Line of Control - Tom Clancy [59]
He began to pray.
Ishaq listened for the scraping to resume. After a moment it did, moving rapidly toward the front of the cave. He watched as the clouds of gas began to billow and roll aside as though people were moving through it.
The gas had nearly reached the explosives.
It was time.
The Muslim continued his silent prayer as he pressed the blue "engage" button. A light on top of the small controller came on. Ishaq quickly pressed the red "detonate" button below it.
For a blessed moment the sun shined all around Ishaq and he felt as if he had been embraced by Allah.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO.
Washington, D. C.
Wednesday, 9:36 p. m.
"What the hell just happened, Stephen?" Bob Herbert asked.
Op-Center's intelligence chief had pulled his wheelchair deep under the desk. He was leaning over the speakerphone as he watched the Omni Com image on his computer. What he had said was not so much a question as an observation.
Herbert knew exactly what had happened.
"The side of the mountain just exploded," Viens said over the phone.
"It didn't just explode, it evaporated," Herbert pointed out.
"That blast had to have been the equivalent of a thousand pounds of TNT."
"At least," Viens agreed.
Herbert was glad there was no sound with the image. Even just seeing the massive, unexpected explosion wakened his sensory memories. Tension and grief washed over him as he was reminded of the Beirut embassy bombing.
"What do you think. Bob? Was it set off by a sensor or motion detector?"
Viens asked.
"I doubt it," Herbert said.
"There are a lot of avalanches in that part of the world. They could have triggered the explosion prematurely."
"I didn't think of that," Viens admitted.
Herbert forced himself to focus on the present, not the past.
Op-Center's intelligence chief reloaded the pictures the satellite had sent moments before the blast. He asked the computer to enhance the images of the soldiers one at a time.
"It looked to me like the climbers tossed gas inside," Herbert said.
"They obviously believed that someone might be waiting for them."
"They were right," Viens said.
"The question is how many people were in there?" Herbert said.
"Were the people who used that cave expecting the climbers? Or were they caught by surprise and decided they did not want to be captured alive?"
An image of the first soldier filled Herbert's monitor.
There was a clear shot of the man's right arm. On top, just below the shoulder of the white camouflage snowsuit, was a circular red patch with a solid black insignia. The silhouette showed a horse running along the tail of a comet. That was the insignia of the Special Frontier Force.
"Well, one thing's dead for sure," Viens said.
"What's that?" Herbert asked.
"Matt Stoll just phoned to say he's not picking up the cell phone signal anymore," Viens told Herbert.
"He wanted to see if we'd lost it too. I just checked. We have."
Herbert was still looking at the monitor. He saved the magnified image of the shoulder patch.
"I wonder if the cell led the commandos there to throw them off the trail," he said.
"Possibly," Viens said.
"Do we have any idea which way the Indian commandos would have come?"
"From the south," Herbert replied.
"How long would it take you to start searching through the mountains north of the site?"
"It will take about a half hour to move the satellite," Viens said.
"First, though, I want to make sure we're not wasting our time. If anyone left the cave they would have had to go up before they could go down again. I want to get the Omni Com in for a closer look."
"Footprints in the snow?" Herbert said as the secure phone on his wheelchair beeped.
"Exactly," Viens replied.
"Go for it. I'll wait," Herbert told him as he backed away from the desk so he could reach the phone. He snapped up the receiver.
"Herbert." "Bob, it's Hank Lewis," said the caller.
"I've got Ron Friday on the line. He says it's