Erik watched it pull away, wishing he'd loaded more rounds into his rifle, wishing that he could try a shot through the back window before the car turned right and disappeared.
The young man didn't have the courage to go over and see what had happened to Sergeant Braden. He just stayed there, leaning across the truck, cursing himself for letting them get away. He didn't know, and would never believe, that he had, in fact, done better than many trained police officers could have done.
In the minivan, one of the gunmen took more note of the bullet in his chest than the one in his head. But it was the head shot that would kill him. As the man bent down, a lacerated artery let go completely and showered the inside of the car with blood, much to the surprise of the dying man, who had but a few seconds to realize what had happ -
Another Air Force flight, as luck had it, also a C-141B, took Mr. Clark out of Panama, heading for Andrews, where rapid preparations were being made for the arrival ceremony. Before the funeral flight arrived, Clark was in Langley talking to his boss, Bob Ritter. For the first time in a generation, the Operations Directorate had been granted a presidential hunting license. John Clark, carried on the personnel rolls as a case-officer instructor, was the CIA chief hunter. He hadn't been asked to exercise that particular talent in a very long time, but he still knew how.
Ritter and Clark didn't watch the TV coverage of the arrival. All that was part of history now, and while both men had an interest in history, it was mainly in the sort that is never written down.
"We're going to take another look at the idea you handed me at St. Kitts," the Deputy Director (Operations) said.
"What's the objective?" Clark asked carefully. It wasn't hard to guess why this was happening, or the originator of the directive. That was the reason for his caution.
"The short version is revenge," Ritter answered.
"Retribution is a more acceptable word," Clark pointed out. Lacking in formal education though he was, he did read a good deal.
"The targets represent a clear and present danger to the security of the United States."
"The President said that?"
"His words," Ritter affirmed.
"Fine. That makes it all legal. Not any less dangerous, but legal."
"Can you do it?"
Clark smiled in a distant, smoky way. "I run my side of the op my way. Otherwise, forget it. I don't want to die from oversight. No interference from this end. You give me the target list and the assets I need. I do the rest, my way, my schedule."
"Agreed," Ritter nodded.
Clark was more than surprised by that. "Then I can do it. What about the kids we have running around in the jungle?"
"We're pulling them out tonight."
"To be reinserted where?" Clark asked.
Ritter told him.
"That's really dangerous," the case officer observed, though he was not surprised by the answer. It had probably been planned all along. But, if it had...
"We know that."
"I don't like it," Clark said after a moment's thought. "It complicates things."
"We don't pay you to like it."
Clark had to agree to that. He was honest enough with himself, though, to admit that part of it he did like. A job such as this, after all, had gotten him into the protective embrace of the Central Intelligence Agency in the first place, so many years before. But that job had been on a free-agent basis. This one was legal, but arguably. Once that would not have mattered to Mr. Clark, but with a wife and kids, it did now.
"Do I get to see the family for a couple of days?"
"Sure. It'll take awhile to get things in place. I'll have all the information you need messengered down to The Farm."
"What do we call this one?"
"I guess that about covers it." Clark's face broke into a grin. He walked out of the room toward the elevator. The new DDI was there, Dr. Ryan, heading to Judge Moore's office. They'd never quite met, Clark and Ryan, and this wasn't the time, though their lives had already touched on two occasions.
14. Snatch and Grab
I MUST THANK your Director Jacobs," Juan said. "Perhaps we will meet someday." He'd taken his time with this one. Soon, he judged, he'd be able to extract any information he wanted from her with the same intimate confidence that might be expected of husband and wife - after all, true love did not allow for secrets, did it?
"Perhaps," Moira replied after a moment. Already part of her was thinking that the Director would come to her wedding. It wasn't too much to hope for, was it?
"What did he travel to Colombia for, anyway?" he asked while his fingertips did some more exploring over what was now very familiar ground.
"Well, it's public information now. They called it Operation TARPON." Moira explained on for several minutes during which Juan's caresses didn't miss a beat.
