_
_"You used the Swatters!" Salim was shoving the throttle levers forward
as he banked. His voice was incredulous. "You said we were just going
to disable the TRSSCOMM system and the radars with rockets."
TRSSCOMM was short for Technical Research Ship Special Communications.
The frigate was equipped with batteries of listening antennas, an
elaborate system of sensors and sophisticated computers, and various
hydraulic systems on the stern needed to twist and turn the various
dishes. But it also was manned.
What was the point of mass murder? Ramirez had explained that the
_Glover _was a spy ship that worked for the U.S. National Security
Agency, the NSA. Normally it operated within a small region, in a
special "hearability" area just off Crete where a fluke in the weather
allowed it to eavesdrop on all the Middle East; the crew could even
watch Cairo television.
Salim was stunned. Ramirez, he had suddenly realized, was a madman. It
was one thing to require an occasional killing in an operation this
complex--after all, he had had to shoot his weapons operator in order to
steal the Hind--but an all-out attack on a U.S. frigate was pointless.
The stakes had just gone through the roof.