The Teeth of the Tiger - Tom Clancy [169]
"True," Granger agreed, thinking back to how his own ancestor had handled obstreperous Indians in the Ninth U.S. Cavalry Regiment. Some things didn't change much. "Gerry, the problem is, all we can do about their organizational model is to speculate. And speculation is not knowledge."
"So, tell me what you think," Hendley ordered.
"Minimum two layers between the head of it all: Is it one man or a committee? We do not and cannot know right now. And the shooters: We can get all those we want, but that's like cutting grass. You cut it, it grows, you cut it, it grows, ad infinitum. You want to kill a snake, best move is to take off the head. Okay, fine, we all know that. Trick is finding the head, because it's a virtual head. Whoever it is, or are, they're operating a lot like we are, Gerry. That's why we're doing a recon-by-fire, to see what we can shake loose. And we have all of our analytical troops looking for that, here, and Langley, and Meade."
A tired sigh. "Yeah, Sam, I know. And maybe something will shake loose. But patience is a mother to live by. The opposition is probably basking in the sun right now, feeling good about stinging us, killing all those women and kids-"
"Nobody likes that, Gerry, but even God took seven days to make the world, remember?"
"You turning preacher on me?" Hendley asked, with narrowed eyes.
"Well, the eye-for-an-eye part works for me, bud, but it takes time to find the eye. We have to be patient."
"You know, when Big Jack and I talked about the need for a place like this, I was actually dumb enough to think we could solve problems more quickly if we had the authority to do so."
"We'll be quicker than the government ever will, but we're not The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Hey, look, the operational end just got under way. We've made only one hit. Three more to go before we can expect to see any real response from the other side. Patience, Gerry."
"Yeah, sure." He didn't add that time zones didn't help much, either.
"You know, there's one other thing."
"What's that, Jack?" Wills asked.
"It would be better if we knew what operations were going on. It would enable us to focus our data hunt a little more efficiently."
"It's called 'compartmentalization.' "
"No, it's called horseshit," Jack shot back. "If we're on the team, we can help. Things that might look like non sequiturs appear different if you know the context that appears out of nowhere. Tony, this whole building is supposed to be a compartment, right? Subdividing it like they do at Langley doesn't help get the job done, or am I missing something?"
"I see your point, but that's not how the system works."
"Okay, I knew you'd say that, but how the hell do we fix what's broke at CIA if all we do is just to clone their operation?" Jack demanded.
And there wasn't a ready answer for that which would satisfy the questioner, was there? Wills asked himself. There simply wasn't, and this kid was catching on way too fast. What the hell had he learned in the White House? For damned sure, he'd asked a lot of questions. And he'd listened to all the answers. And even thought about them.
"I hate to say this, Jack, but I'm only your training officer, not the Big Boss of this outfit."
"Yeah, I know. Sorry about that. I guess I got used to my dad having the ability to make things happen-well, it looked that way to me, at least. Not to him, I know, not all the time. Maybe impatience is a family characteristic." Doubly so, since his mom was a surgeon, accustomed to fixing things on her own schedule, which was generally right the hell now. It was hard to be decisive sitting at a workstation, a lesson his dad had probably had to learn in his time, back when America had lived in the gunsights of a really serious enemy. These terrorists could sting, but they couldn't do serious structural harm to America, though it had been tried in Denver once. These guys were like swarming insects rather than vampire bats
But mosquitoes could transmit yellow fever, couldn't they?
South of Munich, in the port city of Piraeus, a container was lifted off