Chapter 33: The break

As 0800 approached, Maeve entered the small com booth that had been set up. She turned to Pru. "It just hit me. If he has that kind of com spoofing and frequency switching, he may be checking us. Hold on" and ducked out of the room.

Maeve went to the NCO who ran the com. "If anyone queries the location of this com, what will they get?"

"The ID of this field unit," she replied.

"Can you change it to the same one we were using at Headquarters?"

"Sure, but it's against regulations."

"Do it; then ask Xing to okay it."

"Right."

When she returned to the room, Pru said, "That went well."

"When you've been a sergeant major as long as I have, you learn how to communicate. Anyway, Xing's got these people clued in. We can do just about anything we want. He'll know about it before we do, anyway. Good man — for a man."

Maeve watched the clock count up to 0800 and keyed the com. "Good morning Elik, this is Merve. Thank Al'lah I am well. Ins'al'lah, you are well this morning too. How are our hostages today? Any illness? Any problems?"

Pru heard the usual truculent response, and went to find Lia. "Maeve is on line with Elik. When will the eye be in position to scan?"

"Xing's on it already. We have an eye about a foot across at an altitude of 5,000 meters. That's pretty hard to spot visually."

"What about spotting it electronically?"

"Xing said he was going for passive scans. After all, we're listening for Elik, not trying to contact him."

In only a few minutes, Xing appeared. "We've got it," he said with a grin. "He's in there. He's switching frequencies every 500 milliseconds. And, he's using both OSG and civilian frequencies. It's definitely military-grade equipment."

"The camouflage field certainly is," Lia said. She turned to her com and the com NCO's face appeared. "Yes, sir."

"Patch me into the conversation Sgt Major O'Leary is having, please. Monitor only." She turned to Pru. "This is bothering me. I've had a hunch for some time, and I can't place it."

The com display changed to show the monitored conversation. Maeve's voice came through.

" ... can you manage to separate the holdings of Uighur and Han businesses? Many of them are jointly owned."

Baltar's voice responded, "You will have to convince me that you are doing this."

"Are you saying that you are willing to keep the hostages safe while this is being worked out?"

"The hostages will die on the last day of the month. That is not negotiable."

"Then you will have to accept that we will find a way to make such a division."

"I don't have to accept anything."

"Are you, then, not bargaining in good faith? Is this how a good Muslim deals? How can you say that?"