Unlike most people in Washington, Hood believed in repaying devotion. The NRO had begun conducting satellite reconnaissance of military movements in Spain some forty minutes before. Hood wanted that photographic surveillance to become part of Herbert’s database. He also wanted copies of the pictures sent to McCaskey in Spain, via the U.s. Embassy in Madrid, and to the Striker team, which was airborne. At other intelligence organizations in Washington, department heads tended to covet information to give their groups an edge. But Hood believed in sharing information among his people. To him and to the unique personnel working with him, the job was not about personal glory. It was about protecting Americans and national interests.
In addition to satellite reconnaissance, Op-Center drew on international news reports for information.
Raw TV footage was especially valuable. It was plucked from satellite feeds before it could be edited for broadcast. The uncut footage was then analyzed by Herbert’s team and also by Laurie Rhodes in the OpCenter photographic archives. Often, camouflaged weapons bunkers were constructed well prior to military actions. While these facilities might not always be visible from space, they often showed up in slightly altered topography, which could be seen in comparative studies from the ground.
Hood took a short dinner break in the commissary, where he read the Sunday comics someone had left lying around. He hadn’t looked at them in a while and he was amazed at how little they’d changed from when he was a kid.
Peanuts and B.c.
were still there, along with Tarzan and Terry and the Pirates and The Wizard of Id.
It was comforting, just then, to visit with old friends.
After dinner. Hood had a short briefing from Mike Rodgers in the general’s office. Rodgers told him that Striker would reach Madrid shortly after 11:30 a.m., Spanish time. Options for Striker activities would be presented to Hood as soon as they were available.
After the briefing. Hood checked in with the night crew. While the day team continued to monitor the Spanish situation. Curt Hardaway, X. Gen. Bill Abram, and the rest of the “P.m.squad,” as they called themselves, were overseeing the routine domestic and international activities of Op-Center. Lieutenant General Abram, who was Mike Rodgers’s counterpart, was especially busy with the Regional Op-Center. The mobile facility had been returned from its Middle East shakedown and was undergoing repair work and fine tuning. Everything was under control. Hood returned to his office to try to rest.
He shut off the light, threw off his shoes, and lay back on his couch. As he stared at the dark ceiling his mind went to Sharon and the kids. He glanced at his luminous watch-the one Sharon had bought him for their first anniversary. They would be coming into Bradley International soon. He played with the notion of borrowing an army chopper and flying up to Old Saybrook. He’d buzz his in-laws and use a megaphone to beg his wife to come home. He would be dismissed for all that but what the hell. It would give him plenty of time to stay home with the family.
Of course Hood had no intention of doing that. He was romantic enough to want to play the modern-day knight, but he wasn’t reckless enough.
And why bother going up to Old Saybrook if he couldn’t promise to slow down? He liked his work. And shorter hours were something the job just wouldn’t permit. Part of him felt that Sharon was being vindictive because she’d had to cut way back on her career activities in order to raise the kids. But even if he’d wanted to stop working and raise a family-which he didn’t- they couldn’t have lived on Sharon’s salary. That was a fact.
He shut his eyes and dropped his arm across them.
But facts don’t always matter in situations like this, do they?
Hood’s mind was too busy to allow him to sleep.
He alternated between feeling angry, guilty, and utterly disgusted. He decided to give up trying to rest.
He made himself a pot of coffee, poured it black into his memorial washington senators baseball mug, and went back to his desk. He spent some time with the computer files of Manni’s Italian secessionist movement. He was curious to see what, if any, intelligence work had been done to stopgap the collapse of Italy.
There was nothing on file. It was a nearly six-yearlong process, which began in 1993 as an offshoot of voter unhappiness over increasing political corruption scandals. Smaller communities claimed that they weren’t being adequately represented and so members of parliament were elected from individual districts rather than through proportional representation as before. That caused a fragmentation of power among the major parties which allowed smaller groups to flourish.
Neo-Fascists came to power in 1994, business interests of the Forza Italia party wrested power from them a year later, and then the fall of Yugoslavia caused unrest all along the Istrian Peninsula in the north-unrest that the Rome-based Forza Italia was ill equipped to handle. For help the premier turned to parties that had a power base there.
But those groups were interested in building their own strength and fanned the rebelliousness. Violence and secessionist talk flourished in Trieste and moved west to Venice and slingshot south as far as Livorno and Florence.
The Milan-bom Manni was recalled from Moscow to try to negotiate a fix to the deteriorating situation. His solution was to draft a pact that made northern Italy a largely autonomous political and economic region, with a congressional government in Milan to replace the bloc in the parliament in Rome. Both groups worked independently with the elected premier. While the Italians above the Northern Apennines paid taxes to their own capital, they used the same currency as the south; the two regions remained militarily intact; and the nation was still referred to as Italy.
No military action was taken by Rome and no foreign intelligence services were involved to any great extent. The Italian Entente, as it was called, provided no model for the situation in Spain. And they lacked the one thing that had made Manni’s efforts workable: he was only dealing with two factions, north and south.
The Spanish conflict involved at least a half dozen ethnic groups who had rarely if ever been comfortable together.
The call came through ten minutes late. Hood called Rodgers in to listen on the speakerphone. As Rodgers arrived and took a seat, Manni was explaining in English that the reason he was late was because Portugal had just asked the United Nations for help.
” “There has been violence along the border between Salamanca and Zamora,” Manni said.
Hood glanced at the map on his computer.
Salamanca was located just below Zamora in central and northwestern Spain. Together, the regions shared about two hundred miles of border with Portugal.
“The unrest began about three hours ago when antiCastilians held a candlelight rally at the Postigo de la Traicion-the Traitor’s Gate. That’s the spot by the city wall where the Castilian king Sancho II was assassinated in 1072. When police attempted to break up the rally, stones and bottles were thrown and the police fired several shots into the air. Someone in the crowd fired back and an officer was wounded. The police are mostly Castilian and they immediately turned on the 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.” “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.