early
1960s, the industrialist was suspected of using a worldwide
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network to provide arms to rebels, rogue nations, and both sides of Third World conflicts. His agents at customs checkpoints, in police stations, in shipping offices, and in factories enabled him to sidestep embargoes and arms bans. He provided arms to Central and South American rebels, to African warlords, and to Middle Eastern nations. His willingness to sell low-priced weapons to both Iran and Iraq was one of the reasons their war lasted for eight years in the 1980s. Even if he just broke even on the initial gun sales, Beaudin made money on the steady demand for ammunition and spare parts. Because rebel factions and smaller countries needed his weapons, they were never willing to help the United Nations, Interpol, or other international organizations investigate his activities. Because of Beaudin's influence among French politicians and military officials, they were also unwilling to cooperate. Op-Center had always suspected that Beaudin was one of the financial forces behind the New Jacobins, xenophobic terrorists they had fought in Toulouse several years before.
'If Beaudin is involved, chances are we're probably not looking at a small event,' Herbert said.
'Or a short one,' Rodgers added. 'Whoever is behind this had to know the Vatican would get involved.'
'They were obviously counting on that,' Herbert said. 'The Church won't surrender its ministries. Kline is afraid that if this isn't an isolated attack, someone may be trying to create a schism.'
'Between?'
'Catholics and people of indigenous faiths,' Herbert said. 'If someone pits religion against religion, you have a hotbutton issue that can blow up throughout the western world. It could fuel arms consumption all over Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia-'
'Giving Beaudin a damn near bottomless market for his product,' Rodgers said.
'Right,' Herbert said. 'That's assuming Beaudin's involved in this, of course. There could be other people behind the abduction, international players we haven't even considered.'
'I'm also not ready to make the leap from the abduction of
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Father Bradbury to a regional war,' Rodgers said. 'These things take time to develop.'
'True.'
'And a short-term conflict would be chump change to a guy like Beaudin,' Rodgers said.
'That said, all the war simulations in the regions show the potential for widespread pocket conflagrations,' Herbert reminded him. 'We might not see a pattern until local governments start falling. A religious war in Botswana would be the perfect trigger to start uprisings of all kinds among the disenfranchised.'
'The war sims also show the major powers being forced to contain those struggles, the way we did in Kashmir,' Rodgers noted. 'Too many nations have big, blow-down-the-door weapons. None of us can afford to let those come into play.'
'The good thing is, if Beaudin is involved, he can't afford that, either,' Herbert said. 'There's no profit for him. That's why we have to see if there are some major pieces still missing.'
'What does Kline want to do?' Rodgers asked.
'I spoke to him again, told him there was no point trying to check up on Beaudin's activities through France,' Herbert said. 'They shut me down when I tried to link him to those nutcases in Toulouse.'
'The Church might find a few more allies than we did,' Rodgers pointed out. 'There are more Roman Catholics in France than any other denomination. About ninety percent, I think.'
'You're right, but they're also fiercely nationalistic,' Herbert said. 'Kline doesn't want to suggest that a Frenchman committed an anti-Catholic act.'
'Even if he may have,' Rodgers said.
'If he did, we'll have to find out through other means,' Herbert said. 'If that ever got out and we were wrong, the Vatican would have forty-five million very unhappy worshipers.'
While Herbert was speaking, Rodgers reaccessed Patricia Arroyo's personnel database. He entered the name Ballon, Colo-
nel Bernard Benjamin. The forty-something Colonel Ballon was a tough veteran officer with France's Groupe d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Rationale. The Frenchman's anti-hate crime unit had worked with Op-Center to stop the New Jacobins from murdering Algerian and Moroccan immigrants in France. If they could bring in Ballon, maybe this would not have to become a national hot potato.
'My feeling is we're going to have to try to kite-tail Beaudin from the other end,' Herbert went on. 'We or the Vatican Security Organization should get someone close to the religion or cult or whatever it is as soon as possible. While we're watching them, we can also look for signs of Beaudin.'
'Do you think Paul will go along with that?' Rodgers asked. 'Not the idea but the haste.'
'I think so,' Herbert said. 'If not for humanitarian reasons, then for simple intel. No one else is onto this yet, and it could be explosive.'
'Paul may not want to take that heat,' Rodgers said. 'Not with the shit we're getting from the CIOC and Senator Fox.'
