Mission of Honor by Tom Clancy, Steve Pieczenik, Jeff Rovin Page A
Tags: Fiction, Suspense, Thrillers, Suspense fiction, Espionage, Political, War stories, Adventure stories, Government investigators, Intelligence service, English Fiction, Kidnapping, Adventure fiction, Spy fiction; American, Botswana, Crisis Management in Government - United States, Crisis Management in Government, Government investigators - United States, Diamond Mines and Mining
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free to concentrate on the team and possible sites for a shakedown operation. He did not want to talk to any potential agents until he had something concrete to propose to them.
It was shortly before ten P.M. when Bob Herbert finally returned Rodgers’s call.
“You were right,” Herbert said.
“Glad to hear it,” Rodgers said. “About what?”
“Something is going on in Botswana,” Herbert said.
It felt like it had been ages since Rodgers gave Herbert the newspaper. This had been a long day.
Rodgers listened as Herbert told him about the meeting with Edgar Kline. It sounded like a regional scuffle until he mentioned the name Albert Beaudin. In intelligence circles, Beaudin was known as the Musketeer.
“What does he have to do with this?” Rodgers asked.
“I’m not sure he does,” Herbert said. “But there is a connection between him and the Brush Vipers of thirty-odd years ago.”
Rodgers was concerned about that. He was also intrigued. Beaudin was a powerful but elusive figure. Since the early 1960s, the industrialist was suspected of using a worldwide network to provide arms to rebels, rogue nations, and both sides of Third World conflicts. His agents at customs checkpoints, in police stations, in shipping offices, and in factories enabled him to sidestep embargoes and arms bans. He provided arms to Central and South American rebels, to African warlords, and to Middle Eastern nations. His willingness to sell low-priced weapons to both Iran and Iraq was one of the reasons their war lasted for eight years in the 1980s. Even if he just broke even on the initial gun sales, Beaudin made money on the steady demand for ammunition and spare parts. Because rebel factions and smaller countries needed his weapons, they were never willing to help the United Nations, Interpol, or other international organizations investigate his activities. Because of Beaudin’s influence among French politicians and military officials, they were also unwilling to cooperate. OpCenter had always suspected that Beaudin was one of the financial forces behind the New Jacobins, xenophobic terrorists they had fought in Toulouse several years before.
“If Beaudin is involved, chances are we’re probably not looking at a small event,” Herbert said.
“Or a short one,” Rodgers added. “Whoever is behind this had to know the Vatican would get involved.”
“They were obviously counting on that,” Herbert said. “The Church won’t surrender its ministries. Kline is afraid that if this isn’t an isolated attack, someone may be trying to create a schism.”
“Between?”
“Catholics and people of indigenous faiths,” Herbert said. “If someone pits religion against religion, you have a hot button issue that can blow up throughout the western world. It could fuel arms consumption all over Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia-“
“Giving Beaudin a damn near bottomless market for his product,” Rodgers said.
“Right,” Herbert said. “That’s assuming Beaudin’s involved in this, of course. There could be other people behind the abduction, international players we haven’t even considered.”
“I’m also not ready to make the leap from the abduction of Father Bradbury to a regional war,” Rodgers said. “These things take time to develop.”
‘True.”
“And a short-term conflict would be chump change to a guy like Beaudin,” Rodgers said.
“That said, all the war simulations in the regions show the potential for widespread pocket conflagrations,” Herbert reminded him. “We might not see a pattern until local governments start falling. A religious war in Botswana would be the perfect trigger to start uprisings of all kinds among the disenfranchised.”
“The war sims also show the major powers being forced to contain those struggles, the way we did in Kashmir,” Rodgers noted. “Too many nations have big, blow-down-the-door weapons. None of us can afford to let those come into play.”
“The
It was shortly before ten P.M. when Bob Herbert finally returned Rodgers’s call.
“You were right,” Herbert said.
“Glad to hear it,” Rodgers said. “About what?”
“Something is going on in Botswana,” Herbert said.
It felt like it had been ages since Rodgers gave Herbert the newspaper. This had been a long day.
Rodgers listened as Herbert told him about the meeting with Edgar Kline. It sounded like a regional scuffle until he mentioned the name Albert Beaudin. In intelligence circles, Beaudin was known as the Musketeer.
“What does he have to do with this?” Rodgers asked.
“I’m not sure he does,” Herbert said. “But there is a connection between him and the Brush Vipers of thirty-odd years ago.”
Rodgers was concerned about that. He was also intrigued. Beaudin was a powerful but elusive figure. Since the early 1960s, the industrialist was suspected of using a worldwide network to provide arms to rebels, rogue nations, and both sides of Third World conflicts. His agents at customs checkpoints, in police stations, in shipping offices, and in factories enabled him to sidestep embargoes and arms bans. He provided arms to Central and South American rebels, to African warlords, and to Middle Eastern nations. His willingness to sell low-priced weapons to both Iran and Iraq was one of the reasons their war lasted for eight years in the 1980s. Even if he just broke even on the initial gun sales, Beaudin made money on the steady demand for ammunition and spare parts. Because rebel factions and smaller countries needed his weapons, they were never willing to help the United Nations, Interpol, or other international organizations investigate his activities. Because of Beaudin’s influence among French politicians and military officials, they were also unwilling to cooperate. OpCenter had always suspected that Beaudin was one of the financial forces behind the New Jacobins, xenophobic terrorists they had fought in Toulouse several years before.
“If Beaudin is involved, chances are we’re probably not looking at a small event,” Herbert said.
“Or a short one,” Rodgers added. “Whoever is behind this had to know the Vatican would get involved.”
“They were obviously counting on that,” Herbert said. “The Church won’t surrender its ministries. Kline is afraid that if this isn’t an isolated attack, someone may be trying to create a schism.”
“Between?”
“Catholics and people of indigenous faiths,” Herbert said. “If someone pits religion against religion, you have a hot button issue that can blow up throughout the western world. It could fuel arms consumption all over Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia-“
“Giving Beaudin a damn near bottomless market for his product,” Rodgers said.
“Right,” Herbert said. “That’s assuming Beaudin’s involved in this, of course. There could be other people behind the abduction, international players we haven’t even considered.”
“I’m also not ready to make the leap from the abduction of Father Bradbury to a regional war,” Rodgers said. “These things take time to develop.”
‘True.”
“And a short-term conflict would be chump change to a guy like Beaudin,” Rodgers said.
“That said, all the war simulations in the regions show the potential for widespread pocket conflagrations,” Herbert reminded him. “We might not see a pattern until local governments start falling. A religious war in Botswana would be the perfect trigger to start uprisings of all kinds among the disenfranchised.”
“The war sims also show the major powers being forced to contain those struggles, the way we did in Kashmir,” Rodgers noted. “Too many nations have big, blow-down-the-door weapons. None of us can afford to let those come into play.”
“The
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