The Teeth of the Tiger - Tom Clancy [193]
"Oh?" Dominic came over to look. "What does that tell us?"
"I just have a Internet handle-it's on AOL: Gadfly097@aol.com. If he gets a reply from MoHa, maybe we'll know something. We think he's an operations officer for the bad guys. NSA tagged him about six months ago. He encrypts his letters, but they know how to crack that one, and we can read most of his e-mails."
"How quick will you see a reply?" Dominic wondered.
"Depends on Mr. MoHa," Jack said. "We just have to sit tight and wait."
"Roger that," Brian said from his seat by the window.
"I see young Jack didn't slow them down," Hendley observed.
"Did you think he would? Jeez, Gerry, I told you," Granger said, having already thanked God for His blessings, but quietly. "Anyway, now they want instructions."
"Your plan was to take down four targets. So, who's number four?" the Senator asked.
It was Granger's turn to be humble. "Not sure yet. To be honest, I didn't expect them to work this efficiently. I've been kinda hoping that the hits so far might generate a target of opportunity, but nobody's prairie-dogging yet. I have a few candidates. Let me run through them this afternoon." His phone rang. "Sure, come on over, Rick." He set the phone down. "Rick Bell says he has something interesting."
The door opened in less than two minutes. "Oh, hey, Gerry. Glad you're here. Sam"-Bell turned his head-"we just had this come in." He handed the rough printout of the e-mail across.
Granger scanned it. "We know this guy "
"Sure as hell. He's a field ops officer for our friends. We figured he was based in Rome. Well, we figured right." Like all bureaucrats-especially the senior ones-Bell enjoyed patting his own back.
Granger handed the page across to Hendley. "Okay, Gerry, here's number four."
"I don't like serendipity."
"I don't like coincidences either, Gerry, but if you win the lottery you don't give the money back," Granger said, thinking that Coach Darrell Royal had been right: Luck didn't go looking for a stumblebum. "Rick, is this guy worth making go away?"
"Yes, he is," Bell confirmed, with an enthusiastic nod. "We don't know all that much about him, but what we know is all bad. He's an operations guy-of that we are a hundred percent sure, Gerry. And it feels right. One of his people sees another go down, reports in, and this guy gets it and replies. You know, if I ever meet the guy who came up with the Echelon program, I might have to buy him a beer."
"Reconnaissance-by-fire," Granger observed, patting himself very firmly on the back. "Damn, I knew it would work. You shake a hornet's nest, and some bugs are bound to come out."
"Just so they don't sting your ass," Hendley warned. "Okay, now what?"
"Turn 'em loose before the fox goes to ground," Granger replied instantly. "If we can bag this guy, maybe we can really shake something valuable loose from the tree."
Hendley turned his head. "Rick?"
"It works for me. Go-mission," he said.
"Okay, then it's a go-mission," Hendley agreed. "Get the word out."
The nice thing about electronic communications was that they did not take very long. In fact, Jack already had the important part.
"Okay, guys, Fifty-six MoHa's first name is Mohammed-not great news; it's the most common first name in the world-and he says he's in Rome, at the Hotel Excelsior on the Via Vittorio Veneto, number one twenty-five."
"I've heard of that one," Brian said. "It's expensive, pretty nice. Our friends like to stay in nice places, looks like."
"He's checked in under the name Nigel Hawkins. That's English as hell. You suppose he's a Brit citizen?"
"With a first name of Mohammed?" Dominic wondered aloud.
"Could be a cover name, Enzo," Jack replied, pricking Dominic's balloon. "Without a picture, we can't guess about his background. Okay, he's got a cell phone, but Mahmoud-that's the guy who saw the bird go down this morning-must be supposed to know it." Jack paused. "Why didn't he just call in, I wonder? Hmm. Well, the Italian police have sent us stuff that came from electronic intercepts. Maybe they're watching