Tom Clancy's op-center_ acts of war - Tom Clancy [43]
"Right away," she said. It took just over a second to bring up a map of the region. "They were going across the desert to the plains, which puts them right here." She zeroed in on the region where the road began. "Do you have any other information?"
"Yes," Coffey said. "He said that they were at a hill on the east side of the first rise."
"I see it," she said. She called up the computer-simulated relief map. "That's north-south coordinate E, east-west coordinate H. I'll contact the NRO. See if they can get us visuals."
"I'm going to brief Privates Pupshaw and DeVonne in case we have to move out," Katzen said.
Coffey nodded as the seal of the National Crisis Management Center appeared on the screen--the organization's formal name, though no one at Op-Center ever used it. He typed in his personal access code, and a menu appeared offering all the different departments. Coffey selected Office of the Director. A prompt appeared asking him to input the full name of the person with whom he wished to speak, surname first. This procedure helped to screen crank calls from hackers who managed to get this far into the program.
Hood, Paul David
A computerized voice told him to wait a moment. Almost at once, Bugs Benet's face filled the screen.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Coffey," Benet said.
"Bugs, we've got a major situation here," Coffey said. "I need to talk to Paul."
"I'll tell him," Benet said.
Hood was on the secure digital uplink within seconds. "Lowell, what's up?" he asked.
"Paul, we just heard from Mike out in the field," Coffey said. "From the sound of things, he found the terrorists he was searching for. And it looks like they've got him and the TSF colonel as their prisoners."
"Hold on," Hood said. His expression darkened and his voice had dropped considerably. "Let me bring Bob Herbert in on this."
A few seconds later the screen split down the middle. Hood was on the left side, Herbert on the right. The intelligence chief's thinning hair was disheveled. He looked even grimmer than Hood.
"Talk to me, Lowell," Herbert said. "Do you have any idea what these bastards want?"
"Not a clue," Coffey said. "All we're supposed to do is go out there and get Mike and the TSF officer who went with him."
"Out where?" Herbert asked.
"Into the plains," Coffey said.
"Now?" Herbert asked.
"Immediately," Coffey replied. "Mike was pretty explicit about us leaving at once."
"Meaning the guys who are holding them must need a lift out of the area," Herbert said, "possibly out of the country. Maybe that chopper they had was too hot to keep flying."
"Where are they located?" Hood asked.
"About a ninety-minute drive north of here," Coffey said. "Mary Rose is in touch with the NRO to try and get some precise visuals."
"Did Mike put a time limit on how long it should take you to get there?" Herbert asked.
"No," Coffey said.
"Did the captives make any other demands?" Hood asked. "Do you have to bring the ROC?"
"No," Coffey said.
"Is there any indication that they even know about the ROC?" Herbert asked.
"None," said Coffey.
"At least that's something," Hood said.
"Excuse me," Mary Rose said, turning around. "Stephen Viens says he can give us an infrared photo in about two or three minutes. He's still got the 30-45-3 in the neighborhood."
"Bless him," Coffey said. "Paul, Bob, did you hear that?"
"I heard," said Hood.
"Lowell, did Mike say anything else?" Herbert asked.
"Not much," said Coffey. "He didn't seem to be in pain or under duress. He passed all the information along calmly, using oblique references to Benedict Arnold and some old English sea captain who we found out was ambushed. It was clear he was trying to tell us that he was being forced to say what he was saying and that we'd better watch out."
"These jerks'll want hostages," Herbert said. "If we don't fire, chances are they won't either."
"Are