"Goes in through the top and out through the bottom. Any other way just isn't natural."

Senator Fox informed Hood that the CIOC would take up this "fiasco" in an emergency session. Hood did not have anything else to say. He clicked the senator off and took the call.

"Yes?" Hood said.

"Paul, we've got him," Herbert said.

"Brett spoke with Mike."

"Is he okay?" Hood asked.

"He's fine," Herbert replied.

"He landed in the valley at the foot of the plateau."

"Bob, thank you." Hood wanted to shout or weep or possibly both. He settled for a deep sigh and a grateful smile.

"While I was waiting for you to pick up the phone I called Viens,"

Herbert told him.

"Instead of searching for Mike I've got him looking to see if the cell broke off. The way I read my map, there's a point between where Ron Friday joined the cell and where Colonel August is now that would have been perfect for the Pakistani group to split. If one team headed straight toward Pakistan, they would have had a relatively short distance of about nine or ten miles to cross. The two barriers they would face there were the line of control and the Siachin Glacier. But if Indian soldiers have been moved from the LOC to this new forward line, that would leave the border relatively clear."

"Which makes the glacier the big impediment," Hood said.

"Right. But that makes stamina instead of greater numbers the big obstacle," Herbert pointed out.

"Under the circumstances, that's the challenge I'd choose to face."

"I agree," Hood said.

"The good news is, Mike is at the foot of the glacier," Herbert went on.

"If we find a second group of Pakistanis, he has a good shot at intercepting them."

Hood brought up the map on his computer. He studied it for a moment.

"Who's in touch with Mike?" "Brett is," Herbert said.

"Bob, we're going to have to have Mike move out of the valley now," Hood said.

"Whoa," Herbert said.

"You want him on the glacier before we know for sure that the Pakistanis are even there?"

"We don't have a choice," Hood replied.

"We do," Herbert protested.

"First, we find the cell. Second, if they exist, we see which way they're going. If they're coming toward the valley, and we've sent him up the glacier, we'd be committing him to some pretty unfriendly terrain for nothing."

"I'm looking at the relief map of the region," Hood said.

"They have to take the glacier. The valley route adds another twelve miles or so to the trek."

"Twelve relatively flat, easy miles," Herbert added.

"Listen to me, Paul. That glacier is over eighteen thousand feet high."

"I see that."

"The cell was seven thousand, three hundred feet up in the mountains when Friday caught up with them," Herbert went on.