Free The Delta Solution by Patrick Robinson

public the death of American military personnel. Dead Navy SEALs filled him with horror, and Andre agreed with Zack Lancaster’s view that to attack the Niagara Falls in her present position, in the hands of heavily armed pirates, was tantamount to a suicide mission.
    “We’d win in the end,” said General Lancaster. “But in this case winning wouldn’t matter. It’s the death rate, men dying for a few bags of fucking wheat. That’s the issue.”
    Simon Andre agreed. And he was delighted with the scheme for the Seafarers International Union to pay $5 million to free their members and reclaim the ship. He had not the slightest interest in where the money came from.
    “The important thing is to keep the president out of this,” said Andre. “And that will not be a problem because he will have no interest in discussing anything that makes the United States look like a soft target. He’s got enough problems there without us making it worse.”
    “I’m going to suggest a very quiet announcement tomorrow morning early,” said General Lancaster. “Just a short statement to be issued by the
Seafarers Union that an unarmed American merchant ship has been attacked and seized by a small group of Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean, several hundred miles off the coast of East Africa. No mention of casualties. Just a confirmation that the pirate leader has been in touch with the ship’s owners. And that a ransom sum has been agreed with the Seafarers Union whose interest is to protect their members.”
    “Sounds very good,” said Simon Andre. “But I think it needs an optimistic forecast—something like . . . Negotiations are scheduled to conclude today, and the ship, the Niagara Falls , is expected to be on her way within forty-eight hours .”
    “Excellent,” said the general. “And I think we should put a rigid ban on further information leaking out. We do not need the goddamned press writing stories about dead merchant navy officers boldly giving up their lives for Africa’s starving millions.”
    “In the next half hour, I plan to inform the usual military channels what’s happening,” added the general. “Admiral Bradfield is briefing the navy departments, including SPECWARCOM. I’ll get a briefing into Diego Garcia and Djibouti. And we’d better tell State, plus the CIA, and the National Security Agency. You’ll deal with the White House?”
    “I will. And we’ll confer at 0600 before the trade union’s press release.”
    “Yes, sir,” said Zack as he left the room. “I’ll have someone draft it this evening. Then our friend the union boss can release it to Reuters, or one of the other news agencies, at 0900 tomorrow.”
    The general went straight up to the fourth floor to the navy department, where Mark Bradfield was heavily ensconced with Major Harry Blythe, and Mary-Ann McCormac’s fingers were flying over her computer keyboard, rounding up every last detail on the crew of the Niagara Falls . She had two cell phones on her desk, both tuned to a push-button satellite route to the bridge of the ship. Conversations with Captain Corcoran were mere seconds away at any time of the night.
    A third phone next to her keyboard was programmed to the cell phone of Admiral Ismael Wolde, whom Mark Bradfield had decreed could just “keep his black ass waiting” until the US Navy was good and ready.
    Major Harry Blythe was through talking to the duty officer at the British Embassy up the hill on Massachusetts Avenue before 2030. He did not explain precisely why the Pentagon wished to enlist the embassy to
help with a large transfer of money to Nairobi via Barclays Bank, but the young attaché on the line sensed it was sufficiently important to inform the ambassador right away.
    Sir Archie Compton left an embassy dinner and promised Harry he would facilitate the operation immediately. “I’ll have the High Commission in Kenya monitor it. You can pay us right here, which will save you a lot of trouble and