Night Moves by Tom Clancy, Steve Pieczenik Page B

Commanderit seems a striking coincidence that these events happened. And I am given to understand, unofficially, that these two computer operatives were also investigating the Pakistani situation."
"Jesus."
"Perhaps you might want to cut your vacation short." "I--yes, you're right. I'll book a flight out as soon as I can get one." "Good. Keep me informed."
Michaels stared at his reflection in the mirror. Never a dull moment. "Alex?"
He opened the door. Toni, fogged with sleep and beautifully nude, stood outside the bathroom. "Who are you talking to?"
"The boss."
Then he gave her the bad news about Jay. Sunday, April 3rdLas Vegas, Nevada "Son of a bitch!" "Should I take that personally. Sergeant?" Howard smiled at Fernandez, but the expression was tight and forced. He could well understand his friend's frustration; he was pissed off, too. The tactical computer was down. It had flickered back to normal operation from the British flag a couple of times but then had lost the satellite signal and had been unable to regain it. The techs had fiddled with things, and it turned out not to be their system, but USAT's. Howard had talked to the OOD there, but it wasn't going to help. Major Phillips was polite but terse: His system was acting up, and begging the colonel's pardon, but he had his hands full trying to unsnarl the bastard and could he have somebody call him back ASAP?

That had been hours ago, and still the feed wasn't accessible.
Howard looked at his watch, then at Fernandez. "Okay, that's it. We're scrubbed. Tell them to stand down." As he expected, his top kick wasn't happy with that. "Colonel, we don't need the feed from Big Squint. This guy is in the middle of the desert. We can eyeball it."
"Negative, Sergeant, that's not the protocol." "Sir, troops have been taking territory without satellite coverage for thousands of years. It's one guy alone in a trailer. We got two squads and enough gear to fill up a boxcar! How hard can it be?" "Come on, Julio, you know the rules. There's no lee E way for emergency bypass here. Like you said, it's one guy. He's been there for months, he doesn't know we're here, and we've got the roads in and out covered. He's not going anywhere, and even if he wanted to, he couldn't. This is as by-the-numbers as it gets."
Fernandez mumbled something.
"Say again. Sergeant?"
"Sir, this is bullshit. If twenty troops can't take down one man without help from big bird, we ought to turn in-our uniforms and retire. Go sit on the bank of a catfish pond, drown worms, and wait to die. Sir." Howard's grin this time was real.
"I hear you, Julio, but it's our protocol for this op-sit. The RA guys will fix their system sooner or later. Tell the troops to take the night off. Go see the casinos, watch a show, enjoy the lights of Vegas. Be back here at oh six hundred, and we'll reset." Fernandez shrugged. Unexpected liberty was always good, and this was, after all. Las Vegas. A man with a little money in his pocket could get into all kinds of trouble without having to work too hard. "Well, sir, since you put it like that, I suppose we'll just have to suffer through the wait." "And remember, you are practically a married man now. Sergeant." "Yes, sir, of course. But I'm not a dead practically married man. I can still look." The two grinned at each other.
Howard headed toward the nearby motel where Net Force had booked enough rooms for his troops. It still felt weird to be bivouacked not in a tent under the stars but at an air-conditioned motel. It made more sense, of course. A military group camping anywhere around here would draw more attention than it would with its vehicles garaged and its troops tucked away out of sight.

He planned to call home and talk to his wife and son, grab a shower to wash some of the heat and dust
off, and maybe find a nice restaurant for some dinner. They had good food in Las Vegas, especially at some of the casinos, and it was cheap, too. They figured they were going to get your money