Without remorse - Tom Clancy [281]
But there was more than one kind of dragon, wasn't there? Some couldn't be killed with kindness and medications and skilled nursing care. She'd defeated one, but another had killed Doris anyway. That dragon needed the sword, in the hands of a warrior. The sword was a tool, wasn't it? A necessary tool, if you wanted to slay that particular dragon. Perhaps it was one she could never use herself, but necessary nonetheless. Someone had to hold that sword. John wasn't a bad man at all, just realistic.
She fought her dragons. He fought his. It was the same fight. She'd been wrong to judge him. Now she understood, seeing in her eyes the same emotion that she'd beheld months earlier in his, as her rage passed, but not very far, and the determination set in.
'Well, everybody lucked out,' Hicks said, handing over a beer.
'How so, Wally?' Peter Henderson asked.
'The mission was a washout. It aborted just in time. Didn't even get anyone hurt in the process, thank God. Everyone's flying home right now.'
'Good news, Wally!' Henderson said, meaning it. He didn't want to kill anybody either. He just wanted the damned war to end, the same as Wally did. It was a shame about the men in that camp, but some things couldn't be helped. 'What happened exactly?'
'Nobody knows yet. You want me to find out?'
Peter nodded. 'Carefully. It's something the Intelligence Committee ought to know about, when the Agency fucks up like that. I can get the information to them. But you have to be careful.'
'No problem. I'm learning how to stroke Roger,' Hicks lit up his first joint of the evening, annoying his guest.
'You could lose your clearance that way, you know?'
'Well, gee, then I'll have to join Dad and make a few mill' on The Street, eh?'
'Wally, do you want to change the system or do you want to let other people keep it the same?'
Hicks nodded. 'Yeah, I suppose.'
The following winds had allowed the КС-135 to make the hop in from Hawaii without a refueling stop, and the landing was a gentle one. Remarkably, Kelly's sleep cycle was about right now. It was five in the afternoon, and in another six or seven hours he'd be ready for more sleep.
'Can I get a day or two off?'
'We'll want you back to Quantico for an extended debrief,' Ritter told him, stiff and sore from the extended flight.
'Fine, just so I'm not in custody or anything. I could use a lift up to Baltimore.'
'I'll see what I can do,' Greer said as the plane came to a halt.
Two security officers from the Agency were the first up the mobile stairs, even before the oversized cargo hatch swung up. Ritter woke the Russian up.
'Welcome to Washington.'
'Take me to my embassy?' he asked hopefully. Ritter almost laughed.
'Not quite yet. We'll find you a nice, comfortable place, though.'
Grishanov was too groggy to object, rubbing his head and needing something for the pain. He went with the security officers, down the steps to their waiting car. It left at once for a safe house near Winchester, Virginia.
'Thanks for the try, John,' Admiral Maxwell said, taking the younger man's hand.
'I'm sorry for what I said before,' Cas said, doing the same. 'You were right.' They, too, had a car waiting. Kelly watched them enter it from the hatch.
'So what happens to them?' he asked Greer.
James shrugged, leading Kelly out and down the stairs. Noise from other aircraft made his voice hard to hear. 'Dutch was in line for a fleet, and maybe the CNO's job. I don't suppose that'll happen now. The operation - well, it was his baby, and it didn't get born. That'll finish him.'
'That's not fair,' Kelly said loudly. Greer turned.
'No, it isn't, but that's the way things are.' Greer, too, had a ride waiting. He directed his driver to head to the wing-headquarters building, where he arranged a car to take Kelly to Baltimore. 'Get some rest and call me when you're ready. Bob was serious about