'No, a rogue element in the government is apparently planning that,' Coffey said.
'The lawful Indian government will have to disown them and prosecute them as well.'
The attorney rose angrily and got himself a cup of coffee.
He was a little calmer as he sat back down and took a sip.
Hood was silent. He looked at Herbert. The intelligence chief did not like Lowell Coffey and his disgust with legal technicalities was well known. Unfortunately, Hood could not afford to ignore what the attorney had just said.
'Gentlemen?' August said.
'Go ahead. Colonel,' Hood said.
'We are talking about a possible nuclear conflagration here,' August said.
'The normal rules do not seem to apply.
I'll poll the team if you'd like, but I'm willing to bet they say the same thing I'm about to. Given the stakes, the down side is worth risking.'
Hood was about to thank him but the words snagged in his throat. Bob Herbert did not have that problem.
'God bless you. Colonel August,' Herbert said loudly as he glared across the table at Coffey.
'Thank you. Bob,' August said.
'Mr. Coffey? If it's any help. Striker can always pull a Lone Ranger on the Pakistanis.'
'Meaning what. Colonel?' Coffey asked.
'We can drop them off then ride into the sunset before they can even thank or ID us,' August said.
Herbert smiled. Hood did, too, but inside. His face was frozen by the weight of the decision he would have to make.
'We'll get back to you later on all of this,' Hood said.
'Colonel, I want to thank you.'
'For what? Doing my job?'
'For your enthusiasm and courage,' Hood said.
'They raise the bar for all of us.'
'Thank you, sir,' August said.
'Get some rest,' Hood said. He clicked off the phone and looked across the table.
'Bob, I want you to make sure we've got someone at the NRO watching the Pakistani border. If a chopper does come looking for the cell we have to be able to give Striker advance warning. I don't want them to be mistaken for a hostile force and cut down.'
Herbert nodded.
'Lowell, find me some legal grounds for doing this,' Hood went on.
The attorney shook his head.
'There isn't anything,' Coffey said.
'At least, nothing that will hold up in an international court.'
'I don't need anything that will work in court,' Hood said.
'I need a reason to keep Striker from being extradited if it comes to that.'
'Like claiming they were on a mission of mercy,' Coffey said.
'Yeah,' Herbert interjected.
'I'll bet we can find some UN peacekeeping status bullshit that would qualify.'
'Without informing the United Nations?' Coffey said.
'You know, Lowell, Bob may have something,' Hood said.
'The secretary-general has emergency trusteeship powers that allow her to declare a region 'at risk' in the event of an apparent and overwhelming military threat. That gives her the right to send a Security Council team to the region to investigate.'
'I'm missing how that helps us,' Coffey said.
'The team does not have to consist of sitting Security Council personnel,' Hood said.
'Just agents of Security Council nations.' 'Maybe,' Coffey said.
'But no one will accept the presence of a team consisting solely of Americans.'
'It won't,' Hood said.
'India's a member of the Security Council. And there are Indians out there.'
'Captain Nazir and Nanda Kumar,' Herbert said.
'Her own countrymen.'
