Herbert was finished. Hood felt energized. His own problems had not gone away. But part of him, at least, was out of hiding. The part that had a responsibility to others.
'This is a sticky one,' Hood said.
'Yeah,' Herbert agreed.
'What's your gut say?' 'It says to take this situation to the president and drop it square in his lap,' Hood replied.
Herbert regarded Hood for a moment.
'There's a 'but' in your voice,' Herbert said.
'Actually, there are three 'buts' in my voice,' Hood told him.
'First, we're only guessing about what's going on.
They're educated guesses, but we still don't have proof. Second, let's assume your intel is right. That there is a plot to start a war. If we tell the president, the president will tell State. Once you tell State, the world will know about it through leaks, moles, or electronic surveillance. That could scare the perpetrators off--or it could accelerate whatever timetable they have.'
'I agree,' Herbert said.
'The SFF and their allies would have insecurity issues instead of security issues. Typical when you're keeping information from your own countrymen.' 'Exactly,' Hood said.
'All right. So what's the third 'but'?' Herbert asked.
'The fact that we may prove a nuclear attack plan is in place,' Hood said.
'If the United States exposes it we may actually give it impetus.' 'I don't understand,' Herbert said.
'In terms of military support and intelligence assistance, India has always leaned toward Russia,' Hood said.
'An entire generation of Indians considers the United States the opposition.
Suppose we expose a patriotic plan. Do you think that will cause the Indians to kill it?'
'If it involves a nuclear exchange, yes,' Herbert said, 'Russia would come down on our side. So would China.' 'I don't know if I agree,' Hood said.
'Russia is facing an Islamic threat along several of its borders.
Op-Center just defused a crisis where the Russians were scared about Iran's access to Caspian oil. Moscow fought the mujahedin in Afghanistan.
They're afraid of aggressive fifth-column activities in their own cities, in allied republics. We can't be sure they would back a Muslim nation against their old friend India. As for China, they're looking for allies in a move against Taiwan. Suppose India provided them with that, a kind of quid pro quo.'
Herbert shook his head slowly.
'Paul, I've been in this game a long time. I've seen videos of Saddam using gas and gunships against his own people. I've been to a Chinese execution where five men were shot in the head because they expressed dissenting political beliefs. But I can't believe that sane individuals would make a deal about nuclear strikes that will kill millions of people.' 'Why not?' Hood asked.
'Because a nuclear exchange raises the bar for all of human conflict,' Herbert insisted.
'It says that anything goes.
No one gains by that.' 'Fair enough,' Hood said.
'I still believe that we may have a radical group of Indian officials who may want to nuke Pakistan,' Herbert said.
'Then valid or not, all three of my concerns point to the same thing,' Hood said.
'We need more intel before we go to the president,' Herbert said.
'Right,' Hood said.
'Is there any way of getting that electronically or from sources in the government?'
'There might be, if we had the time,' Herbert said.
'But we've got the Pakistani cell on the run in the mountains and the dead SFF commandos behind them. The Indians are not going to wait.'
'Has anything been on DD-1 yet?' Hood asked. DD-1 National was the flagship station of Doordarshan, the Indian national television network. The broadcaster was also closely affiliated with Prasar Bharati, All India Radio, which was run and maintained by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
'One of Matt's people is taping the newscasts,' Herbert replied.
'He's going to give me an assessment of how riled up people are and at what rate the media are adding to the whipping-up process.'
'Can we go in and bust up their satellite?' Hood asked.
Herbert grinned.
'They use five,' he said.
IN SAT-2E, 2DT, 2B, PAS-4, and Thai Com We can scramble them all if we have to.' 'Good,' Hood said. He regarded Herbert.
