Spiegel-' General Steyn raised his hand. 'And if I don't consider that
a strong enough threat?'
'You may be personally responsible for the deaths of millions of
people.'
Captain Bernard stood openmouthed in astonishment. He had never heard
anyone speak to General Steyn like this, and the mention of hostile
nuclear weapons on South African soil had all but pushed him over the
brink. But General Steyn simply rubbed his right hand over his
close-cropped scalp and said, 'Excuse us for a moment, gentlemen..
Barnard?'
When they had gone, Gadi leapt to his feet. 'What the hell are you
doing, Hauer? My uncle told you to get enough troops to flatten Horn's
estate. You're asking for a small group of men! What are you up to?'
'I'm trying to save your damned country for you,' Hauer snapped.
'Since you don't have the presence of mind to do it yourself.
Would you use your brain for one minute? Let's say I tell General Steyn
everything. Where the bomb is, who really has it, everything.
What will he do? His first impulse will be to do what Stern wants-take
a battalion up there and flatten Horn's place. But guess what? While
the good general is flying up to the Transvaal, he's going to realize
something. He's going to realize that Alfred Horn's target is not South
Africa.
Eh? Because if it was, Horn could have sabotaged it a thousand ways
before now. He'll realize that Horn's target must be outside South
Africa, as we well know. And when General Steyn's political bosses find
that out, they're going to realize that the smart thing to do for South
Africa-is to simply let the deal happen. Let whoever's buying that bomb
land their plane, load it on board, and fly it right out of South
Africa, thereby neutralizing the threat to their country.'
The color drained from Gadi's face. 'They wouldn'L@ -They damn well
would,' Hauer asserted. 'Even if they want to stop Horn, how can they?
He's got the ultimate blackmail weapon. If they attack him, he can
detonate the weapon right where he is-inside South Africa. And I
imagine someone in the South African government knows he's crazy enough
to do it.'
'All right,' Gadi said. 'I see your point. But General Steyn isn't
going to give you any men.'
'He is,' Hauer said calmly. 'On one condition.'
'What condition?'
Suddenly, the steel door clanged open. General Steyn marched in with
Captain Bernard on his heels.
'Let's see,' Hauer murmured to GadiGeneral Steyn stopped in front of
Hauer. 'Before I answer,' he said, 'I want to hear exactly what you
want.'
Hauer didn't hesitate. He'd made his shopping list while he waited in
the cell. 'I want an armored car. I want it mounted with a heavy
machine gun, not a water cannon. I want five men from your elite
counterterror unit. I don't want them to know where they're going or
what the mission is, but I want them to bring along their whole bag of
tricks: flash-bang grenades, body armor, flares, combat shotguns, the
works.'
'Mmm,' the geneml murmured. 'Is that all?'
'No. One more thing.'
'yes?
'A Steyr-Mannlicher SSG.69.'
General Steyn glanced at Captain Barnard-our counterterror team uses a
different sniper rifle,' Barnard explained. 'But I think we can get
hold of a Steyr.'
Hauer was still watching General Steyn. 'Do I get my men, General?'
'On one condition,' the Afrikaner said stiffly. 'And it's
nonnegotiable.'
'I can't imagine what it is,' Hauer said, almost smiling.
'I go with you.'
Gadi's jaw dropped.
'But I'm in command,' Hauer pressed.
General Steyn pursed his lips. 'Tactical command,' he allowed.
Hauer breathed a sigh of satisfaction. 'Make your calls, General.'
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
5.51 Pm. Horn House Jonas Stern's head, chest, and ankles had been
scraped bloody by the leather restraining straps of the X-ray table.
Blinding white light stabbed his eyes. He had counted forty blasts of
the X-ray unit already, and in between he had heard the muffled voices
of the men behind the heavy lead shield.
His murderers. They had asked no questions, given no explanations, and
Stern needed none. He was a Jew.
'That's 150 rads,' said a voice Stern recognized as Pieter Smuts's.
'How much is that?' asked a second, eager voice. Jiirgen Luhr.
'How much can he take?'
'Oh, quite a bit more,' Smuts replied. 'And he will.'
'Just a moment,' said a hoarse, high-pitched voice.
Stern heard the hum of an electric wheelchair, and then Hess rounded the
lead shield. Stern tried to move his head to look, but the straps held
him fast. He saw only the brilliant white light overhead.
Hess chuckled beside his ear.
'Pieter has devised a rather ingenious method of eliminating my Jewish
problem, wouldn't you say, Herr Stern?'
Stern said nothing.
'I wanted you punished, you see,' Hess explained, 'but I also wanted you
to live long enough to see your country destroyed.'
'He may not actually see it, sir,' Smuts INTERJECTED as he stepped
around the shield. 'In a few hours he will experience blindness similar
to that caused by flashburns. He may or may not recover his sight.'
Hess's face darkened. 'But he will live long enough to know that Israel
is no more?'
'If the Libyans stick to the schedule, yes. We could stretch this out
for months, if you like.'
Hess shook his head. 'Just long enough for the Jew to see what happens
to Israel. What will become of him after that?'
Smuts's voice took on a clinical detachment. 'It varies.
