people might be able to get Father Bradbury out safely.'
'And the Brush Vipers?' Kline asked. 'How do we keep them from attacking us again?'
'That's the responsibility of the government of Botswana,' Hood said. 'The United States government will push for intervention over the death of the bishop. There's no need for a skirmish.'
'Unfortunately, that call will be made by Rome, not me,' Kline said. 'And they feel they have to respond in order to protect missionaries in other lands. My job is to get them any assistance I can. What I need to know is whether you will provide assistance.'
Hood looked at the others. He did not see a consensus in their eyes. He punched the mute button on the phone.
'Do we need to talk about this?' Hood asked.
'Yeah,' Herbert said. 'We do.'
'Do we have Edgar's number?' Hood asked.
Herbert nodded.
Hood deactivated the mute. 'Edgar, we'll call you back in ten minutes,' Hood said.
'I'll be waiting,' Kline said and hung up.
Hood moved from behind Herbert. He leaned on the table. 'All right. First, where is Maria?' he asked.
'She's heading north, off-road, to points unknown,' Herbert said. 'Her driver, Paris Lebbard, saw where Maria went.'
'Is he following them?' Hood asked.
'No,' Herbert replied. 'But Lebbard saw the off-road direction they took. That was all we needed. We had Viens look for them with the GOSEE-9.'
The GOSEE-9 was the Geosynchronous Observation Satellite and Electromagnetic Eavesdropping platform. The bus-sized satellite was positioned over southern Africa. It had wide bandwidth audio eavesdropping capabilities. Maria, Aideen, and Battat had each been given an OLB, an otbiter lo-
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cator beacon. It was a device that looked like a pen and never caused a problem at customs. The OLB sent out a highfrequency pulse every thirty seconds. The GOSEE-9's onboard computer placed the pulse on a map and sent the exact location to a corresponding map in the NRO's computer.
'What was Maria's last reported position?' Hood asked.
'She was about four miles north of where Lebbard had reported seeing them,' Herbert said. 'We left that information on voice mail for Aideen and David. They rented a car in Gaborone. Their cell phone can't reach Op- Center.'
'Hell of a roaming charge if they could,' Coffey said.
'The towers in Botswana are too remote for a direct call,' Herbert said. 'However, they were able to call the satellite line at the United States embassy in Gaborone. The communications officer there is going to pipe them into a U.S. trunk line so they can collect their messages.'
'Why can't they just call Mike directly?' Coffey asked.
'They can,' Rodgers said. 'But they may be in a place where they're free to listen but not talk. Or maybe they don't want their voices picked up and recorded by electronic eavesdropping.'
'Any call longer than two minutes is relatively easy to pinpoint through triangulation,' Herbert explained.
Coffey nodded with understanding.
'According to the OLB signal tracked at the NRO, Aideen and Battat turned west before they reached Maun,' Herbert went on. 'They appear to be on an intercept course.'
'So there's a chance they can actually reach Dhamballa and get to Father Bradbury,' Hood said.
'Well, without knowing how and where the priest is being kept, that's difficult to say,' Rodgers answered. 'In theory, yes. That's why we want to give her a shot before the Spanish army goes rolling in.'
'But a clean rescue like that doesn't satisfy the Vatican's needs,' Hood observed.
'No. They got into this to crush a rebellion,' Rodgers said. 'We got in to save a priest and help an ally.'
'Still, we may end up with a war,' Herbert said. He tapped
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the photograph of the airplane. 'We still don't know who shot Bishop Max or why.'
'Put aside the ethics of this for the moment,' Hood said. 'Does preventing the removal of the Brush Vipers and Dhamballa from Botswana hasten or delay a war? Does it buy us time?'
'You mean, if there's a third party involved?' Herbert asked.
'Right,' Hood said.
'I would say it slows things down,' Herbert said. 'Whoever killed Bishop Max obviously wanted Dhamballa to take the fall for the murder and get crushed for it,' Herbert said.
