"As long as it doesn't take longer than sixty seconds."
"What happened, I submit, is that General McNab went to the secretary of Defense and told him he had to move the Hueys down there black, under the authority of the Presidential Finding. So far, so good, as the secretary of Defense knows about the Finding and that he's being told, not asked. So the secretary of Defense got on the horn to the secretary of the Navy and told him to do it." He paused. "I don't know if the secretary of the Navy knows about the Finding. Do you?"
"No."
"Ok
ay," Miller said. "I don't think he does, but it doesn't really matter. I'm pretty sure that the deputy secretary of the Navy doesn't. Agree?"
"He probably doesn't."
"The Urgent says the bluesuit captain got his orders to land the Hueys on his ship from the deputy on the phone. I think it's very reasonable to assume the bluesuit captain asked the deputy what the hell was going on, and the deputy couldn't tell him, because he didn't know any more than he was told, which was essentially, just do it, explanation to follow."
"Okay," Castillo agreed.
"Which causes the bluesuit captain to shift into cover-my-ass mode. So he goes and tells the admiral, who is in charge of the whole carrier group. Which causes the admiral not only to be pissed, because he's the admiral, and the deputy should have called him, not the captain, but also causes him to shift into his cover-my-ass mode."
"Probably," Castillo agreed.
"So the admiral says, 'There's nothing we can really do except wait for the Army choppers to land. Whoever's in charge of them probably will explain what's going on, and based on that we can decide how to best protect our beloved Navy from the fucking Army.
"And then the birds land on the carrier, and good ol' Major Bob Ward, in the sacred traditions of the 160th, ain't gonna tell nobody nothing-or show anybody anything, not even a bluesuit with stars-without permission from the guy running the operation, one C. G. Castillo. He is willing to get this permission, providing they let him set up his nonstandard radio which-for reasons I don't know; they were in their cover-my-ass mode, which may explain it-they were unwilling to do.
"So there's the standoff and why they sent the Urgent."
"Very credible," Castillo said, "but what's it got to do with Ellsworth not letting you talk to Montvale?"
"Let me finish," Miller said. "Montvale knew you were worried about the Navy giving us trouble because Jake Torine called him, right?"
"So?"
"And Montvale is going to get Jake on the carrier to make sure there's no trouble caused by the aforementioned impetuous light colonel Castillo, right?"
"So, again?"
"So, if you were Montvale and had NSA at Fort Meade in your pocket, and wanted to stay on top of the situation, wouldn't you task NSA to look for-'search filter: Army choppers on Navy ships, any reference'-and immediately give him any and all intercepts? Of course you would. And I'll bet that sonofabitch had the Urgent before I did."
"Where are you going with this, Dick?" Castillo asked.
I think I know, he thought, but I'd like confirmation.
"Montvale doesn't give a damn whether or not you get Timmons back, Charley. We both heard him say as much. He wants to protect the President, I'll give him that much, and he thinks your operation is going to blow up in everybody's face, including the President's. And Truman Ellsworth, for sure, and probably Montvale, would love to see you fuck up and embarrass the President, which would happen if you can't run the snatch-and-grab successfully. Which you can't without the choppers. That's why he was so helpful in arranging to get Jake onto the Gipper. Montvale, not you, would have sent him. That means Jake works for Montvale, which cuts you out of the picture.
"Then, and you know the sonofabitch is good at this, he whispers in the admiral's ear that no serious harm would be done if something happened to keep him from launching the choppers, and an embarrassing-to-the-Navy situation might well be avoided."
"Sonofabitch!"
"And he knows you're out of touch. And he knows, that being the case, when I got the Urgent, I would try to call him. So he tells Ellsworth that he's not available to me. I think he's betting that I wouldn't call the President. And if I did, so what? All that would mean was that the Lunatic's Chief of Staff is as loony as he is. And if the President asked him what the hell's going on, Montvale could pull the rug out from under you-for this operation and generally."
"Yeah, except the lunatic found out and is perfectly willing to get on the horn to the President."
"Permission to speak, sir?" Miller said.
Castillo sensed that Miller was not being clever. He had used the phrase a subordinate officer uses when his superior officer is about to do something the subordinate thinks is wrong.
"Granted."
"Sir, how often do you think Admiral Jacoby gets phone calls from the White House switchboard?"