Indian military traffic.
Ironically, taking an air force craft was the best way to be invisible on Pakistani radar.
The men flew north