Patriot games - Tom Clancy [232]
"Hello, Sean."
"Hello, Alex. Drink?"
"What do you have?"
"Well, I brought a bottle of decent whiskey, or you can have some of the local stuff. The beer isn't bad, but I personally stop short of drinking something with a worm in the bottle."
Alex selected a beer. He didn't bother with a glass.
"So?"
Dobbens drained the beer in one long pull. It was good to be able to relax-really relax. Play-acting all the time at home could be a strain. "I got the safehouse all set up. Did that this morning. It'll do fine for what we want. What about your people?"
"They're on the way. They'll arrive as planned."
Alex nodded approval as he got a second beer. "Okay, let's see how the operation's going to run."
"In a very real sense, Alex, you inspired this." Miller opened his briefcase and extracted the maps and charts. They went on the coffee table. Alex didn't smile. Miller was trying to stroke him, and Dobbens didn't like being stroked. He listened for twenty minutes.
"Not bad, that's pretty fair, but you're going to have to change a few things."
"What?" Miller asked. He was already angered by Dobbens' tone.
"Look, man, there's going to be at least fifteen security guys right here." Alex tapped the map. "And you're going to have to do them right quick, y'know? We're not talking street cops here. These guys are trained and well armed. They're not exactly dumb, either. If you want this to work, man, you have to land the first punch harder. Your timing is off some, too. No, we have to tighten this up some, Sean."
"But they'll be in the wrong place!" Miller objected as dispassionately as he could manage.
"And you want them to be running around loose? No way, boy! You'd better think about taking them out in the first ten seconds. Hey, think of them as soldiers. This ain't no snatch-and-run job. We're talking combat here."
"But if the security is going to be as tight as you say-"
"I can handle that, man. Don't you pay attention to what I'm doing? I can put your shooters in exactly the right spot at exactly the right time."
"And how the hell will you do that!" Miller was unable to calm himself anymore. There was just something about Alex that set him off.
"It's easy, man." Dobbens smiled. He enjoyed showing this hotshot how things were done. "All you gotta do "
"And you really think you can get past them just like that!" Miller snapped after he finished.
"Easy. I can write my own work orders, remember?"
Miller struggled with himself again, and this time he won. He told himself to view Alex's idea dispassionately. He hated admitting to himself that the plan made sense. This amateur black was telling him how to run an op, and the fact that he was right just made it worse.
"Hey, man, it's not just better, it's easier to do." Alex backed off somewhat. Even arrogant whities needed their pride. This boy was used to having his own way. He was smart enough, Dobbens admitted to himself, but too inflexible. Once he got himself set on an idea, he didn't want to change a thing. He never would have made a good engineer, Alex knew. "Remember the last op we ran for you? Trust me, man. I was right then, wasn't I?"
For all his technical expertise, Alex did not have tremendous skills for handling people. This last remark almost set Miller off again, but the Irishman took a deep breath as he continued to stare at the map. Now I know why the Yanks love their niggers so much.
"Let me think about it."
"Sure. Tell you what. I'm going to get some sleep. You can pray over the map all you want."
"Who else besides the security and the targets?"
Alex stretched. "Maybe they're going to cater it. Hell-I don't know. I imagine they'll have their maid. I mean, you don't have that kind of company without one servant, right? She doesn't get hurt either, man. She's a sister, handsome woman. And remember what I said about the lady and the kid. If it's necessary, I can live with it, but if you pop 'em for fun, Sean, you'll answer to me. Let's try to keep this one professional. You have three legitimate political targets. That's enough. The rest are