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"I'm just giving you the facts," Herbert said. "If it were up to me I'd shoot the bastards dead. Fortunately, it isn't up to me."

"Are Privates Pupshaw and DeVonne ready to go out?" Hood asked.

"'They were eating when the call came in," Coffey said. "Phil is briefing them now. What do we do about the Turkish government? The TSF will be calling when their man doesn't check in."

"You negotiated our way in there," Hood said. "What are we obliged to tell them?"

"Depends what we decide to do," Coffey said. "If we start shooting we'll be in violation of about twenty different international codes. If we kill anyone, we're in deep doo. If it's a Turk, we're in very deep doo."

"What if we shoot the terrorists who blew up the dam?" Hood asked.

"If we can prove it, and let the TSF share credit, then we'll probably be heroes," Coffey said.

"I'll have Martha get in touch with them," Hood said. "She can brief them and ask them to lay low."

"Lowell," Herbert said, "Mike didn't promise them a certain kind of transportation."

"Not as far as I know."

"Which means if you go out there with the ROC," Herbert continued, "we can follow you even if we don't have satellite imaging. I can listen in through the computer."

"Negative," said Katzen. "I think Mary Rose should lobotomize the hardware."

"I disagree," Herbert said. "That'll leave you defense--"

"Picture about to come in!" Mary Rose said. "NRO should be downloading it to you as well, Paul."

In exactly.8955 seconds, the monitors filled with the same green-tinted photograph showing the site described by Rodgers. Op-Center and the ROC were still voice-linked.

"There they are," Herbert said.

Rodgers was sitting against the motorcycle. It looked as if his hands were tied to the handlebars. His feet were so bound. The TSF officer was lying on his belly, his hands lashed behind him. A third man was sitting on the side of the hill, smoking. There was a submachine gun in his lap.

"They're still alive," Hood said. "Thank God for that."

Katzen, Private Pupshaw, and Private DeVonne entered then. They stood between the two stations and had a look at the photograph.

Coffey leaned toward the screen. "I only see three people."

"Maybe Mike meant that there were only three people altogether," Hood suggested.

"No," Coffey said. "He told me there were three perps. I can play back the tape if you want, but that's what he said."

"The other two could be out on stakeout," Herbert said. "It would make sense for them to have gone ahead and see who comes in. Make sure Mike didn't send for the cavalry or something."

"Even if they're out watching the road," Hood said, "we've got two Strikers they may not know about. If the captors think that Mike was a run-of-the-mill spook, they may not expect an armed escort to come for him. Especially one that knows exactly what they're riding into."

"Which brings us back to whether you take the ROC," Herbert said. "I still think you should leave everything active. Paul?"

Hood thought for a moment. "Phil, you're against it."

"If anything happens to us, we'd be giving them the key to the candy store," Katzen said.

"Lowell?" Hood asked.

"Legally, Paul, we might have problems," Coffey said. "Our geographical playing field was pretty carefully delineated to both the Turks and Congress."

"Jesus!" Herbert yelled. "Mike's being held hostage and you're talking about our legal limitations!"

"There's something else," Katzen said. "The Strikers. If someone's watching the van, they may see them. If we dismantle some of the equipment, we can hide them in the battery compartment."

"The battery compartment," Herbert said. "Privates, how do you feel about that?"

"I like it, sir," Pupshaw said. "We go in completely unseen."

Hood asked if everyone was finished with the photograph. They were. He had the face-to-face visuals restored.

"Okay," Hood said. "We go in and we take the lobotomized ROC. Who runs the operation?"

"We can't call it a military rescue," Coffey said. "We need Congressional approval for that