Line of Control - Tom Clancy [60]
"Go ahead, Ron," Lewis said.
"I have Director of Intelligence Bob Herbert on the line with us."
"Good," Friday said.
"Mr. Herbert, I'm at the Kumar farmhouse in Kargil with my Black Cat liaison. I need to know what other intel you have on the farmer and his granddaughter."
"What have you found out there?" Herbert asked.
"What?" Friday said.
"What did you find at the farm?" Herbert asked.
"What is this, "I show you mine and you show me yours?" " Friday angrily demanded.
"No," Herbert said.
"It's a field report. Tell me what you've got."
"I've got my ass on the front frigging line and you're sitting on your ass safe in Washington!" Friday said.
"I need information!"
"I'm on my ass because my legs don't work anymore," Herbert responded calmly.
"I lost them because too many people trusted the wrong people. Mr.
Friday, I've got an entire team headed toward your position and they may be at considerable risk. You're a piece in my puzzle, a field op for me.
You tell me what you have and then I'll tell you what you need to know."
Friday said nothing. Herbert hoped he was considering exactly how to word his apology.
After a few moments Friday broke the silence.
"I'm waiting for that information, Mr. Herbert," he said.
That caught Herbert off guard. Okay. They were playing hardball with a hand grenade. He could do that.
"Mr. Lewis," Herbert said, "please thank your field operative for reconnoitering the farmhouse. Inform him we will get our information directly from the Black Cat Commandos and that our joint operation is ended."
"You bureaucratic asshole-!" Friday snapped.
"Friday, Mr. Herbert has the authority to terminate this alliance,"
Lewis said.
"And frankly, you're not giving me a reason to fight for it."
"We need each other out here!" Friday said.
"We may be looking at an international catastrophe!"
"That's the first useful insight you've given me," Herbert said.
"Would you care to continue?"
Friday swore.
"I don't have time for a pissing contest, Herbert. I'll straighten you out later. We've learned that a Pakistani cell, part of the Free Kashmir Militia, stayed at the farm of Apu Kumar for about five months.
The farmer's granddaughter, Nanda, is the only child of a couple who died fighting the Pakistanis. The girl wrote poetry the whole time the cell was here. It appears to have contained coded elements reporting on the cell's activities. She used to recite her poems aloud while she took care of the chickens. We suspect members of the Special Frontier Force heard what she was saying, probably by cell phone. She was with them when the bazaar attack in Srinagar took place and we believe the SFF was behind the temple bombing. We also believe that she is still with them, and might have the cell phone to signal SFF."
"She was signaling the SFF," Herbert replied.
"What happened?" Friday asked.
It was time to give Friday a little information, a little trust.
"The Indian pursuit team was just taken out by a powerful explosion in the Himalayas," Herbert informed him.
"How do you know that?" Lewis asked.
"We've got ELINT resources in the region," Herbert said.
Herbert used the vague electronics intelligence reference because he did not want Lewis to know that he had satellite coverage of the region. The new NSA head might start pushing the NRO for off-the-books satellite time of his own.
"How many men were killed?" Lewis asked.
"About thirteen or fourteen," Herbert replied.
"They were closing in on what appeared to be an outpost about eight thousand feet up in the mountains. The men, the outpost, and the side of the mountain are all gone."
"Were you able to ID the commandos?" Friday asked.
"Were they wearing uniforms?"
"They were SFF," Herbert replied.
"I knew it," Friday said triumphantly.
"What about