worlds: scientific, military, and diplomatic. He’s been around the block. Got started as an under-grad physics student and went Air Force ROTC to help with tuition. He got a master’s almost for drill and could’ve stayed for twenty. But the Air Force tried to nudge him into weapons design when he was more interested in the operational end, and became a NEST officer.”
“NEST?” Peters asked.
“Nuclear Emergency Search Team. Or maybe it’s Support Team. Anyway, the ‘broken arrow’ guys. But there wasn’t much work along those lines so he went with the reserves for longevity and was offered a job with IAEA. Once in a while, if he has enough Merlot, he’ll tell you he wasn’t thrilled about the U.N. but the job got him to interesting places with a chance for some excitement.”
Peters slowly shook his head. “A nuke who wants excitement? Nooo thank you. I remember a bubblehead friend of mine who said, ‘I don’t want to hear ‘Oops’ around nuclear reactors or submarines.’”
Finch knew Langevin’s dossier almost by heart, and clearly admired the scientist. “As a onetime IAEA investigator, he’s seen the best and worst of United Nations operations and eventually he left in disgust. As he said late one night, ‘I might as well get better paid for what I know because I’ve already been ignored for it.’”
Peters accepted his colleagues’ assessment. “Okay by me. But is he available? And what if he’s not?”
Carmichael’s mouth curled at the edges, producing the dimples that Peters secretly admired. “Oh, Bernie’s available, trust me on that. Whatever he’s doing, he’ll jump at the chance to get his boots dirty.”
Finch’s Rolodex memory for personnel matters did a quick shuffle. “We don’t have anybody else remotely like him, which is why he’s on retainer. If Bernie can’t go for some reason, we’ll have to get the admiral to call in some DoD markers.”
“Okay,” Peters replied. “So who else do we need?”
Carmichael almost hated herself for what she was about to say. “I’ve been thinking about the language situation. We don’t have anybody over there who speaks Arabic, Hebrew, and Farsi. But Hezbollah is heavily Iranian.”
Finch’s eyes widened as realization dawned. “Oh, no…”
“ ‘Fraid so, Matt. I’m going to ask Omar if he’ll go.”
Peters realized the implication. “Dr. Mohammed? I know he’s a fine training officer, but how would he do in the field? I mean, he’s…”
“Overweight, out of shape, and enjoys restaurants and museums. I know. But he’s the only game in town.”
Finch shrugged. “Well, all we can do is ask. So, who else?”
Carmichael thought for a minute. “With the guys we already have over there, probably nobody else. If there’s extra security needed, I don’t know why the Druze couldn’t help.”
Finch shook his head. “On something this sensitive? I’d think the Israelis would insist on people trained for the job.”
Carmichael almost patted the recruiter’s hand in sympathy. “Matt, I’m not going to say that Mr. Baram’s lying to us. But if anybody thinks the Israelis are going to pass this off to some hired mercs, hoping they’ll get lucky looking for a real small needle in a really big haystack, they’re crazy.”
“So…”
“So,” Carmichael replied, “I’d bet next year’s retirement checks that we’re a backup. The Izzies probably have people in place right now. Then, when and if the nukes are found, if there’s any publicity, Tel Aviv can deny their people were in Lebanon. They’ll say… ‘Ta-da! Our friends from SSI did it.’”
Peters caught the drift. “More deniability.”
“You got it, cowboy.”
Peters and Finch looked at one another, then at the diminutive ops officer. Their faces asked the tacit question: now what?
Carmichael reached for the phone, put it on speaker, and consulted her PalmPilot. After three rings someone answered.
“Langevin here.”
“Bernie! Sandy here.”
“Ah, Sandra my sweet! When do we leave? I have a week’s worth of condoms.”
She blushed visibly while stifling a giggle. “Dr. Langevin, you might like to say hello to my colleagues here with me: Jack Peters and Matt Finch.”
“Uh, oh. Hello, gentlemen. Matt, I hope you are not going with Sandra and me. Threesomes are so passe these days.”
Finch’s brown eyes gleamed while he bit his lip. Peters mouthed the words: “Is he drunk at four o’clock?”
Carmichael waved him down, still chuckling. Then she tried to regain control of the conversation. “Bernie, you’re right about taking a trip. How did you know?”
“Because, my sweet, you only call me when you want me to go somewhere, and it’s never with you. So what is it this time?”
“Is your passport current?”
“Forever and a day.”
“Good. We need you here approximately at noon yesterday. Time is very short, Bernie.
“Where to?”
“For now, just the Middle East.”
“All right. And, ah, what references?”
Carmichael thought for a moment; it was an open line. “Bernie, that suitcase you’re going to pack?”
“Yes?”
“Well, this job could involve suitcases that radiate.”
“On the way, Sandy.”
The line went dead.
37
“It’s coming. I can feel it.”
Frank Leopole stood at the front of the room with the SSI team and Druze officers arrayed around him. He had sketched a rough topographical map of the area on the schoolhouse blackboard, using colored chalk to define various positions.
“Why now, Colonel?” militia leader Azzam Hamdam asked through his interpreter, a youngster with financial ambitions in Beirut — or Washington, D.C.
“A combination of factors. First, the timing. The harassing fire has dropped off since our snipers got a handle on things, but I don’t know if that’s an indication of Hezbollah intent. There’s more activity over at El-Arian, so I’ve warned Chris Nissen’s team to go on high alert.”
Breezy raised a hand. “Boss, where’d our sniper dudes go, anyway?”
“They’re conducting another surveillance of the area. At least Furr will return to El-Arian in a day or so but Barrkman might go with him. We’ll see how things look tomorrow.
“Beyond that, the weather’s clamping down. I understand we’ll have low ceilings and maybe some rain the next couple of days. Even though we’re supposed to have close air support, it’s unlikely that Northern Command can arrange fast movers for a while. As for helo gunships, that remains to be seen.”
Leopole nodded toward Rami Hamadeh. “Captain Hamadeh has some information to share.”
The Israeli Druze took two steps forward and turned to face the group. “General Nadel’s brigade is fully briefed to support us, and Colonel Livni’s special operations detachment can insert some teams on fairly short notice. But I am told that the political situation is considered tense, and we should only expect outside help in
