Tom Clancy's op-center_ acts of war - Tom Clancy [58]
"Five minutes to target," Katzen said.
The Strikers snuggled down in their compartments. Coffey went over and helped them replace the compartment tops. After making sure the Strikers were all right, he walked toward Katzen.
"Good thing they're not claustrophobic," Coffey said.
"If they were," said Katzen, "they wouldn't be Strikers."
Coffey watched as the map on the computer monitor scrolled ominously toward the target hill. At least, it seemed ominous to the attorney.
"I have a question," Coffey said.
"Shoot, counselor."
"I've been wondering. Just what is the difference between a porpoise and a dolphin?"
Katzen laughed. "Mostly it has to do with the body shape and face," he said. "Porpoises are shaped pretty much like a torpedo with spade-like teeth and a blunt snout. Dolphins have a more fish-shaped body, peg-like teeth, and a snout that looks like a beak. Temperamentally, they're pretty much identical."
"But dolphins seem more lovable because they look less predatory," Coffey said.
"They do, yes," said Katzen.
"Maybe the military should think about that when they design the next generation of submarines and tanks," Coffey said. "They can lull the enemy into complacency with a submarine that looks like Flipper or a tank that looks like Dumbo."
"If I were you, I'd stick to law," Katzen said. He looked toward the front of the van. "Heads up, Mary Rose. According to the map you should be coming up on the rise any moment now."
"I see it," she said.
The small of Coffey's back went ice-cold. This wasn't the same as the jitters he got when he went before a judge or a senator. This was fear. The van went down the sharp dip before the rise. Coffey used both hands to brace himself on the back of Mike Rodgers's empty chair.
"Shit!" Mary Rose shouted, and crushed the brake down.
"What is it?" Katzen cried.
Coffey and Katzen both looked out the window. A dead sheep was lying in the center of the road. The carcass was the size of a Great Dane and had coarse, dirtywhite wool. In order to stay on the narrow road and avoid the ditches on either side, a driver would have to go over it.
"That's a wild sheep," Katzen said. "They live in the hills to the north."
"Probably hit by a car," Mary Rose said.
"I don't think so," Katzen said. "With an animal that size there'd be tire tracks in the blood beyond."
"So what do you think?" Coffey asked. "That it was shot and put there?"
"I don't know," Katzen said. "Some military units have been known to use animals for target practice."
"The dam-busters, maybe," said Mary Rose.
"No," said Katzen. "They'd probably have eaten it. More likely it was a Turkish unit. Anyway, we've got a pair of Strikers who are going to need fresh air pretty soon. Go over it."
"Wait," Coffey said.
Katzen looked at him. "What's wrong?"
"Is it possible the thing could be land-mined?"
Katzen slumped. "I didn't even think of that. Good catch, Lowell."
"A terrorist might do that to slow down mechanized troops," Coffey said.
Katzen looked out toward the ditches on the right and left. "We're going to have to go off-road."
"Unless that's where the mines are," Coffey said. "Maybe the sheep was put there to send someone off the road."
Katzen thought for a moment. Then he pulled a flashlight from the hook between the two front seats and opened the passenger's-side