"Never mind your grandfather. Millions of people may go to hell because of something you did and we're talking about footsteps."

Mike Rodgers did not want to become involved in the debate. But he did not want it to escalate. He also was not sure, at this point, whether he even wanted Ron Friday to stay. Rodgers had worked with dozens of intelligence operatives during his career. They were lone wolves by nature but they rarely if ever disregarded instructions from superiors.

And never as flagrantly as this. One of the reasons they became field operatives was the challenge of executing orders in the face of tremendous odds.

Ron Friday was more than just a loner. He was distracted.

Rodgers suspected that he was driven by a different agenda.

Like it or not, that might be something he would have to try to figure out.

"We're going to save Nanda's grandfather as well as those millions of people you're concerned about," Rodgers said firmly.

"We'll do that by going northeast from here."

"Damn it, you're blind!" Friday shouted.

"I've been in this thing from the start. I was in the square when it blew up. I had a feeling about the dual bombers, about the involvement of the SFF, about the double-dealing of this woman." He gestured angrily at Nanda.

"It's the people who pull the strings you should doubt, not a guy who's been at ground zero from the start."

Friday was losing it. Rodgers did not want to waste the energy to try to stop him. He also wanted to see where the rant would lead. Angry men often said too much.

Friday fired up his torch again. Rodgers squinted in the light. He slowed as Friday got in front of them and faced them.

"So that's it, then?" Friday said.

"Get out of the way," Rodgers ordered.

"Bob Herbert barks, Mike Rodgers obeys, and Op-Center takes over the mission," Friday said.

"Is that what this is about?" Rodgers asked.

"Your resume?"

"I'm not talking about credit," Friday said.

"I'm talking about what we do for a living. We collect and use information."

"You do," Rodgers said.

"Fine, yes. I do," Friday agreed.

"I put myself in places where I can learn things, where I can meet people. But we, our nation, need allies in Pakistan, in the Muslim world. If we stay on this glacier we are still behind Indian lines.

That buys us nothing."

"You don't know that," Rodgers said.

"Correct," Friday said.

"But I do know that if we go to Islamabad, as Americans who saved Pakistan from nuclear annihilation, we create new avenues of intelligence and cooperation in that world."

"Mr. Friday, that's a political issue, not a tactical military concern,"

Rodgers said.

"If we're successful then Washington can make some of those inroads you mention."

With Apu still clinging to him, Rodgers started moving around Friday.

The NSA operative put out a hand and stopped him.

"Washington is helpless," Friday said.