The others looked at him.
“I’m sorry, sir. When I was in Special Forces, I mean — they were always pulling some idiotic stunt. Why don’t they just take a helicopter? Or motorcycles?”
“We have a truck?” Perry asked.
“We have a panel van,” said Christian. “But we don’t have a driver. Uh, using one of the locals is a real bad idea.”
“What about the marines?” asked Perry.
“There are only six and — ”
“I’ll drive,” said Zeus quickly.
“Actually, I was going to volunteer,” said Christian.
Perry wasn’t particularly keen on either of them going, even though the city was clearly in Vietnamese control. But Christian had already been asking around. The marines were short of the people they needed for security, and if he — or Zeus — didn’t take the van, they’d have to give the job to one of the civilian embassy employees. Or the Vietnamese.
“See the thing is,” Christian explained, “this has to be as quiet as possible. They don’t want the Vietnamese involved, if possible. Because the person who’s coming back has sensitive information. The Vietnamese aren’t supposed to know he’s out there. Or the CIA agent — they didn’t tell even me that much.”
“All right,” said Perry. “You and Zeus head up there. Report in every half hour.”
“Every half hour?” said Zeus.
“Try every fifteen minutes,” answered the general.
22
For everyone else though, it was a hassle. Besides making the flight considerably more difficult for the pilots- even with their automated gear, following the country’s ragged terrain was no picnic — it also scrambled the arrangements Lucas had made for the bicycles, since they were originally sent to the commercial airport the SEALs were going to use.
The net result was that the SEAL drop was delayed for several hours. Mara kept checking in for updates every fifteen minutes, severely depleting the battery in the satcom, until it gave way just after midnight. Crouched near the edge of the large field on the east side of the bam, she opened the battery compartment and reseated it, but that had no effect.
She leaned back, shifting her feet so she was sitting. The night had cooled. She figured it was in the mid- seventies, a perfect temperature under other circumstances. She stared at the clouds moving in. They looked like sheep, trotting across the moon and stars.
She’d hear the MC-130 just before the drop. If it followed the usual pattern, it would approach at something like fifty feet above treetop level, then pop up at the last moment to give the SEALs a little more cushion for the jump. Once they went out the door, they’d hit the ground in a matter of seconds.
She’d made two of those jumps herself, not counting the dozen or so in training. They were tougher than the high-altitude ones, at least in her opinion. When you went out at thirty-five thousand feet, you always felt like you had more time to do things. A low-altitude jump meant you made the right decision right away — or you never made any more.
She liked the challenge. They’d trained by going off bridges. Jump, pull, land.
Who used to say that?
Kevin, the instructor she’d had a crush on at Langley.
He was a good-looking guy. And sweet, too.
Nothing had come of the attraction. Too many rules about fraternizing with the students.
She would have gone out with him. Definitely.
Josh kind of reminded her of him. Very different guy, though. Josh had a bit more of an edge. Which was surprising, because Kevin had been a Ranger, and those guys were supposed to be all edge.
Maybe it was just that she didn’t expect him to have an edge. You heard scientist and immediately you thought, cushy. Egghead.
Not necessarily wimp, but the jury would definitely be out.
Josh had something very tough inside him, though. Not just anger.
He was prejudiced toward action, the way she was.
She admired the way he wanted to protect the little girl. It wasn’t just a case of him thinking she was going to tell the world what was going on — she wasn’t part of a job. He felt he had to keep her safe.
God, I’m a sucker for the old he-man cliche, she told herself.
Mara sat up with a jolt. She heard an aircraft in the distance. She looked at her watch. Barely ten minutes had passed since the battery died while she was talking to DeBiase. At that point, the SEALs had just taken off.
It wasn’t an airplane, it was a helicopter.
The Chinese.
“You get three in a row to win,” he told her. “You go first.”
She took the stick and put an X in the corner. Josh went, she went, then he went, this time leaving an opening for her.
She didn’t take it.
“Look, put your X here. You win.”
She looked at him blankly.
“You want me to win, is that it?”
M? yawned. She didn’t want him to win. She just didn’t get the point of the game. Not at all.
“Sleep,” he said, mimicking a pillow with his hands. “Go ahead.”
She curled up around him and started to doze. Josh felt his own eyelids getting heavier. Why not sleep? he thought. We’ll be out of here soon. It’s just a question of time.
Mara pushed open the door and slipped into the barn. “Kill the lamp,” she hissed.
Josh pulled it over and cranked down the wick. M? didn’t stir. “What’s going on?”
“Helicopter,” said Mara.
“I thought the SEALs were parachuting in.”
“They are.”
“Shit. Should we stay here? Are we safe?”
“I don’t know.”
23
