The Bear and the Dragon - Tom Clancy [124]
"They all are, as you say, criminals," Provalov pointed out.
"Yeah, Oleg, they are. Theyre too stupid to go straight. They think they can outsmart us. And yknow, for a while they do. But sooner or later … " Reilly took a sip and shook his head.
"Even this Suvorov, you think?"
Reilly smiled for his new friend. "Oleg, do you ever make a mistake?"
The Russian grunted. "At least once a day."
"So, why do you think theyre any smarter than you are?" the FBI agent asked. "Everybody makes mistakes. I dont care if hes driving a garbage truck or President of the fucking United States. We all fuck up every so often. Its just part of being human. Thing is, if you recognize that fact, you can make it a lot further. Maybe this guys been well trained, but we all have weaknesses, and were not all smart enough to acknowledge them, and the smarter we are, the less likely we are to acknowledge them."
"You are a philosopher," Provalov said with a grin. He liked this American. They were of a kind, as though the gypsies had switched babies at birth or something.
"Maybe, but you know the difference between a wise man and a fool?"
"I am sure you will tell me." Provalov knew how to spot pontification half a block away, and the one approaching had flashing red lights on the roof.
"The difference between a wise man and a fool is the magnitude of his mistakes. You dont trust a fool with anything important." The vodka was making him wax rhapsodic, Reilly thought. "But a wise man you do, and so the fool doesnt have the chance to make a big screw up, while a wise man does. Oleg, a private cant lose a battle, but a general can. Generals are smart, right? You have to be real smart to be a doc, but docs kill people by accident all the time. It is the nature of man to make mistakes, and brains and training dont matter a rat-fuck. I make em. You make em." Reilly hoisted his glass again. "And so does Comrade Suvorov." Itll be his dick, Reilly thought. If he likes to play with hookers, itll be his dick that does him in. Tough luck, bro. But he wouldnt be the first to follow his dick into trouble, Reilly knew. He probably wouldnt be the last, either.
"So did it all work?" Ming asked.
"Hhhhhh?" Nomuri responded. This was strange. She was supposed to be in the afterglow period, his arm still around her, while they both smoked the usual after-sex cigarette.
"I did what you wished with my computer. Did it work?"
"Im not sure," Nomuri tried as a reply. "I havent checked."
"I do not believe that!" Ming responded, laughing. "I have thought about this. You have made me a spy!" she said, followed by a giggle.
"I did what?"
"You want me to make my computer accessible to you, so you can read all my notes, yes?"
"Do you care?" Hed asked her that once before, and gotten the right answer. Would it be true now? Shed sure as hell seen through his cover story. Well, that was no particular surprise, was it? If she werent smart, shed be useless as a penetration agent. But knowing what she was.., how patriotic was she? Had he read her character right? He didnt let his body tense next to hers, remarkably enough. Nomuri congratulated himself for mastering another lesson in the duplicity business.
A moments contemplation, then: "No."
Nomuri tried not to let his breath out in too obvious an expression of relief.
"Well, then you need not concern yourself. From now on, you will do nothing at all."
"Except this?" she asked with yet another giggle.
"As long as I continue to please you, I suppose!"
"Master Sausage!"
"Huh?"
"Your sausage pleases me greatly," Ming explained, resting her head on his chest.
And that, Chester Nomuri thought, was sufficient to the moment.
CHAPTER 16—The Smelting of Gold
Pavel Petrovich Gogol could believe his eyes, but only because hed seen the whole Red Army armored corps on the move in the Western Ukraine and Poland, when he was a younger man. The tracked vehicles