blood. When men died in the field, either they were quickly taken away or left behind. If they were left behind, they were invariably eaten by carnivores. It was strange, the things an old soldier had not experienced after all these years.
He returned to the problem at hand. A Spanish woman, he thought. It could mean nothing. She might be a tourist. Or she could be part of the military group that had gone to the tourist center. Perhaps Seronga and Pavant did not get away as clean as they had imagined.
Pavant obviously had the same thought as Seronga. The younger man leaned toward him. The driver would not be able to hear them over the clank of the air-conditioning and rattling muffler.
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'We should stop and let the other driver pass,' Pavant whispered.
'No,' Seronga said.
'What if they are following us?' Pavant demanded.
'We can watch them better if they don't suspect what we're doing,' Seronga told him.
'We can watch them better if they are in front of us,' Pavant said.
'We will do it this way,' Seronga insisted. 'If they are following us, they will stop in Maun. We will take care of them there.'
Seronga slumped down. The back of his black shirt was thick with perspiration. It clung to the air-chilled vinyl seat. Seronga felt the coolness. It moved along his arms and up the back of his neck. He began to come back to life. But he was revived by more than that. Seronga was encouraged at having a possible target, a potential link to whoever was behind this.
If so, there was another job still to be done.
And this time, he would not fail.
THIRTY-EIGHT
Washington, D.C. Friday, 9:00 A.M.
The call from Mike Rodgers was a shocker.
Before Rodgers phoned with news of the assassination, Bob Herbert, a very tired Liz Gordon, and political adviser Ron Plummer had spent nearly an hour in Paul Hood's office. They had been discussing the imminent arrival of the American bishop in Maun. Darrell McCaskey was supposed to attend, but he was busy talking to his Interpol connections in southern Africa. He said he would come by as soon as he was finished.
The Op-Center brain trust agreed that there would be an attack. Hood felt that the Brush Vipers would not strike for at least two or three days. They would wait for the bishop to settle in, to establish a routine. A clean, successful abduction required that a kidnapper tap into his intended victim's pattern. It also allowed them to study any defenses.
'That makes sense, but not everyone is as cautious or careful as you are, Paul,' Plummer said.
Hood had to admit he had a point.
Herbert and Plummer thought the Brush Vipers would strike again immediately. He felt that they had to show they could come and go unhindered in their own country. They also could not allow the clergyman to reestablish a presence in Maun. If that happened, his arrival would be viewed as a successful, even defiant return of the Catholic Church to Botswana.
Liz had a different view altogether. She did not look at the situation from a political perspective. To her, it was a question of creating what she called a 'higher drama zone.' The Brush Vipers needed that.
'They can't use the same scenario twice,' Liz insisted.
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'Psychologically, to simply abduct another clergyman from the tourist center is equivalent to standing still. That would be viewed as yesterday's soup warmed over.'
'A one-note repertoire,' Plummer said.
'Right,' Liz agreed.
'Maybe they'll just kill him,' Herbert said.
'I don't think so,' Liz said.
'That goes back to what you were saying before about white magic?' Hood asked.
Liz nodded.
'What does the method matter, if they move closer to ousting the Church?' Herbert asked.
'It matters to their own sense of self,' Liz said.
'Yeah, assuming these guys will think it through the way you have,' Herbert said.
'This isn't something you necessarily think about,' Liz said. 'It's something you just do. Dhamballa and his people have shown good psychological instincts so far. Don't forget, their faith includes aspects of mind control that have been refined over ten thousand years. If they are true Vodunists, they know a great deal about human nature.'
'If you're right,' Hood said, 'the Brush Vipers will have to hit the bishop before he reaches the church.'
