conclave had pushed her over the edge of endurance. As the Libyans
filed out of the room behind Horn's motorized chair, she slid awkwardly
to the floor, tiny beads of cold sweat sparkling on her bloodless
forehead.
730 Pm. Burgerspark Hotel, Pretoria
In a small room on the fourth floor of the Burgerspark Hotel, Jonas
Stern reviewed his interception plan with his men.
Gadi Abrams lounged on one of the hotel beds. Professor Natterman sat
in a chair by the window, wearing a bulky bulletproof vest beneath his
tweed jacket. Stern himself sat on the bed opposite Gadi. Yosef Shamir
stood in the lobby four floors below, listening through a hand-held
radio.
'Thirty minutes until the rendezvous,' Stern said.
'Where's Aaron?'
Just then they heard a key in the door. The young commando stepped in.
'The elevator control box is in the basement,' he said.
'I can stop the elevator wherever you want it.'
Stern nodded. 'What about the radio?'
Aaron frowned and pulled a small walkie-talkie from his pocket.
'I could hear you, but there's static. And you were only on the fourth
floor. With eight floors between us, I'm not so sure.'
'We'll check it when we get up there.' Stern consulted a drawing he had
made on a piece of hotel stationery. 'All right, here it is.
I've taken a second room on the eighth floor of this hotel. The closest
I could get to suite 81 I-the room 9 .
where Sergeant Apfel is registered-was 820. It's down the hall, past
the elevators, and around the corner. Gadi and I will be in that room.
Yosef will be watching the lobby.
Aaron will be in the basement. Professor Natterman will wait here.'
Stern tugged at the flesh beneath his chin. 'Before we intercept Hauer
and Apfel, I intend to let the kidnappers make contact in whatever way
they choose. I suspect that they will call suite 811
and instruct our German friends to meet them at a different place.
If they attempt to seize or kill the Germans, however, we will
intervene.'5
Stern looked over into the corner. There, in a large open suitcase, lay
the fruits of onle of the telephone calls he had made from Natterman's
Wolfsburg cabin. A Jewish arms dealer of Stern's long acquaintance had
had the suitcase ready when Stern arrived at his Johannesburg home this
afternoon. In the suitcase lay five short-barrelled Uzi submachine
guns, four silenced .22 caliber pistols, two of five walkie-talkies,
silencers for the Uzis, and a small hoard of ammunition.
'Obviously,' said Stern, 'Professor Natterman must make our initial
contact with the Germans. Of the five of us, Captain Hauer knows only
him. Hauer is likely to shoot anyone else who exposes himself too soon.
Ideally, the professor will make the contact by telephone. When Yosef
sees the Germans enter the lobby, he will radio Gadi and me in room 820.
Gadi has already bugged suite 811, so we will be monitoring what
transpires after Hauer and Apfel get inside. After the kidnappers have
made their contact, we will call Professor Natterman here.
Professor, you will immediately call suite 811. If you reach Hauer or
Apfel, you will give the little speech we went over together.'
Natterman nodded attentively.
'If you cannot reach them-because of a busy signal or anything else-we
will go to the backup plan. Gadi and I will observe the Germans as they
leave suite 811. If they take the stairs down, we will radio you here,
whereupon you will walk immediately to the stairwell and wait for them.'
Stern smiled encouragingly. 'You don't need to run, Professor.
The stairwell is less than twenty meters from this room.
Hauer and Apfel must cover four floors before they reach you.
Natterman nodded again.
'If they take the elevator down, however, it gets a bit more
complicated. In that case Gadi will radio Aaron in the basement, and
Aaron will stop the elevator.between floorshopefully between the fourth
and third. I will radio you'Stern pointed his finger at Natterman-'and
tell you to go to the elevator shaft. Yosef will be here with you. He
will have come up from the lobby, after making certain that Hauer and
Apfel are not being followed. He will pry open the elevator doors for
you, and you will speak to Hauer while he is trapped below you. He'll
probably be trying to get out through the roof anyway.'
Natterman looked anxious. 'The elevator scenario seems rather
complicated.'
'It's the only way we can insure contact without frightening Hauer away
or getting killed ourselves.'
'Why can't I just wait in the lobby for them?'
Stern sighed heavily. 'Because we would then risk frightening the
kidnappers away. And the kidnappers, Professor, are the men I came to
South Africa to get.'
Natterman looked glum. 'Can your men do All they're supposed to?
The timing seems close.'
Gadi Abrams grinned. 'We are sayaret matkal, Professor,' he said
proudly. 'This is child's play for us.'
Stern shot him a dark look. 'Hauer will not be child's play, Gadi.
You boys have trained with GSG-9, so I shouldn't have to amplify that.
Captain Hauer is an extremely dangerous man. Don't underestimate
Sergeant Apfel either. He is under unimaginable pressure, and a man
like that is capable of anything.'
Gadi nodded. 'Yes, Uncle.'
Stern glanced at his watch, 'Let's move. Twenty minutes to the
rendezvous, and we still need to test the radio reception from the
basement.'
As one, Stern, Gadi, and Aaron collected their weapons from the suitcase
and moved toward the door. 'Good luck, Professor,' Stern said, then
they went out.
As Stern moved toward the elevators, Gadi fell back beside him and
whispered, 'I didn't want to alarm anybody, Uncle, but what happened to
our body armor?'
Stern grimaced. 'Another buyer came along and offered more money.'
'But why give the Professor the one vest we have? You should be wearing
