Tom Clancy - Op-Center 06 - Divide and Conquer

by Eikeltje

  investigation would ever get to him. Friday did not generally report to

  Fenwick directly. He reported to T. Perry Gord, assistant deputy

  director of South Asian affairs. There was no reason it should reach

  him. Gord knew nothing about Fenwick's other activities. Still, after

  weighing whether or not to remain in Baku, Friday decided it would be

  best to leave. He would go somewhere that was a little bit off the

  radar. Someplace the international press would not be paying so much

  attention to over the next few weeks. Fortunately, there was a situation

  developing on the India-Pakistan border that fell within Gord's

  jurisdiction. Rather than send someone over from Washington, Friday

  arranged to have himself transferred to the embassy in Islamabad in

  order to do on-site intelligence gathering. There was a Pakistan

  International Airlines flight leaving Moscow the following morning. He

  would fly from Baku tonight and make certain that he was on it. It would

  have been nice, he thought, if it had all worked out for Fenwick. With

  Cotten in the White House, Fenwick would have had unprecedented access

  and power. And any one of the few people who had taken part in the

  changeover would have been rewarded. Not just for their contribution but

  for their silence. On the other hand, one of the reasons Friday had

  gone into intelligence work was for the challenge. The danger. He had

  done his job. And he had enjoyed doing it, taking out a CIA operative

  who had CIA swagger. The kind that had helped to keep Friday back his

  whole life. That swagger did not prevent Thomas Moore from walking into

  a neat little NSA trap. All right, Friday thought. Things had not

  worked out. It was on to the next project. That, too, was one of the

  things Ron Friday enjoyed about intelligence work. It was never the

  same. He never knew who he might be working with--or against. In

  Islamabad, for example, it was not just a question of getting a good man

  to the flashpoint. It was getting the right man there quickly. Gord

  had heard through the grapevine that someone from Op-Center was being

  brought in to consult on the India-Pakistan situation and was probably

  going to be sent to the region. Over the past few years, Op-Center had

  taken over a great deal of the work Fenwick's team used to handle. That

  had resulted in ongoing budget and personnel battles at the NSA. Fenwick

  got the monies he wanted but it had turned a heated rivalry into a

  ferocious one. Friday carefully disassembled and packed a rifle. He

  took along two boxes of shells. Because he was going to Islamabad with

  diplomatic credentials, his luggage would not be checked. Showing up

  Op-Center was important. But as Friday had demonstrated in Baku and

  elsewhere, outperforming a rival was not the only way to bring them

  down. Whoever this man Mike Rodgers was, he would learn that the hard

  way.