Even with the edited report he had presented. Hood did not expect to hear from the president or Fox before H-hour.

If the operation failed, they would say that Hood had been acting on his own. It would be Oliver North redux. If the Striker mission succeeded they would quickly jump onboard, like the Soviets declaring war on Japan in the waning hours of the Second World War.

After all that Paul Hood had done to help President Lawrence, he would have liked more support. Then again, when Hood saved the administration from a coup attempt he was doing his job. Now the president was performing his own duties. He was stalling. President Lawrence was using the delay to create a buffer of plausible deniability. That would protect the United States from possible international backlash if the Kashmir situation exploded. The abandonment was not personal. It only felt that way.

Hood did not have the luxury of time. He had told Mike Rodgers that he would hear from Brett August in two hours.

Two hours had passed. It was time to place the call.

Op-Center's director had rarely felt this isolated. There were usually other field personnel or international organizations backing them up, whether it was Interpol or the Russian Op-Center. Even when he was dealing with the terrorists at the United Nations, Hood had the backing of the State Department.

Except for the nominal support of the new head of the NSA, and the help of Stephen Viens at the NRO, they were alone. Alone and trying to stop a nuclear war, a world away, with a cell phone. Even the National Reconnaissance Office was not able to help much now. The towering peaks of the glacier blocked the satellite's view of much of the "playing field," as intelligence experts called any active region.

Ice storms blocked the rest. Viens had not even been able to verify there was anything but ice at the coordinates the Pakistani ambassador had provided.

Herbert and August had not spoken for nearly an hour.

Herbert had not wanted to distract him. Hood hoped there was someone at the other end of the TAC-SAT to take the call.

Colonel August answered quickly. Herbert put the conversation on the speakerphone. Except for the shrieking winds behind him, the colonel's voice was strong and clear.

Ron Plummer and the Pakistani ambassador were still on Hood's line. As Hood had promised, he left that speakerphone on as well.

"Colonel, I'm with Paul and Lowell Coffey," Herbert told him.

"We also have the Pakistani ambassador and Ron Plummer on the other line. You are all on speaker."

"I copy that," August said.

August would know, now, not to say anything that might compromise American security objectives or operations.

"What's been happening there?" Herbert asked.

"Apparently, nothing," August said.

"Nothing at all?" Herbert asked.

"We can't see much now because of the ice storm and darkness," August told him.