Tom Clancy - Against All Enemies

RENDEZVOUS FOXTROT

0215 Hours, Arabian Sea
5 Miles South of the Indus River
Coast of Pakistan

A DARKENED SHIP is a burdened ship , Moore thought as he stood outside the pilothouse of the OSA-1 fast attack craft Quwwat . She was indigenously built by the Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works and based on an old Soviet design, complete with four HY-2 surface-to-surface missiles and two twin 25-millimeter antiaircraft guns. Three diesel engines and three shafts propelled the 130-foot-long patrol boat at thirty knots across waves tinged silver by a quarter-moon shimmering low on the horizon. Running at darken ship meant no range or masthead lights, no port or starboard running lights. International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS) dictated that were an incident to occur, Quwwat would be at fault regardless of the circumstances.

Earlier in the evening, at dusk, Moore had walked down a Karachi pier with Sublieutenant Syed Mallaah, trailed by four enlisted men, a SPECOPS team from the Pakistan Special Service Group Navy (SSGN), an organization similar to the U.S. Navy SEALs, but, ahem, their operators were hardly as capable. Once aboard the Quwwat , Moore had insisted on a quick tour that ended with a cursory introduction to the commanding officer, Lieutenant Maqsud Kayani, who was distracted as he issued orders to leave port. The CO couldnt have been much older than Moore, who was thirty-five himself, but the comparisons stopped there. Moores broad shoulders stood in sharp juxtaposition to Kayanis lean cyclers physique that barely tented up his uniform. The lieutenant had a hooked nose, and if hed shaved in the past week, there was no clear evidence. Despite his rugged appearance, he had the twenty-eight-man crews utmost attention and respect. He spoke. They jumped. Kayani eventually gave Moore a firm handshake and said, Welcome aboard, Mr. Fredrickson.

Thank you, Lieutenant. I appreciate your assistance.

Of course.

They spoke in Urdu, Pakistans national language, which Moore had found easier to learn than Dari, Pashto, or Arabic. Hed been identified as Greg Fredrickson, an American, to these Pakistani naval men, although his darker features, thick beard, and long, black hair now pulled into a ponytail allowed him to pass for an Afghan, Pakistani, or Arab if he so desired.

Lieutenant Kayani went on: Have no worries, sir. I plan to arrive at our destination promptly, if not early. This boats name means prowess , and shes every bit of that.

Outstanding.

Point Foxtrot, the rendezvous zone, lay three miles off the Pakistan coast and just outside the Indus River delta. There, they would meet with the Indian patrol boat Agray to accept a prisoner. The Indian government had agreed to turn over a recently captured Taliban commander, Akhter Adam, a man they claimed was a High-Value Target with operational intelligence on Taliban forces located along the southern line of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The Indians believed that Adam had not yet alerted his own forces of his capture; he had simply gone missing for twenty-four hours. Still, time was of the essence. Both governments wanted to ensure that the Taliban was not tipped off that Adam had fallen into American hands. Therefore, no American military assets or forces were being used in the transfer operationexcept a certain CIA paramilitary operations officer named Maxwell Steven Moore.

Admittedly, Moore had misgivings about using a security team of SSGN guys led by a young, inexperienced sublieutenant; however, during the briefing hed been told that Mallaah, a local boy from Thatta in Sindh Province, was fiercely loyal, trusted, and highly respected. In Moores book, loyalty, trust, and respect were earned, and they would see if the young sublieutenant was up for the challenge. Mallaahs job was, after all, rudimentary: oversee the transfer and help protect Moore and the prisoner.