Tom Clancy's Op-center Balance of Power - Tom Clancy [116]
"Here and now," Aguirre said curtly.
María shut her eyes for a moment. "I'm dizzy," she said truthfully. "Can I sit down somewhere?"
"Certainly," Aguirre said. His scowl remained fixed. "Captain-take her and her accomplice outside. Let her talk and then conclude your business with her."
"Yes, sir," the captain said.
María turned. "Sir!" she shouted and started limping through the crowd, toward the major general. She was still thinking that if she could get into the throne room there might be something she could do-
She felt herself yanked back by the hair.
"You'll come outside as you've been ordered," the captain said as he tugged her from the crowd.
María was too weak to argue. She stumbled and nearly fell as she was pulled toward the hallway door.
"Bring him as well," the captain commanded, pointing to Juan.
Two of the guards came forward and grabbed Juan under the armpits. The Ramirez familia member grimaced with pain as they hoisted him to his feet and dragged him forward.
Behind them, the major general returned quietly to the throne room. He shut the door.
The click of the latch was the only sound in the otherwise silent hall. To María it was a noise as loud as the closing of a tomb door. It not only marked the end of her efforts to get inside the throne room, very possibly it marked the end of Spain itself. She was angry at herself for having blown the mission. For having gotten so damn close and screwing up.
The captain turned María around. Still holding her by the hair, he walked her toward the door. She went painfully, each step sending a lance of pain up her left side from heel to jaw.
"What-what are you going to do?" María demanded.
"We're going to take you outside to see what you know."
"Why outside?" María asked.
The captain didn't answer, and that in itself was an answer. They were being taken outside because that was where the plain, unadorned walls were.
The walls which condemned prisoners were put against to be shot.
* * *
THIRTY-FOUR
Tuesday, 10:46 a.m.
Madrid, Spain
As soon as he heard gunshots inside the palace, Colonel August casually removed his cellular phone from his deep pants pocket. He punched in Luis's office number but kept his face turned toward the warm sun as it crept over the buildings-soaking it up like any young vacationer. Behind him, except for Private Pupshaw, the other Strikers were pretending to study a tour book. Pupshaw was down the street, tying his shoe on the fender of a car. One of the aglets at the end of his shoelace contained a highly compressed irritant agent, primarily Chloroacetophenone-a mild but smoky form of tear gas. The other aglet contained a tiny heating coil that was activated when removed from the shoelace. It would cause the gas to be released two minutes after being placed inside the other aglet.
"This is Slugger," August said. "We've just heard from three of the players in the stadium." That meant he'd heard three shots in the palace. "Sound like they're pretty close to the spot where we want to go."
"Could be our teammate warming things up," Luis said. The line was quiet for a moment. Then Luis came back on. "Coach says to go to second base and put on your uniforms. He'll call the upper deck to see what they know."
Second base was the dungeon directly below the Hall of Tapestries. The upper deck was the spotters.
"Excellent," August said. "We're on our way." He turned the phone from ring to vibrate and returned it to his pocket. He told the other Strikers to follow him and then he raised his arm for Pupshaw to see. August crossed his second and third fingers.
The young private extended two crossed fingers and waved back. The two crossed fingers meant to put the aglets together.
August led his team quickly toward the sewer on the northwest corner of the Plaza de Oriente. They had videotaped the manhole cover when they'd first arrived and studied the playback as they stood around. Corporal Prementine and Privates David George and Jason Scott had their Walkman headsets in hand, ready to slide into the holes in the