military being our career. Our career was Orion-that's what we were called. So I got Lamb to approve a half a million dollars being deposited in a special bank account for each team member. Twelve million dollars is pretty cheap when you consider the cost of a jet fighter. That allowed each of us to concentrate on the job and not worry about whether we would have a retirement someday or whether those with families would have their people taken care of."
"Sounds kind of mercenary," Fran commented.
"I suppose," Hawkins agreed. "However, it's also realistic. We no longer existed. We weren't army anymore. We weren't in any records anywhere, so we didn't even have to bother to come up with a cover story like they do in Delta. We had no monthly paycheck. No promotion boards. Nothing." He pointed at his uniform. "This is the first time I've had this on in three years. My rank of major is permanent.
"Anyway--at first things went well. We ran four real-world operations our first year. All successful. No losses. Then came the new administration. I briefed the President on our team and our mission. However, it seemed like the new administration had different ideas about what we were to be used for. The President appointed Lamb as our liaison and tried slipping in some questionable missions and I had to call him on it."
"What kind of questionable missions?"
Hawkins shrugged. "It doesn't matter. Suffice it to say they were based in the U.S. and involved eliminating certain persons. You've got to remember that everything we were doing was illegal-both in the United States and outside of it. It got kind of hard to see the lines sometimes, because there really weren't any lines. So we basically had to believe the information that Lamb was feeding us. He and I went round and round sometimes about how much my people needed to know. He believed in the minimum and I believed in the maximum. On top of that, I don't believe all the minimum information he gave us was legitimate. I couldn't exactly go check on all of it. That's not to say that whatever we did wasn't in the ultimate good interests of the United States. I believe it all was, but it's just that in the intelligence arena there's a lot of manipulation going on-getting people to do mission A for reasons that are actually connected to mission B--if that makes any sense.
"And that brings us to the present situation. I think we're getting the minimum information. And I'm not sure how much of the minimum is true. I'm not even sure if my name really was on the message or if the message is real."
Fran smiled. "Games within games, eh?"
Hawkins's face was dead serious. "That's the gray world you're in now. I've lived in it for many years. The number-one rule: Trust no one. Believe nothing you're told."
"Even what you tell me?" Fran asked.
"Yeah. Even what I tell you, if you're smart." Hawkins ran a hand through his hair. "The last thing my team was working on was trying to track down those two missing nuclear weapons. They disappeared from a Soviet stockpile in what is now Kazakhstan. We got that through a HUMINT--human intelligence-source sixteen days ago. Apparently the bombs have been missing for about three weeks now. We believe a former Russian general sold them to the highest bidder. Of course, the damn Russians, or whatever the hell you call them now, didn't bother announcing the news. How the bombs got out of the country and where they went we don't know. One of those bombs is now accounted for."
Fran nodded. "Vredefort Dome."
"Right. We thought we had a line on the other one in Colombia-a drug kingpin who certainly had the money to buy one and the smuggling capability to get it from Russia to South America."
"But why would he want a nuclear bomb?"
Hawkins shook his head. "I don't know. Lamb wouldn't tell me that. I had to guess. Why would anyone want a bomb? The ultimate power, I suppose. Blackmail. Whatever. Lots of people would like one. Turns out he didn't buy one,
"Sounds kind of mercenary," Fran commented.
"I suppose," Hawkins agreed. "However, it's also realistic. We no longer existed. We weren't army anymore. We weren't in any records anywhere, so we didn't even have to bother to come up with a cover story like they do in Delta. We had no monthly paycheck. No promotion boards. Nothing." He pointed at his uniform. "This is the first time I've had this on in three years. My rank of major is permanent.
"Anyway--at first things went well. We ran four real-world operations our first year. All successful. No losses. Then came the new administration. I briefed the President on our team and our mission. However, it seemed like the new administration had different ideas about what we were to be used for. The President appointed Lamb as our liaison and tried slipping in some questionable missions and I had to call him on it."
"What kind of questionable missions?"
Hawkins shrugged. "It doesn't matter. Suffice it to say they were based in the U.S. and involved eliminating certain persons. You've got to remember that everything we were doing was illegal-both in the United States and outside of it. It got kind of hard to see the lines sometimes, because there really weren't any lines. So we basically had to believe the information that Lamb was feeding us. He and I went round and round sometimes about how much my people needed to know. He believed in the minimum and I believed in the maximum. On top of that, I don't believe all the minimum information he gave us was legitimate. I couldn't exactly go check on all of it. That's not to say that whatever we did wasn't in the ultimate good interests of the United States. I believe it all was, but it's just that in the intelligence arena there's a lot of manipulation going on-getting people to do mission A for reasons that are actually connected to mission B--if that makes any sense.
"And that brings us to the present situation. I think we're getting the minimum information. And I'm not sure how much of the minimum is true. I'm not even sure if my name really was on the message or if the message is real."
Fran smiled. "Games within games, eh?"
Hawkins's face was dead serious. "That's the gray world you're in now. I've lived in it for many years. The number-one rule: Trust no one. Believe nothing you're told."
"Even what you tell me?" Fran asked.
"Yeah. Even what I tell you, if you're smart." Hawkins ran a hand through his hair. "The last thing my team was working on was trying to track down those two missing nuclear weapons. They disappeared from a Soviet stockpile in what is now Kazakhstan. We got that through a HUMINT--human intelligence-source sixteen days ago. Apparently the bombs have been missing for about three weeks now. We believe a former Russian general sold them to the highest bidder. Of course, the damn Russians, or whatever the hell you call them now, didn't bother announcing the news. How the bombs got out of the country and where they went we don't know. One of those bombs is now accounted for."
Fran nodded. "Vredefort Dome."
"Right. We thought we had a line on the other one in Colombia-a drug kingpin who certainly had the money to buy one and the smuggling capability to get it from Russia to South America."
"But why would he want a nuclear bomb?"
Hawkins shook his head. "I don't know. Lamb wouldn't tell me that. I had to guess. Why would anyone want a bomb? The ultimate power, I suppose. Blackmail. Whatever. Lots of people would like one. Turns out he didn't buy one,
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