ralliers-not as peacekeepers but as Castilians."
"With guns?" Hood asked.
"I'm afraid so," said Manni.
"Which is like dropping a lighted match on
gas," said hawkish National Security advisor
Burkow.
"Mr. Burkow, you are correct," said Manni.
"Like a firestorm, riots spread westward
to Portugal. The police called for military
help from Madrid and it is being provided. But
Lisbon is concerned that they may not be enough to contain the
fighting and also to stop refugees from crossing the
border. They've just asked the United Nations
to create a buffer zone."
"How do you feel about Portugal's request,
Mr. Secretary-General?" Carol Lanning
asked.
"I am opposed," he replied.
"I don't blame you," said Burkow.
"Lisbon's got an army, an air force, and a
navy. Let them field a force."
"No, Mr. Burkow," Manni said. "I am
uneasy about having
any
army on the border. Placing a force there would
legitimize the crisis. It would acknowledge that a
crisis exists."
"Doesn't it?" Lanning asked.
"It does," Manni agreed. "But
to millions of Spaniards the crisis is still a
highly localized one. It's a provincial
matter, not a national or international one. And
officially, it is still under control. If they learn that
an army is gathered on the border-any army- there will
be misinformation, confusion, and panic. The situation will
become even worse."
220 OP-CENTER
"Mr. Manni," Burkow said tensely, "this may
all be academic. Are you aware that Prime
Minister Aznar has spoken with President
Lawrence and asked for a U.s. military presence
offshore?"
"Yes," Manni said, "I am aware of this.
Ostensibly, the force is there to defend and evacuate
American tourists in the wake of the killing."
"Ostensibly," Burkow agreed.
"Has the President made a decision?"
"Not yet," said Burkow, "but he's leaning toward
it. He's waiting for intelligence to determine whether
American interests are, in fact, in danger.
Paul? Mar his his Do either of you have anything to say about
that?"
Being the senior official. Hood answered first.
"Except for the attack against Martha-or
perhaps because of it-there have been no reports of additional
hostilities against American tourists," he said.
"Nor do we expect there to be. The people of Spain will
be extremely sensitive about straining relations
further. Besides, whatever the region, Spain's
economy depends upon tourism. It's very
unlikely that they'll want to do anything
to jeopardize that. As for additional political
attacks against Americans, we all know that Martha
was assassinated because she worked for Op-Center. We
believe that she was murdered as a singular warning to the
United States not to do exactly what we're
discussing: become involved in Spanish politics.
As long as we keep our distance, politically and
militarily, we don't expect any more such
attacks."
"Paul's on the money about the tourist situation,"
Marius said. "We've been very carefully
monitoring
BALANCE OF POWER 221
the actions of the Spanish police and military. They
respond very quickly to put down violence in popular
tourist centers. Of course," he added, "that may
change if the conflict takes on a life of its
own or if the police are provoked the
way they were at the Traitor's Gate."
"Which," Burkow interrupted, "is the heart of the
matter. It's the reason the President is
considering sending troops. There's a point in every
internal conflict when protest becomes open
warfare. When emotion takes over from common sense.
When expectations change from 'I want to preserve
my economy" to "I want to preserve my
life." When that happens-was
"If it
happens," Manni pointed out.
"Fine," Burkow said. "If it happens,
tourists- American and otherwise-will have no one
looking out for them."
As Burkow was speaking. Hood received a secure
e-mail message from McCaskey. He motioned
Rodgers over as it came through. They read it together.
Paul,
it read.
Field Ops report Basque yacht bomber
murdered by Catalonian team. FO'S going
to talk to hit squad. Assessment: motive was
revenge, not politics. I "we warned FO'S
that one of them may still be in danger if she's
recognised as survivor of the MM
situation. She doesn 'I think these people are carrying
on that agenda. I'm inclined to agree that
circumstances have changed. Inform if you want her
recalled.
The yacht bomber apparently was backed by army
general named Amadori. Checking on him now. Not
222 OP-CENTER
surprisingly, local NATO files on the
general appear to have been purged.
Hood sent an acknowledgment along with his
congratulations to Aideen and Maria for their
intelligence work. He didn't like the idea of her
being out there with members of the team that had had Martha
killed. Especially after having inadvertently left
her and Martha open to the attack in the first place.
But Maria was a crack agent. With her there to back
Aideen-and vice versa-Hood informed Darrell
to let the women make the call.
"Mr. Burkow," Manni said, "your concerns are
well founded. But I believe we should wait to see
whether the Spanish government can put this down
themselves."
"So far, they haven't exactly instilled
confidence," Burkow said. "They couldn't even keep
Deputy Serrador alive long enough
to interrogate him."
"Mistakes were made," Manni agreed.
"Everyone was caught off guard. But we mustn't
compound those mistakes."
"Paul Hood here. What do you recommend, Mr.
Secretary-General?"'"
"My advice, Mr. Hood, is to give the
prime minister another day to work things out. He has
called in his military advisor on civil unrest
and they're drawing up a plan to deal with all
possible contingencies."
Rodgers leaned toward the phone. "Sir, this is
General Mike Rodgers, Deputy Director
of Op-Center. If the prime minister or his
officers need any military or
BALANCE OF POWER 223
intelligence support, my office is prepared
to offer it very, very quietly."
"Thank you. General Rodgers," said Manni.
"I will certainly inform Prime Minister Aznar and
General Amadori of your generous offer."
Hood was looking at Rodgers as Manni spoke.
Something passed between them at the mention of Amadori's
name-a rapid and
unexpected deflation of spirit visible
in their eyes, a moment of numb paralysis
in their limbs. Hood felt like a predator who
suddenly realized that his prey was much smarter, more
feral, and far deadlier than he'd expected.
The paralysis passed quickly. Hood hit the mute
button. "Mike-was
"I know," Rodgers said, already rising. "I'm on
it."
"If it's the same man," Hood said, "they've
got some very serious problems over there."
"Spain does," Rodgers said, "along with every nation
that's going to want to get its people out of there in a
hurry."
As Rodgers hurried from the office Hood listened,
disinterested, to the political jabber between Manni,
Burkow, and Lanning. They agreed about how they
needed to let Spain solve this situation themselves but with a
level of vocal support from the U.s. which would be
heard by the feuding factions and could be ratcheted up
to a military presence if necessary. A military
presence that could become defensive action but that was
actually offense designed at helping to preserve the
legitimate government of Spain-
It was all very necessary. Hood knew, but only in
224 OP-CENTER
terms of posturing-like the United Nations
itself. The real work was going to be done over the next
few hours as they tried to figure out whether
Amadori was behind the unrest. And, if so, how far
he had gone in undermining the government. If he
hadn't gone too far, U.s. intelligence and the
military would have to work with Spanish leaders to figure
out how to stop him. That would be difficult to do
quietly, but it could be done. There were templates for
that kind of containment in Haiti, Panama, and other
nations.
But it was the alternative that concerned Hood. The
possibility that, like a cancer, Amadori's
influence had spread far into the workings of the nation. If
that were the case, then it might not be possible to remove
the general without killing the patient. The only
model for that was the collapse of Yugoslavia, a
struggle in which thousands of people died and the
sociopolitical and economic ramifications were still
being felt.
Spain had nearly four times the population of
Yugoslavia. It also had friends and enemies in
neighboring nations. If Spain came apart the
unrest could easily spread throughout Europe. The
breakup could also set an example for other
melting-pot nations such as France, the
United Kingdom, and Canada.
Perhaps even the United States.
The call ended with an agreement that the
Secretary-General's staff would provide hourly
updates to the White House, and that Burkow would
inform Manni of any changes in administration
policy.
Hood hung up the phone feeling more helpless than
he had since he'd first joined Op-Center. He'd
had missions go right and missions go wrong. His team
BALANCE OF POWER 225
had thwarted terrorists and coups. But he'd never
faced a situation that threatened to set the tone for a new
century: the idea that fragmentation was the norm rather than
the exception and that nations as the world knew them could very
well be on the brink of extinction.
TWENTY
Tuesday, 4:45 a.m. Madrid, Spain
Word of Adolfo Alcazar's brutal death
traveled quickly from Maria Comeja to Luis Garcia
de la Vega to Darrell McCaskey. As he was
required to do by law, Luis conveyed news of the
homicide to the Ministry of Justice in Madrid.
There, a high-ranking officer on the night staff
quietly passed the information to General
Amadori's longtime personal aide, Antonio
Aguirre. Aguirre-a former staff officer
to Francisco Franco-personally went to the
General's office, knocked once on the door, and
waited until he was invited in. Then he gave the
news to the General himself.
Amadori did not seem surprised to learn of
Adolfo's death. He also did not mourn
Adolfo. How could he:
the General had not known the man. It had been
imperative that the two men be together and communicate with
one another as little as possible. That way, if
Adolfo had been arrested and forced to talk, there was
nothing but his own testimony to link him to the General.
There were no telephone records, notes, or
photographs. To Amadori, Adolfo Alcazar
was a loyal soldier of the cause, one of the many
revolutionaries
BALANCE OF POWER 227
whom the General did not and could not know.
But what the brave and devoted Adolfo Alcazar
had done was a flashpoint that had helped to make this
revolution possible. The General vowed aloud
to Antonio Aguirre that his murder would be avenged
and his killers eliminated. He knew
exactly who to go after: the Ramirez
familia.
No one else would have a reason or the means
to eliminate Adolfo. Their deaths would be an
example to others that he intended to treat resistance with
terminal force.
And, of course, as the General told Antonio, the
roundup and execution of the Ramirez
familia
would serve one other purpose. It would frighten and
scatter other
familias
that might be inclined to oppose him. Which was why the
strike had to be very public and very dramatic.
The Genera] gave Antonio the order to make that
happen. Antonio saluted smartly, turned, and
left without saying a word. He went directly
to his desk and phoned General Americo Hoss
at the Tagus Army Air Base outside of
Toledo. The General's orders were communicated
verbally. Like Adolfo, General Hoss would do
whatever was necessary to serve the General.
It was still dark when the four aging HA-15
helicopters lifted off. Like most of the
helicopters in the Spanish army, the
HA-15'S were transport choppers rather than
gunships. The thirty-year-old aircraft had
been outfitted with a pair of side-door-mounted
20mm cannons, which had been fired only in
practice missions.
This was not a practice mission.
228 OP-CEMTER
Each helicopter carried a complement of ten
soldiers, each of whom was armed with a Z-62
submachine gun or a Modelo L-1-003
rifle adapted to accomodate standard M16
magazines. Mission commander Major Alejandro
Gomez had orders to take the factory and to use
whatever means were necessary to obtain the names of the killers.
Gomez was expected to return with prisoners. But
if they refused to come, he was expected to return with
bodybags.
TWE caret TYOIVE
Tuesday, 5:01 a.m. San Sebastian,
Spain
Maria pulled up to th
e security booth at the
Ramirez factory and flashed her Interpol
credentials. She'd decided en route that she
didn't want to be a tourist here. She was
relatively confident that the guard would
phone ahead to warn the plant manager that she and
Aideen were coming in. The manager, in turn, would
inform any of the murderers who might be on the
premises. Ordinarily, the killers would
probably have hidden or fled. That was why Maria had
taken the precaution of informing the guard, " "We
have no jurisdiction here. We only want to talk
to members of the
familia.""
"But Senorita Comejas," the burly,
gray-bearded sentry replied, " "there is no
familia.""
It was a cool disavowal. It reminded Aideen of the
drug dealers in Mexico City who had always
insisted that they never heard of
el senorio-
"the lord of the estate"-the drug lord who provided them
with all the heroin sold in the nation's capital.
"Actually, you're a little premature," Maria
replied, gunning the car engine in neutral. "I have
a very strong suspicion that in just a little while there
will
be no
familia.""
230 OP-CENTER
The guard gave her a veiled but puzzled look.
He wore a ribbon for valor and had the gruff,
immutable bearing of a drill sergeant. In Spain,
as elsewhere, security positions were a haven for former
soldiers and police officers. Very few of them
appreciated being ordered around by civilians. And
far, far fewer liked being lectured by women. As
Man'a had suspected when she first set eyes on
him, this one was going to need another little push.
His
"Amigo,""
she said, " "trust me. There
won't
be a
familia
unless I get to talk to them. A few of them took
it upon themselves to kill a man in town. That man has
some very powerful friends. I don't think those friends are
going to let this matter sit."
The sentry looked at her for a long moment. Then,
turning his back to them, he made a phone call.
His voice did not carry outside the booth. But after
a short conversation the sentry hung up, raised the
bar, and admitted the car to the parking lot. Maria
told Aideen that she was convinced now that one
or more members of the
familia
would see them. And, Aideen knew, Maria would
press them to tell her whatever they knew about
General Amadori. With Ramirez and his people dead,
Clancy, Tom - Ballance of Power Page 22
