FLASH.

TOP SECRET ***** CAPER.

1914Z.

SIGINT REPORT.

INTERCEPT 1993 INIT 1904Z FRQ 887.020MHZ.

INIT: SUBJECT FOXTROT.

RECIP: SUBJECT UNIFORM.

F: IT IS AGREED. WELL MEET AT YOUR HOUSE TOMORROW

NIGHT AT [2000L].

U: WHO WILL COME?.

F: [SUBJECT ECHO] CANNOT ATTEND, BUT PRODUCTION.

IS NOT HIS CONCERN ANYWAY. [SUBJECT ALPHA],.

[SUBJECT GOLF], AND [SUBJECT WHISKEY] WILL.

COME WITH ME. HOW IS YOUR SECURITY?.

U: AT MY [EMPHASIS] CASTLE? [LAUGHTER.] FRIEND,.

WE COULD HOLD OFF A REGIMENT THERE, AND MY.

HELICOPTER IS ALWAYS READY. HOW ARE YOU COMING?.

F: HAVE YOU SEEN MY NEW TRUCK?.

U: YOUR GREAT FEET [MEANING UNKNOWN]? NO I HAVE.

NOT SEEN YOUR MARVELOUS NEW TOY.

F: I GOT IT BECAUSE OF YOU, PABLO. WHY DONT YOU

EVER REPAIR THE ROAD TO YOUR CASTLE?.

U: THE RAIN KEEPS DESTROYING IT. YES, I SHOULD PAVE.

IT, BUT I USE A HELICOPTER TO GET HERE.

F: AND YOU COMPLAIN ABOUT MY TOYS! [LAUGHTER.].

SEE YOU TOMORROW NIGHT, FRIEND.

U: GOODBYE.

END CALL. DISCONNECT SIGNAL. END INTERCEPT.

The intercept was delivered to Bob Ritters office within minutes of its receipt. So here was the chance, the whole purpose of the exercise. He got his own signals out at once, without checking with Cutter or the President. After all, he was the one with the hunting license.

Aboard Ranger, the tech-rep got the encrypted message less than an hour later. He immediately placed a telephone call to the office of Commander Jensen, then headed off to see him personally. It wasnt all that hard. He was an experienced field officer and particularly good with maps. That was very useful on a carrier where even experienced sailors got lost in the gray-painted maze all the time. Commander Jensen was surprised he got there so quickly, but already had his personal bombardier-navigator in his office for the mission briefing.

Clark got his signal about the same time. He linked up with Larson and immediately arranged a flight down the valley south of Medellin to make a final reconnaissance of the objective.

Whatever problems his conscience gave Ding Chavez washed out when he did his shirt. There was a nice little creek a hundred meters from their patrol base, and one by one the squad members washed their things out and cleaned themselves up as best they could without soap. After all, he reasoned, poor, dumb peasant or not, he was doing something that he shouldnt have been doing. To Chavez the main concern was that hed used up a magazine and a half of ammo, and the squad was short one claymore mine which, theyd heard a few hours earlier, went off exactly as planned. Their intel specialist was a real whiz with booby traps. Finished with his abbreviated personal hygiene routine, Ding returned to the unit perimeter. Theyd lay up tonight, putting a listening post out a few hundred meters and running a routine patrol to make sure that there was nobody hunting them, but this would be a night of rest. Captain Ramirez had explained that they didnt want to be too active in this area. It might spook the game sooner than they wanted.

Force Majeure THE EASIEST THING for Sergeant Mitchell to do was to call his friend at Fort MacDill. Hed served with Ernie Davis in the 101st Air Assault Division, lived right next to him in a duplex, and crumpled many an empty beer can after charcoaled franks and burgers in the backyard. They were both E-7s, well schooled in the ways of the Army, which was really run by the sergeants, after all. The officers got more money and all of the worries while the long-service NCOs kept things on an even keel. He had an Army-wide phone directory at his desk and called the proper AUTOVON number.

Ernie? Mitch.

Yo, hows life out in wine country?

Humpin the hills, boy. Hows the family?

Doing fine, Mitch. And yours?

Annies turning into quite a little lady. Hey, the reason I called, I wanted to check up to make sure one of our people got out to you. Staff Sergeant named Domingo Chavez. Youd like him, Ernie, hes a real good kid. Anyway, the paperwork got fucked up on this end, and I just wanted to make sure that he showed up in the right place.

No problem, Ernie said. Chavez, you said?

Right. Mitchell spelled it.

Dont ring a bell. Wait a minute. I gotta switch phones. A moment later Ernies voice came back, accompanied by the clicking sound that denoted a computer keyboard. What was the world coming to? Mitchell wondered. Even infantry sergeants had to know how to use the goddamned things. Run that name past me again?

Chavez, first name Domingo, E-6. Mitchell read off his service number, which was the same as his Social Security number.

He aint here, Mitch.

Huh? We got a call from this Colonel OMara of yours Who?