'Yes?' said a woman's voice.
'This is 855 base,' Herbert said, using the coded identification number.
'Who is this?'
'Someone who has your radio and its operator,' the woman replied.
'I just saved him from death. But the reprieve may only be temporary.'
The woman's accent definitely belonged to that region.
Herbert would be able to place it better were it not for the screaming wind behind her. The woman was also smart. She had said only that she saved Friday's life. There was no reference to the rest of the cell or the other man they were holding. She had given Herbert as little information as possible.
Herbert hit the mute button.
'Paul--I say we talk to her,' he said quickly, urgently.
'We need to let her know that Striker is on the way.'
'This channel isn't secure, is it?' Hood asked.
'No,' Herbert admitted.
'Friday will probably tell her that.'
'He got there in an Indian chopper. They may not believe him,' Herbert said.
'Let me give her the overview.' 'Be careful. Bob,' Hood warned.
'I don't want you telling her who we are, exactly.'
Herbert killed the mute.
'Listen to me,' he said.
'We are with American intelligence. The man you have works with us.' 'He told me that his last name is Friday,' the woman said.
'What is his first name?'
'Ron,' Herbert replied.
'All right,' the woman said.
'What do you want with us?'
'We want to get you home alive,' Herbert said. He weighed his next words with care in case anyone was listening.
'We know what happened in Srinagar. We know what your group did and did not do.'
He did not have to say more. She would know the rest.
There was a short silence.
'Why do you want to help us?' the woman finally asked.
'Because we believe there will be extreme retaliation,' Herbert informed her.
'Not against you but against your nation.'
'Does your person Friday know about this?' she asked.
'He knows about that and more,' Herbert informed the woman.
'And he is not alone.' 'Yes,' the woman said.
'We rescued an old farmer--' 'That is not what I mean,' Herbert said.
There was another brief silence. Herbert could imagine the woman scanning the skies for other choppers.
'I see,' said the woman.
'I will talk to him. American intelligence, I do not know if I can take this radio with me,' the woman went on.
'If there is anything else I need to know, tell me now.'
Herbert thought for a moment.
'There is one more thing,' he informed her. He spoke clearly and strongly so she would not miss a word.
'We are helping you because inaction would result in unprecedented human disaster. I have no respect for terrorists.'
'American intelligence,' she said, using that as if it were Herbert's name.
'I have lost nothing. If the world respected us before now, there would be no need for terrorism.'
With that, the line went dead.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE.
