renovated for OpCenter. Hood, Rodgers, Herbert, McCaskey, and Coffey moved into the Tank. The conference room had more space and more phones. Also, it had been renovated. Hood should have shifted there in the first place. But they had all been too caught up in the moment to move. They grabbed sandwiches from the vending machine down the hall and talked about anything else while they waited to hear from one of the three members of the group. Some of them checked E-mail. Knowing that Aideen no longer had the cell phone made it worse. At best, they would hear nothing until the operatives reached Maun. With luck, that would happen around two-thirty.
Hood had received E-mails from his son Alexander. That was how the boy communicated when his father was tied up. They had a separate life together on-line. Different topics and a different language. Even a different relationship than they had when they were together physically. Alexander was more serious on-line, and Hood more flip. It was strange. Hood knocked out some quick responses so the boy would have them in the morning.
The first call that came through to the Tank was from Edgar Kline. Hood put the VSO officer on speakerphone. The Vatican Security officer was calling to inform them that Father
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Bradbury was located by a Botswana military helicopter. He was safe.
'I wanted to thank you all,' Kline said. 'Especially you, Bob and Paul. I know we had some disagreements along the way, but I hope that won't stand in the way of future cooperation.'
'Every family has its disputes,' Hood replied. 'The point is, we are still family.'
Herbert made a face. He moved both of his fists up and down. He was right. But this was how the game was played, and Herbert knew it. And in the end, the results were what mattered.
'Against the odds, your people secured Powys Bradbury's freedom,' Kline went on. 'You probably saved his life.'
'Thank you, but we don't know that Father Bradbury's life was in danger,' Hood cautioned.
'Perhaps he would not have been murdered as the bishop was,' Kline acknowledged. 'But I am informed that he had been tortured and looked deathlike. We cannot be certain he would have died without you. But we are certain, now, that he will live.'
'I'll grant you that,' Hood said. 'I'll also pass your thanks along to the others.'
'I also want you to know that a Botswana patrol has found Leon Seronga,' Kline reported. 'He is dead.'
'By whose hand?' Hood asked.
'He took his own life.'
'Are they sure?' Herbert asked.
'They're very certain,' Kline replied. 'He took a single gunshot wound to the temple. He must have known it was over. Or maybe he was trying to keep the government from interrogating and trying him.'
Hood looked at Herbert and Rodgers. Obviously, they were all thinking the same thing. Leon Seronga did that and more. He fell on his sword for Dhamballa. He had given the government of Botswana a fall guy. They could blame this on him and present his death as the end of the threat. There could be an immediate return to normalcy. . '**
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Kline had nothing else to say. He asked to speak with the three field operatives as soon as possible. The Vatican wanted to convey their thanks to them personally. He was sure Father Bradbury would like to do that as well. Hood promised to make that happen.
'What about you?' Kline asked. 'Do you have any further information on the murder of Bishop Max or about Dhamballa?'
'No,' Hood replied. 'Not a thing.'
There was a short silence. Hood had learned to read the silences of foreign officials. It meant that they did not believe the last thing you had said, but they were too diplomatic to tell you so.
Having made his point, Kline thanked them all again and hung up.
'Yeah, friend. We're gonna tell you that we let Dhamballa walk off into the sunset,' Herbert muttered.
'To tell you the truth, I'm not sure we did the right thing there,' McCaskey said.
'We established our mission parameters, and we stuck to them. Our people are safe, and they're coming home. We did the right thing,' Rodgers declared with finality.
'We also lost an opportunity to establish close ties with the Botswana government,' McCaskey pointed out. 'In the end, that kind of relationship can prove extremely useful.'
'Especially if it turns out that something else is going on in that region,' Herbert said.
'Then we would have had to tell them why we were there and how we got in,' Hood reminded them.
'That would not be a basis for establishing trust,' Rodgers said.
'Trust is not a factor in this, Mike,' McCaskey said. 'Need is a factor. If they need us, the rest is irrelevant.'
'We can go to the Botswanans when this done, make fresh overtures,' Hood said. He winked at McCaskey. Things had gotten tense again between the former G-man and Rodgers. Hood wanted to take the edge off. 'You can do that when you go to collect Maria. Make it a belated honeymoon.'
