"Paul, I've been in this game a long time. I've seen videos of Saddam using gas and gunships against his own people. I've been to a Chinese execution where five men were shot in the head because they expressed dissenting political beliefs. But I can't believe that sane individuals would make a deal about nuclear strikes that will kill millions of people." "Why not?" Hood asked.

"Because a nuclear exchange raises the bar for all of human conflict,"

Herbert insisted.

"It says that anything goes.

No one gains by that." "Fair enough," Hood said.

"I still believe that we may have a radical group of Indian officials who may want to nuke Pakistan," Herbert said.

"Then valid or not, all three of my concerns point to the same thing,"

Hood said.

"We need more intel before we go to the president," Herbert said.

"Right," Hood said.

"Is there any way of getting that electronically or from sources in the government?"

"There might be, if we had the time," Herbert said.

"But we've got the Pakistani cell on the run in the mountains and the dead SFF commandos behind them. The Indians are not going to wait."

"Has anything been on DD-1 yet?" Hood asked. DD-1 National was the flagship station of Doordarshan, the Indian national television network.

The broadcaster was also closely affiliated with Prasar Bharati, All India Radio, which was run and maintained by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

"One of Matt's people is taping the newscasts," Herbert replied.

"He's going to give me an assessment of how riled up people are and at what rate the media are adding to the whipping-up process."

"Can we go in and bust up their satellite?" Hood asked.

Herbert grinned.

"They use five," he said.

IN SAT-2E, 2DT, 2B, PAS-4, and Thai Com We can scramble them all if we have to." "Good," Hood said. He regarded Herbert.

"You're pushing for Striker to go in and grab the Pakistanis, aren't you?" "Hell," Herbert said, "I don't want to just drop Mike and his people into the Himalayas-"

"I know that," Hood assured him.

"But I don't know if we have any other options, Paul," Herbert continued.

"Whatever we think of what the Pakistanis have done, they have to get out to tell what they did not do."

"What would we do if Striker weren't headed toward the region?" Hood asked.

Herbert thought for a moment then shrugged.

"What we did in Korea, Russia, and Spain," Herbert said.

"We'd send 'em."

Hood nodded thoughtfully.

"We probably would," he agreed.

"Have you run this past Mike?" "Not in so many words," Herbert said.

"But I did tell him to sleep on the flight from Alconbury to Chushul.

Just in case."

"How long is that leg of the trip?" Hood asked.

Herbert looked at his watch.

"They've got another six hours or so to go," he said.