The Weapon by David Poyer

Author:David Poyer
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780312365271
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

“Comments?” murmured Mullaly. “On the record, or off?”

“On or off the record, sir, same thing: when we left, he was alive. I’ll give you my word on that. Heart attack? This is the first I’ve heard of it, but it’s probably exactly what happened.”

They exchanged looks. “Good enough,” Hines said at last.

Dan didn’t catch the handoff, but Mullaly took the chair back. “Dan, this was your first operational mission in charge of Team C. Here’s what concerns me. Captain Hines assures me his intel was solid about the location of the container and it being aboard. And in fact, it’s on the manifest.”

“Yessir. It was on the captain’s copy, too.”

“Go on.”

“The captain said—my Italian’s not that great—but I’m pretty sure he said it was taken off the day before they sailed.” Dan took a sealed envelope from inside his cap and floated it down the table. “I typed up my after-action report aboard McDonnell. Yessir, I know. I did it on an old Selectric, so there’s nothing left on any hard drives.”

Mullaly looked at Hines. Hines shook his head slightly. Mullaly tucked it into his shirt. “Then my question is: Could there have been a leak from within the team, or within TAG? Think about that before you answer.”

Dan gave it a couple of seconds while they waited and the coffee warmer snorted in the corner. A jet passed over the building, turbines whining, coming in low. They hadn’t taken Im along, so the North Korean wasn’t an issue. Carpenter had his flaws, but he didn’t seem like a leaker. Donnie? No. Monty? Again no.

That left the SEALs, and about them he had to admit he knew less than he liked. Where, for instance, had Oberg come up with the rifles? He’d been evasive when Dan had asked him. Was it possible Oberg had passed info on the mission to the Agency, in return for the guns?

Motive? The impression he was getting so far in this whole operation was that it was bypassing the CIA. Which might not like being cut out. Would they go so far as to sabotage a DIA/Navy operation, to defend their turf?

It was all speculative and he was taking too long answering. “Uh, sir, I don’t have anything to suggest. As far as any possible leak. Our comms were secure. We took all the usual security precautions.”

Hines said, “There’s one outside agency that might have an interest in frustrating our efforts.”

“Sir?”

“The DCI.”

Dan looked from one face to the next. He’d expected Hines to say the CIA. But apparently they all understood the acronym. “What’s that, sir? I’m sorry, I don’t—”

“The Defense Council, International—the French national corporation for arms sales.”

“Oh.” The light went on. The outfit Christophe de Lestapis de Cary had said he worked for.

Hines said, blinking at the ceiling, “The information we have is that the DCI’s preparing to market a Gallic version of the Shkval. To follow up on their success exporting Exocet, I assume.”

“Uh-huh,” said Dan. “But why would that make them

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.