"On the books, they probably want to make sure we don't field any military missions that might backfire," Herbert said. "Trigger something that could involve more U. S. forces."
"We haven't done that so far," Coffey said.
"That's a bullshit reason," Rodgers said. "The Air Force is doing this because they don't want us showing them up."
"That would be the off-the-books reason," Herbert agreed. "Look-the fact that our own people are spying on us is not what, surprised me. It was the nature of the signal they received."
"What about it?" Hood pressed.
"The AFISS routinely monitors radio transmissions that are sent to major intelligence agencies around the world," Herbert said. "Even if they can't decipher the code, they keep track of activity. Not just content but volume and frequency are also important."
"Like a surge in credit card activity sending up flags," Coffey said.
"Bingo," Herbert replied. "That's how we knew when the Russians were going to move into Chechnya. Increased cornmunication. The radio transmission from the landing area in Botswana was noticed by the AFISS computer because it matched a foreign office we've been calling."
"Which one?" Hood asked.
Herbert replied, "Shigeo Fujima at the IAB."
Chapter Fifty
Battat was at the wheel as he and Aideen left Gaborone in their rented Jeep Wrangler Sahara. They got on to the TransKalahari Highway. Almost at once they were struck by the scope of the countryside. Battat had been across Texas and had taken the Trans-Siberian railroad. When he was a teenager, he had crossed the ocean working on a yacht for some international oil tycoon. But he had never seen expanses as level and featureless as these. On both sides there was nothing but scrub, rock, and tawny earth to the horizon. Occasionally, the setting sun would catch a snow-topped mountain. But the peaks were so remote they were quickly hidden by the dusty winds that blew across the veldt.
As the Americans began their drive toward Maun, Aideen called the embassy at Gaborone to access the voice mailbox at Op-Center. Battat was surprised to hear that they had received new instructions. They were no longer going to be linking up with Maria Corneja in Maun.
"Is something wrong?" Battat asked.
"Maria managed to sneak off with Leon Seronga," Aideen said. "They believe he's taking her to Dhamballa's camp."
"Damn, that woman gets around," Battat said.
"There's more," Aideen told him. "Undercover Spanish troops are searching for Seronga and Dhamballa. Op-Center is inclined to assist them."
"What about assisting Maria instead?" Battat said. "We have an agent on site who may be in a position to defuse the situation."
"That's international politics for you," Aideen said. "I suspect we're helping the Vatican, not Spain. The United States needs to maintain good relations with Rome and, through them, help keep peace in Africa. We don't want another Somalia."
"Whoever we're helping, Maria is with Seronga. That puts her in the line of fire," Battat said.
"Maybe not," Aideen went on. "Hood wants the Spanish soldiers delayed. That's why we have to get to Maria first. We'll split up, one party going with Seronga, the other taking the Spanish along a different route. Whoever goes to the Vodun encampment is to try to get Father Bradbury away. That has to happen before the Spaniards arrive to take him by force. Ideally, we would also convince the Brush Vipers to lay low."
"Cornered and desperate men do not always do what you want," Battat remarked.
"But there's a chance they might," Aideen said.
"Yeah, and there's a chance an elephant stampede will save us the way it used to save Tarzan," Battat said.
"They might do it if Seronga or Dhamballa do not see another way out," Aideen said.
"Do we know exactly where Maria is?" Battat asked.
"Op-Center is going to send her coordinates through the embassy to my laptop in a few minutes," Aideen said.
"God bless wireless," Battat said.
"They're going to take a little longer getting that same data to the Vatican Security Office," Aideen added.
"Did Rodgers give any indication which of us is supposed to lead the Spaniards off course?" Battat asked.
"No," she replied. "I suppose Maria has to be part of the group that goes with the Spanish soldiers. Her countrymen may be more willing to follow her."
"Why?" Battat asked. "Because she's Spanish?"
"No," Aideen replied. "Because she's a great-looking woman."
"God bless the male libido, too," Battat remarked, shaking his head slowly. "And did the Op-Center brain trust tell you where we're supposed to lead the Spanish army?"
"General Rodgers said the field operation is under my direction," Aideen told him. "He wants to try to give the other team, the one that sticks with Seronga, a minimum of two hours to work with Dhamballa."
"That's just great," Battat said.
"What is?" Aideen asked.
"Never mind," Battat said.
"You don't like the plan?" Aideen pressed.
"No, it's fine," he lied. He did not want to get into it. cornplaining wouldn't change anything.
"If you want, we can call Rodgers through the embassy," she suggested. "I'll ask him to clarify things."
"No," Battat replied. "He'll just tell us to use our initiative. And he'd be right."
"General Rodgers said he would feed Maria's locater beacon into the computer beginning at half past eight," Aideen went on. "That way we can be sure to intercept Maria. The general said the map coordinates would be refreshed every three minutes."
Battat glanced at the car clock. The download was just over fifteen minutes away.
"General Rodgers also said Op-Center was instituting an SSB," Aideen continued. "I did not see that term in any of my files. Do you have any idea what it stands for?"
"It's a simulated systems breakdown," Battat told her. "American intelligence agencies share locater beacon technology with several international intelligence services, including Interpol. Interpol has a Spanish division. Rodgers obviously does not want the information being accessed by Spain or the Vatican Security Office prematurely. He needs at least a half hour to purge the download system of cooperative links. The beauty of SSB software is that it allows them to lock out our allies without making it look as if it's intentional. There will be static, wireless disconnects, software crashes, a whole menu of impediments. It spares hurt feelings and mistrust in future dealings."
"I see," Aideen said. "That should give you^some idea of how many different issues they're dealing with over there."
"While we, luckily, have just one problem," Battat said.
"Father Bradbury," she said.
"Sorry, that's two problems," Battat said. "Father Bradbury is number two. Number one is getting out of Botswana alive. This was supposed to be simple recon, not search and rescue and deceive elite Spanish soldiers."
Aideen frowned. "I'm not going to worry about that," she said. "We've read the material, we've studied the maps. We're prepared."
"Are we?" Battat asked.
"As prepared as we can be," she replied.
"Exactly. There's always the stuff you can't plan for," Battat said. "I've had some experience with that. A couple of months ago, I was hunting for one of the world's most elusive terrorists."
"The Harpooner," Aideen said.
"That's the SOB," Battat said. "I wanted to be the one to bring him down. I needed to redeem myself. I collected data, zeroed in on where the bastard had to be, searched the region yard by yard, and waited. The bastard was literally one hundred and eighty degrees from where I thought he'd be. He coldcocked me. He would have killed me except that he needed me alive. We're improvising on a stage where there's no room to screw up."