in a public statement later today."
"Thank you," the President said. "There seem to be
three entirely separate factions running Spain
at the moment. According to Ambassador Abril-who
has always been very frank with me-the
representatives in parliament are working their
districts very hard, asking them to stay out of the fighting and
to continue doing their jobs. They're promising the people
anything in exchange for their support after the
crisis. They're hoping to come out of this with blocs of
voters to use as leverage in forming a new
government."
"You mean, forming a new government within the present
system?" Lanning asked. "Or are they talking about
creating a new government with a different
system?"
"I'm getting to that," the President said. "The
prime minister has virtually no support-in the
parliament or among the people. He's expected
to resign within a day or two. Abril says that the
king, who is at his residence in Barcelona, will be
able to count on the support of the church and most of the
population apart from the Castilians."
"Which is somewhat less than a majority," Burkow
pointed out.
"About forty-five percent of the people," the President
said. "Which puts the king in a very shaky position.
We're told that his palace in Madrid is thick
with soldiers, though no one's sure whether the
troops are there to protect the place or to keep
him from coming back."
"Or both," Lanning remarked. "Just like the Win
BALANCE OF POWER 253
ter Palace when Czar Nicholas was forced
to abdicate."
"Quite possibly," the President said. "But it
gets worse. Paul-Bob Herbert and Mike
Rodgers have sent over the latest data on the
military. You want to address that?"
Hood folded his hands on the table.
"There's a general who appears to be running this
show-Rafael Amadori. According to our intelligence,
he orchestrated the destruction of the yacht in the Bay
of Biscay, which killed several leading businessmen
who were also planning to bring down the government. He
also appears to have been responsible for the death of
Deputy Serrador. That's the man who my
political chief Martha Mackall was on her
way to see when she was killed this morning." Hood's
voice dropped along with his eyes. "We have reason
to believe that Serrador set her up with the help of the
party on the yacht."
"Bob Herbert said he's working to confirm that," the
President said. " The problem is, even if we
found out that part of the government was involved in a
conspiracy, the rest of the lawfully elected
government may not be around to hear our complaint. Now
the policy of the United States, and of this
Administration, has always been not to interfere in the
internal affairs of a nation. The exceptions, like
Panama, like Grenada, involved issues of
national security. The problem here, and what General
VanZandt is especially concerned about, is that
Spain is a NATO ally. The outcome of the
current strife will probably cause a
reshaping of the government-but we can't afford to
254 OR-CENTER
have a tyrant running the nation. We left Franco
alone because he didn't have designs on other
nations."
"That's only because he saw from the sidelines what we
did to Mussolini and Hitler," Burkow pointed
out.
"Whatever the reasons, he stayed put," the
President said. "That may not be the case here.
General VanZandt?"
The tall, distinguished African-American officer
opened a folder in front of him. "I have here a
printout on the man's career. He signed up with the
army thirty-two years ago and worked his way through the
ranks. He was on the right side-or rather the left
side-of the right-wing coup which attempted to overthrow the
king in 1981. He was wounded in action and received a
medal for bravery. After that he rose quickly.
Interestingly, he never opposed NATO but he
didn't participate in joint maneuvers. In letters
to superior officers he advocated a strong national
defense which didn't rely on outside
help-"interference," he called it. He did,
however, spend a lot of time entertaining and
being entertained by Soviet troops during the
1980's. CIA intelligence puts him in
Afghanistan in 1982 as an observer."
"No doubt he was observing how to oppress people,"
Carol Lanning suggested.
"It's very possible," VanZandt replied. "During
this time Amadori was also heavily involved in
Spanish military intelligence and appears to have
used his trips abroad to establish contacts there.
His name came up in at least two CIA
debriefings of captured Soviet spies."
BALANCE OF POWER 255
"In what context?" Hood asked.
VanZandt looked down at the printout. " "In
one case as a man whom the spy had seen at a
meeting with a Soviet officer-Amadori was wearing his
nameplate- and in the second case as someone to whom
intelligence was to be reported in a matter involving
a West German businessman who was trying to buy a
Spanish newspaper."
"So," the President said, "what we're dealing with
here is someone who's familiar with a failed coup in his
own country and with antirebel tactics in other
nations. He also has a lifetime of contacts,
intelligence gathering capability, and
virtual control of the Spanish military.
Ambassador Abril fears, and not without some
justification, that both Portugal and France are at
risk. Running Spain as a military state,
Amadori would be ideally positioned to undermine both
governments over time and move troops in."
"Over NATO'S dead body," VanZandt said.
"You forget. General," the President replied.
"Amadori appears to have engineered this takeover as a
progovernment action. He allowed a conspiracy
to get going and then crushed it. It's a brilliant
strategy:
let an enemy show itself then crush it. And while
you're crushing it, make the government look
corrupt and crush them too."
" "Whether he runs France or Portugal
personally or puts in a puppet regime,"
banning said thoughtfully, "he still calls the shots."
"Exactly," said the President. "What came out
of my conversation with Abril and the Vice-President
is that there's going to be a new government in Spain.
256 OP-CENTER
There's no dispute about that. But we also agreed that
whoever comes to power in Spain, it mustn't be
Amadori. So the first question is, do we have the
time and sufficient manpower to turn anyone there against
him? And if not, is there any way that we can get
>
to him ourselves?"
VanZandt shook his head and sat back. "This is a
rotten business, Mr. President," he said.
"A dirty, rotten business."
"I think so too. General," the President
replied. He sounded surprisingly contrite. "But
unless anyone's got any ideas, I don't see
any way around it."
"How about waiting?" CIA Director Fox
asked. "This Amadori may self-destruct. Or
the people may not buy him."
"Every indication is that he's getting stronger by the
hour," said the President. "It may be
by default:
he's killing the opposition. Am I wrong about that,
Paul?"
Hood shook his head. "One of my people was there when he
executed factory workers who may-
may-
have opposed him."
"When did this happen?" Lanning asked, openly
horrified.
"Within the hour," Hood told her.
"This man has the makings of a genocidal maniac,"
she said.
"I don't know about that," said Hood, "but he
certainly seems determined to seize Spain."
"And we're determined to stop him," the President
said.
"How?" asked Burkow. "We can't do it
officially.
BALANCE OF POWER 257
Paul, Marius-have we got people underground there that we
can count on?"
"I'll have to ask our contact in Madrid," Fox
said. " "That kind of work hasn't been a part of
our repertoire for a while."
Burkow looked at Hood. So did the
President. Hood said nothing. With Fox
effectively out of the front line, he knew what was
coming.
"Paul, your Striker team is en route
to Spain," the President said, "and Darrell
McCaskey is already there. You're also working with an
Interpol agent who surrendered to the troops at that
factory massacre. What about her, Paul? Can
she be counted on?"
"She surrendered to try and get
to Amadori," Hood acknowledged. "But we don't
know what she'll do if and when she gets to him.
Whether she'll reconnoiter or try and
neutralize him."
Hood hated himself for using that euphemism. They were
talking about assassination-the same thing they'd all
deplored when it happened to Martha Mackall. And for
exactly the same reason: politics. This was,
truly, a dirty, stinking business. He wished that
he were with his family instead of here.
"What's this woman's name?" the President asked.
"Maria Corneja, Mr. President," Hood
replied. "We have a file on her. She was
attached to Op-Center for several months when we were
first commissioned. She learned from us and we from her."
"What would Ms. Comeja do if she had the support
of a team like Striker?" the President asked.
"I'm not sure," Hood answered honestly.
"I'm not
258 OP-CENTER
sure it would even make a difference. She's tough and
pretty independent."
"Find out, Paul," the President said. "But do it
quietly. I want this to stay at Op-Center from
now until it's finished."
"I understand," Hood said. His voice was a low
monotone. His spirits were even lower. No one else
had even offered to jump in with him.
He wasn't a boy. He knew that there might come
a time when it would be necessary to stage a black-ops
action like this-the use of Striker or one of his people
to target and take out an enemy. Now that it was here he
didn't like it. Not the job and not the fact that
OpCenter was on its own. If they succeeded, a
man was dead. If they failed, this would be on their
consciences for the rest of their lives. There was no clean
way out of it.
Carol Lanning must have understood that. She and Hood
remained seated at the table, side by side, as the
President and the others left. The men all said
goodnight to Hood but nothing more. What
could
they say? Good luck? Break a leg? Shoot him
once for me?
When the room was empty, Carol put her hand on
Hood's.
"I'm sorry," she said. "It's no fun being
disavowed."
"Or set up," Hood said.
"Hmmm," she replied. "You don't think
anyone else knew what the President was
planning?"
Hood shook his head. "And when they leave here,
they'll forget he ever suggested it. Like he said, this
is Op-Center's play." He shook his head again.
"The
BALANCE OF POWER 259
damn thing is it's not even retribution. The men who
killed Martha are dead."
"I know," Carol said. "Nobody ever said this
business was fair."
"No, they didn't." Hood wanted to get up.
But he was too damn tired and way too disgusted
to even think about moving.
"If I can do anything for you, unofficially, let me
know," she said. She squeezed his hand again and rose.
"Paul-it's a job. You can't afford to look at it
any other way."
"Thanks," Hood said. "But if I do that I can't
see how I'll be any different than Amadori."
She smiled. "Oh, you will be, Paul. You'll
never try to convince yourself that what you're doing is right.
Only necessary."
Hood didn't really see the distinction, but this
wasn't the time to try to find it. Because, like it
or not, he
did
have a job to do. And he was going to have to help Striker
and Aideen Marley and Darrell McCaskey do
their jobs as well.
He rose slowly and left with Carol. It was
ironic. He once thought that running Los
Angeles was difficult: angering special
interests with everything you did and living in the public
eye. Now he was working undercover and feeling as
alone-personally and professionally-as a person could
be.
He didn't remember who had said that in order
to lead men you had to turn your back on them. But they
were right, which was why Michael Lawrence was President
and he wasn't. That was why someone like Michael
Lawrence
had
to be President.
260 OP-CENTER
Hood would do this job because he had to. After that, he
vowed, he would do no more. Here in the White House-which
had awed him less than an hour before-he vowed that
however this ended he would leave Op-Center .. . and
get his family back.
TWENTY-FOUR
Tuesday, 6:50 a.m. San Sebastian,
Spain
Sleepy San Sebastian had been roughly
awakened by the sounds of gunfire at the factory.
Father Norberto had remained at his brother's
apartment long after the police had come for his body.
He had stayed there, kneeling on the hardwood
floor, to pray for Adolfo's soul. But when Father
Norberto heard the gunfire, followed by the cries
> of people in the street and shouts of
"la fdbrica!"-
"the factory!"-he headed directly back to the
church.
As Norberto neared St. Ignatius he looked
across the long, low field. He could see the
helicopters hovering over the factory in the distance.
But there was no time to wonder about them. The church was
already filling with mothers and young children as well as the
elderly. Soon the fishermen would arrive, returning
to shore to make certain their families were safe.
He had to attend to these people, not to his own wounds.
Norberto's arrival was heralded by the relieved
cries of the people outside the church and thanks to God.
For a moment-a brief, soul-touching moment-the
priest felt the same love and compassion for the poor
that the Son of Man Himself must have felt. It
didn't
262 OP-CEMTER
alleviate his pain. But it did give him renewed
strength and purpose.
The first thing Father Norberto did upon arriving was
to smile and speak softly. Speaking softly made the
people quiet down. It forced them to control their fear.
He got everyone inside and into pews. Then, as
Norberto lit the candles beside the pulpit, he
asked white-haired "Grandfather" Jose if he would
usher newcomers inside in an orderly fashion.
The former salvage ship captain, a pious
Catholic, accepted the task humbly, his gray
eyes gleaming.
When the candles were lit and the church was awash with their
comforting glow, the priest went to the altar. He used it
to steady himself for just a moment. Then he led the
congregation through Mass, hoping that they would take comfort
as much in the familiar ritual as in the presence of
God. Norberto hoped that he, too, would find
solace there. But as he proceeded through the Liturgy
of the Word, he found little for himself. The only consolation
he had was the fact that he was giving comfort
to others.
When Father Norberto finished the service, he
turned to the uneasy crowd, which was already over one
hundred strong. The heat of their bodies and their fear
filled the small, dark church. The smell of the sea
air came through the open door. It inspired Father
Norberto to speak to the crowd from Matthew.
In a loud and strong voice he read for the
parishioners. was 'And He saith unto them. Why
are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then He
arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was great
calm." his
The words of the Gospel, along with the need of
Clancy, Tom - Ballance of Power Page 25
