Carmichael smacked her forehead. “Pope! I can just imagine. You know, ‘Is Pope Catholic?’ I guess he takes some ribbing over that.”
“Not much,” Leopole laughed. “He’s one tough cookie, though it takes some people a while to figure that out. They see that baby face and shaved head and think he’s some kind of wimp. They finally get the point when they look up at him from the floor.”
“So why’d he get out?”
“His team had a mission in South America a few years ago. I don’t know the details, but it tanked pretty bad. I only heard him mention it once: six guys went in and Pope carried the other survivor out. He got an unpublished Silver Star, for whatever that’s worth. If I had to guess, I’d say he got out because he had survivor’s guilt. Maybe still does.”
Carmichael thought for a moment. “Well, it couldn’t be too bad if he’s still working in the operational world.”
“He’s a lot like Steve Lee. Really likes the work, especially the leadership aspects. He’s a very good rifleman and he’s into martial arts.
“Hell, I don’t know. Anyway, as you’d expect, Pope is a tremendous swimmer. His idea of a good way to start the day is to jump out of an airplane ten miles at sea and swim ashore before breakfast.”
Carmichael absorbed that information. Then she asked, “Is Pope available? We need him immediately.”
“I left a message on his machine and sent an e-mail. We should hear something soon.”
“So you think he’ll go?”
“I’d bet the ranch on it. And it’s not just the action, Sandy. Pope takes his religion seriously. He and Terry Keegan really got into a pretty loud philosophical argument a while back. You know Terry was molested by a priest and left the faith as a teenager?”
She said, “Yeah, I know.”
“Well, Vic says that’s no reason to write off the Church of Rome. Anyway, Vic sees a spiritual aspect to the war on terror: Christianity against Islam. It’s not the sort of thing we’d ever publicize, but I tell you what: I’ve never known anybody as motivated as he is.”
54
Deladier had shaved and showered, changing into slacks and a polo shirt with blazer. “Don’t wait up for me,” he said with a grin.
Hurtubise waved nonchalantly from the bed. He had a notepad and two pencils, obviously absorbed in another planning session. “I’ll leave the light on, in case you’re back before dawn.”
The younger man ran a hand through his thick, dark brown hair and made a point of checking his wallet. He had turned one quarter of his paycheck into cash: more than enough for an extended stay in the city. “Oh, I’ll be back. After all, how long does it take to lay two sisters?”
Marcel conjured up a male-bonding smile. “Kiss them for me.”
“Of course! Twice each.” Deladier turned to go.
“Paul.”
“Yes?”
“What are their names?”
Deladier felt an ephemeral spike of fright. He recovered quickly: “Ah, Francesca and… Elena. Why?”
Hurtubise picked up his pad again. “I just like to know who’s getting my stand-in kisses, that’s all.” He grinned again. “Have fun.”
“Always, my friend. Always.”
Forty-five seconds after the door closed, Hurtubise picked up the phone and dialed another room number. The occupant answered on the second ring. “Alfonso? Yes, he just left. Have our friends tail him from the lobby until he returns.”
55
“What do we want to call this mission?” Wilmont asked the SSI brain trust.
Derringer drummed his fingers in the rudimental patterns of his youth. Lieutenant General Thomas Varlowe, sitting in as an ex-officio, scrawled “USMA ‘66” on his notepad.
Omar Mohammed said, “Why not Prometheus?”
Derringer considered himself well read, but ancient mythology was not high on his list. “Well, I suppose so…”
“Consider this,” Mohammed said. “Prometheus was no fool, but he attempted the impossible. He tried to deceive Zeus, who knows all and sees all, by staging a false sacrifice. Then Prometheus stole fire from Zeus and gave it to mortals on earth. Therefore, Zeus did not merely punish Prometheus: he punished the entire world for the offense that Prometheus committed.”
“Well, the comparisons are pretty obvious, considering the Iranian situation. All right, it’s the Prometheus Project.”
George Ferraro had been awaiting the chance to discuss finances.
Derringer nodded. “Yes, of course, George.”
“Thank you, Admiral.” He turned his head, looking at each person in the room. “You know, as chief financial officer it’s my responsibility to look after SSI’s cash flow. I realize that we’re all concerned with the national security implications of this… Prometheus… project, but since things happened in Chad we’re looking at serious cost escalation. I mean, something approaching an order of magnitude.”
Wilmont, as chief operating officer, appreciated Ferraro’s background as a leading bean counter with Naval Systems Command. “George, I don’t think anybody here disagrees with you. Certainly I do not. But you must realize that there’s just no time for the usual contractual process.” He grinned at the standing joke: “The U.S. Government buys slow-drying ink that doesn’t blot for 180 days.”
“Yeah, I understand that, Marsh. All I’m saying is that we’ve been focused on getting the job done, and really all we have from State and DoD is barely a handshake commitment to reimburse us for our upfront costs. That doesn’t even begin to address the standard fees for personnel, equipment, and routine things like consultation.”
Derringer leaned forward, fixing the younger man with his gaze. “George, please don’t take this the wrong way. I realize that you’re doing your job, and you’ve always been conscientious about it. But when I started this firm, it was not with the sole intention of making money. I saw things that needed doing because various agencies of our government were not doing them. That’s what SSI is all about. If we have to dip into our reserves to meet expenses for a while, I’m prepared to do that.”
Ferraro bit down the frustration he felt rising inside him.
Wilmont sought to placate the senior VP. “Mike and I had a face-to-face with O’Connor at State. He anticipated our concern and said flat out that we’ll have everything we need, some of it gratis. His operating group is starting a set of books to show any auditors that whatever goodies we get from the Navy or elsewhere were
