Patriot games - Tom Clancy [28]
"Still, we might not be here except for you."
"I couldn't just sit there and watch some people get murdered. If situations had been reversed, I'll bet you'd have done the same thing I did."
"You really think so?" His Highness was surprised.
"Sir, are you kidding? Anybody dumb enough to jump out of an airplane is dumb enough to try anything."
The Prince stood and walked over to the mirror on the wall. Clearly he liked what he saw there. "Well," he murmured to the mirror. He turned back to voice his last self-doubt.
"And if you had been in my place?"
"I'd probably just've wet my pants," Ryan replied. "But you have an advantage over me, sir. You've thought about this problem for a few years, right? Hell, you practically grew up with it, and you've been through basic training-Royal Marines, too, maybe?"
"Yes, I have."
Ryan nodded. "Okay, so you had your options figured out beforehand, didn't you? They caught you by surprise, sure, but the training shows. You did all right. Honest. Sit back down, and maybe Tony can pour us some coffee."
Wilson did so, though he was clearly uneasy to be close to the heir. The Prince of Wales sipped at his cup while Ryan lit up one of Wilson 's cigarettes. His Highness looked on disapprovingly.
"That's not good for you, you know," he pointed out.
Ryan just laughed. "Your Highness, since I arrived in this country, I nearly got run over by one of those two-story buses, I almost got my head blown off by a damned Maoist, then I nearly get myself shish-kabobed by one of your redcoats." Ryan waved the cigarette in the air. "This is the safest damned thing I've done since I got here! What a vacation this's turned out to be."
"You do have a point," the Prince admitted. "And quite a sense of humor, Doctor Ryan."
"I guess the valium-or whatever they're giving me-helps. And the name's Jack." He held out his hand. The Prince took it.
"I was able to meet your wife and daughter yesterday-you were unconscious at the time. I gather that your wife is an excellent physician. Your little daughter is quite wonderful."
"Thanks. How do you like being a daddy?"
"The first time you hold your newborn child "
"Yeah," Jack said. "Sir, that's what it's all about." He stopped talking abruptly.
Bingo, Ryan thought. A four-month-old baby. If they kidnap the Prince and Princess, well, no government can cave in to terrorism. The politicians and police have to have a contingency plan already set up for this, don't they? They'd take this town apart one brick at a time, but they wouldn't-couldn't- negotiate anything, and that was just too bad for the grown-ups, but a little baby damn, there's a bargaining chip! What kind of people would-
"Bastards," Ryan whispered to himself. Wilson blanched, but the Prince suspected what Jack was thinking about.
"Excuse me?"
"They weren't trying to kill you. Hell, I bet you weren't even the real objective " Ryan nodded slowly. He searched his mind for the data he'd seen on the ULA. There hadn't been much-it hadn't been his area of focus in any case-a few tidbits of shadowy intelligence reports, mixed with a lot of pure conjecture. "They didn't want to kill you at all, I bet. And when you covered the wife and kid, you burned their plan maybe, or maybe you just-yeah, maybe you just threw them a curve, and that blew their timing a little bit."
"What do you mean?" the Prince asked.
"Goddamned medications slow your brain down," Ryan said mainly to himself. "Have the police told you what the terrorists were up to?"
His Highness sat upright in the chair. "I can't-"
"You don't have to," Ryan cut him off. "Did they tell you that what you did definitely-definitely-saved all of you?"
"No, but-"
"Tony?"
"They told me you were a very clever chap. Jack," Wilson said. "I'm afraid I can't comment further. Your Royal Highness, Doctor Ryan may be correct in his assessment."
"What assessment?" The Prince was puzzled.
Ryan explained. It only took a few minutes.
"How did you arrive at this conclusion. Jack?"
Ryan's mind was still churning through the hypothesis. "Sir, I'm an