Support and Defend by Tom Clancy, Mark Greaney Read Free Book Online Page A

Crossman standing at the lectern. She was a compliance and security director, an administrator in charge of making sure everyone filled out requisition forms correctly and didn’t leave their key cards at their desks when they went to the john.
    Ethan gave a contrite half-wave at Crossman and Delvecchio and said, “Sorry, folks. Car trouble.”
    Henry Delvecchio gave an understanding nod and returned his attention to the room. “Again, I apologize for rushing everyone in first thing, but we have an issue that needs your attention. I trust you all have heard about the events in India last night.”
    Ethan looked around to other faces. There were nods, clear indications of understanding.
    Ethan Ross, on the other hand, didn’t have a clue what had happened in India. Suddenly he felt like he was back in his undergrad days, walking in late to class with a hangover only to find out there would be a pop quiz, and he didn’t have any idea of the topic of the test.
    The good news, as far as Ross was concerned, was that this wouldn’t have a damn thing to do with him, as India wasn’t his turf.
    Instinctively, his head swiveled to Joy Bennett, assistant deputy director for India. That was her neck of the woods. He felt a little schadenfreude. He couldn’t help it. He’d never thought much of Bennett.
    Let’s see how she deals with whatever dustup is going down over there.
    He found it strange, though, that Joy Bennett was looking back at him.
    Delvecchio continued, “The attack on the Jewish citizens on the Malabar Coast was the first border incursion over water by terrorists since the massacres in India two years ago by Pakistani terrorists. And while the loss of life this time was just a small fraction of the earlier attacks, there are reasons to suspect this was not an attempt at a mass-casualty event that failed, but rather, this was a targeted killing of an Israeli national with key ties to the special-operations community.”
    There were a few gasps of surprise around the room. “The perpetrators, and this has not made the news yet, were a mixture of Palestinian fedayeen and Yemeni jihadists, working together, which is as unusual as it is troubling.”
    In Ross’s mind, buzzes, flares, and alarm bells began going off. Israel, Palestinian, jihadi, attack. Christ . The fact he had spent the weekend away from his phone and computer had suddenly gone from smart to stupid in his mind, and Ross considered himself anything but stupid.
    Fuck!
    Delvecchio looked at Ethan’s boss, the deputy director of Near East, who in turn looked to Ethan.
    He cleared his throat, nodded slowly and thoughtfully, and then bullshitted. “It is something we are looking at closely.”
    “Anything you want to add right off the bat?”
    Ross affected a distant look that was intended to portray thoughtfulness. Then he shook his head slowly.
    Delvecchio threw Ross a lifeline. He said, “You probably haven’t had a chance to read the report from CIA. Just came over from Langley about thirty minutes ago.”
    “I was just about to pull it up when I heard we were meeting.”
    Delvecchio filled in the pieces. “A dozen dead on Indian soil. Seven attackers. Three attackers wore suicide vests. One vest detonated. It would be interesting even if the victims were nothing more than Israeli expats. But one of the victims was Colonel Arik Yacoby, a former Israeli Defense Forces officer.”
    The assistant deputy director of combating terrorism strategy spoke up. “Henry, there are tens of thousands of ex–IDF officers. Presumably thousands are outside Israel at any one time. All respect to the dead, but what’s so damn interesting about this retired colonel?”
    Delvecchio answered, “Colonel Yacoby was the former leader of a group of Israeli naval commandos.” He looked down to a sheet of paper on the lectern in front of him. “Shayetet Thirteen.”
    The ADD of CTS nodded thoughtfully. “Got it.”
    Delvecchio said, “Most of you remember the