[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
. If you have your emotions under control, Lieutenant, I will continue with theadmonition that any further emotional outbreaks will not be tolerated. Yes, sir.Sorry, sir.It won t happen again. Lorimer, to clear the air, have you ever been given an order that you weresure you were not equipped to carry out? Yes, sir. And what did you do when you were given an order you knew you were notequipped to carry out? Sir, I told him I didn t know how to do what he was ordering me to do. And then? And then I tried to do it. Were you successful in carrying out the order? No, sir.I wasn t.But I tried. That s the situation here, Lorimer.We have been given an order that is inour judgment beyond our ability to carry out.But we are going to try veryhard to obey that order.You have absolutely no reason, therefore, to thankme.Clear? Yes, sir. So long as you remain useful and, more important, cause me and OOA no troubleof any kind I am going to permit you to participate in this operation. Yes, sir.Thank you, sir. To say this is probationary would be an understatement.There will be nosecond chances.Phrased another way, Lieutenant, you fuck up once and you redead meat.Clear? Yes, sir.Page 84ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html We are going to Chicago just as soon as I can change into uniform.Ourmission, at the personal order of the President, is to assure Timmons s familythat everything possible is being done to get him back.Since I don t have aclue about how to get him back, that s probably going to be difficult.Onething we can do, however, is produce you. Sir? With a little bit of luck, they ll know who you are, that you were Timmons sbuddy. Timmons s family knows who I am, sir. Then they ll probably believe you when you tell them what happened downthere. I think they will, sir. On the other hand, they may suspect we re blowing smoke. What s this guydoing up here when he should be in Asunción looking for&   Byron, sir, Lorimer furnished. His name is Byron Timmons, same as hisfather. In any event, while you are delivering the after-action report, you will lookat me every two seconds.If I shake my head slightly, or if you think I mshaking my head, you will stop in midsentence and change subjects.Clear? Yes, sir. Timmons s family will certainly have questions.Before you answer anyquestion, you will look at me to see if I shake my head or nod.If I shake myhead, your answer to that question will be something intended to assure them.It doesn t have to be true.You understand? Yes, sir. If you cannot carry out this instruction satisfactorily, Lorimer, I willconclude that you will not be of any value to this operation and we ll dropyou off at Fort Bragg on our way back here.Clear? Yes, sir. Are you packed? No, sir.I sort of thought I d be staying here. Go pack.You may well not be coming back here.When you re packed, put yourbag in my Denali and wait there. Yes, sir, Lorimer said.He stood up and walked with a just-noticeablelimp out of the living room, closing the door after himself.As soon as it had closed, Miller said,  I d forgotten what a starchy prick youcan be, Charley. My sentiments exactly, Torine said. What were you trying to do, Charley,make that kid hate you? Couldn t you have cut him some slack? I was actually paying him a compliment, Jake, Castillo said. And thank youfor that vote of confidence. Compliment? Pegleg is obviously as bright as they come; at least as smart as I am.BeforeI called him in here, I gave a lot of thought to how I should treat someone Iadmire, and who is probably as dangerous as you say I am.If that offended youtwo&  Okay, Torine said. You re right.He reminds me of a lot of fighter pilotsI ve known. I would agree with that, Jake, except I m pretty sure Lorimer can read andwrite.Torine gave Castillo the finger.Castillo took a small sheet of notebook paper from his pocket. Call that number, please, Jake, and tell them when we re going to be inChicago, and how we can get from which airport to where we re going. They used to have a nice little airport downtown, right beside the lake,Torine said. Meigs Field.Supposed to be one of the busiest private aviationfields in the world.But the mayor wanted a park there, so one night he sentin bulldozers and they cut big Xs on the runways [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]