'Yes, the CIOC is working us,' Hood said. 'And yes, they're doing it very quietly and very effectively.'
'I hope you told them to stuff their little letter,' Rodgers said.
'I did not,' Hood replied.
'What?' Rodgers said. That felt like the small end of the baseball bat.
'I informed Senator Fox that the NCMC would comply with the resolution,' Hood said.
'But they're cowards, Paul!' Rodgers yelled. 'You kowtowed to a bunch of sheep.'
Hood said nothing. Rodgers took a long breath. He had to reel it in. He was not going to get anywhere beating up on Paul Hood.
'Fine,' Hood agreed at last. 'They're cowards. They're sheep. But you've got to give them credit for one thing.'
'What's that?' Rodgers asked.
'They did something that we did not,' Hood replied. 'They did this thing legally.' Hood opened a file on the computer and swung the monitor toward Rodgers. 'Have a look.'
Reluctantly, the general leaned forward. He needed a minute to calm down. He looked at the monitor. Hood had brought up section 24-4 of the CCP manual. Paragraph 8 was highlighted. Rodgers read the passage. Even as he focused on the text, Rodgers could not believe this was happening. What had happened to Striker in the field was crushing enough. But at least they died in action. To be shut down and humiliated by a clutch of soft, self- serving politicians like this. It was almost unbearable.
'Seconding fresh troops from other military forces falls under the heading of 'Domestic military activity and procurement,' ' Hood continued. 'That is something the CIOC can and has preemptively denied. They've also blocked the hiring of retired military personnel for other than advisory activities. They used section 90-9, paragraph 5, to do that.'
Hood jumped to that part of the CCP. It outlined the need for all recommissioned personnel to undergo field examinations at Quantico, which was where Striker had been stationed. The manual defined that as military activity that had to be approved by the CIOC.
Mike Rodgers sat back. Hood was right. He almost had to admire Senator Fox and her backstabbing colleagues.They had not only stopped Hood and Rodgers by the book, but they had
done it without kicking up any dust. He wondered if they were also hoping to get his own resignation.
Maybe they would. He did not want to give them the satisfaction, but he also did not have the patience for this kind of bureaucracy anymore.
Hood turned the computer screen around and leaned forward in his chair. He folded his hands.
'Sorry I got a little hot,' Rodgers said.
'You don't have to apologize to me,' Hood said.
'Yes, I do,' Rodgers replied.
'Mike, I know this is a tough blow,' Hood went on. 'But I've also been reading the CCP. This does not have to be a terminal blow.'
Now Rodgers leaned forward. 'What do you mean?'
Hood typed something on the keyboard. 'I'm going to throw some names at you.'
'Okay,' Rodgers said.
'Maria Corneja, Aideen Marley, Falah Shibli, David Battat, Harold Moore, and Zack Bemler,' Hood said. 'What do those people have in common?'
'They're agents we've worked with over the years,' Rodgers said.
'There's something else most of them share,' Hood said.
'I'm missing whatever it is,' Rodgers admitted.
'Except for Aideen, none of them ever served in the military,' Hood said. 'And none of them is in it now.'
'I'm still not following you,' Rodgers said apologetically.
'These people are not governed by the CIOC resolution or by CCP restrictions,' Hood said. 'What I'm saying is that we get back in the field, but we don't do it with a military team. We don't replace Striker.'
'Infiltration,' Rodgers said. Now he got it. 'We defuse situations from the inside rather than the outside.'
'Exactly,' Hood replied.
Rodgers sat back. He was ashamed that he had been so slow on the uptake. 'Damn, that's good,' Rodgers said.
'Thanks,' Hood said. 'We have an absolute mandate to collect intelligence. The CIOC doesn't control that,' he went on.
'So we run this as a black ops unit. Only you, Bob Herbert, and one or two others know about it. Our people fly commercial airlines, work with cover profiles, move around in daylight, in public.'
'They hide in plain sight,' Rodgers said.
'Right,' Hood said. 'We run an old-fashioned HUMINT operation.'
Rodgers nodded. He was annoyed that he had sold his boss short. Yet this was a side of Paul Hood he had never seen. The lone wolf in sheepish team player's clothes.
