Larry Bond - Vortex

My God. Forrester winced at the horrific images conjured up by the commerce secretary’s matter-of-fact words. Idle, abandoned factories and shops. Burning homes. Floods of refugees fleeing starving cities. Bodies littering the streets. Genocide. Race war. Unbidden, the term popped into his brain-Armageddon in South Africa.

He turned to Hickman.

“General, could this goddamned war go on for this year or two the secretary’s talking about?”

Hickman nodded slowly, reluctantly.

“Yes, sir, easily that long. Barring internal collapse in either Cuba or South Africa, this could be another bloody stalemate. Neither side holds a clear military advantage. The communist forces are at the end of a long supply line, and Soviet-style logistics are nothing to brag about. Hell, we’d have trouble fighting down there ourselves!”

Hickman stared moodily at a wall map showing the world.

“On the other hand, South Africa’s increasingly isolated and bogged down in a racial mess of its own creation. ” He looked up at Forrester.

“Nope, Mr. Vice

President. As things stand now, these people can keep killing each other from now until doomsday without achieving much of anything.”

Hurley added the final kicker.

“And neither side has much reason to seek a political settlement. Having started this thing, Vorster can’t afford to settle for anything less than all of Namibia. And Castro’s pride won’t let him aim for anything less than driving every single Afrikaner back across the South African frontier. Every bit of international support he’s gained will disappear unless he ends the war with a clear victory.”

Forrester understood the implications. It was going to be a long war.

Worse than that, the conflict showed signs of spreading like a virus, affecting any country that bordered on South Africa or Namibia. The

United States could not afford to let that happen. Besides the economic considerations, the loss of life would be tremendous. America would have to act, and act effectively, or she would be blamed for her inaction.

Forrester tapped his notepad impatiently with his pen.

“All right, people, what can we do? The President is looking for specific recommendations.”

Nicholson spoke first.

“The Namibian invasion is the source of the problem.

Stop the war and things will loosen up. “

Hurley countered, “That’s a noble sentiment, but how exactly do you propose we go about doing that soon enough to matter? It took eight years of trying and we never did pull the Iranians and the Iraqis apart. We don’t have that kind of time here.”

General Hickman snorted.

“The key to this situation is that bastard

Vorster. He’s the one who started this friggin’ Namibian war. Now we’ve gotta find a way to make him call it off.”

“I’d have better luck teaching my cat to tap-dance. ” Hurley replaced his tortoiseshell glasses.

“Hold on, Ed. The general may have something there.

Forrester sat back in his chair, head tilted up slightly toward the low ceiling.

“Vorster’s a stubborn son of a bitch, but he might listen to reason if we can find a way to cut him off at the knees. We know the military’s in good shape, but South Africa can’t go on fighting a foreign war if its civilian economy starts failing apart. “

“You mean South Africa’s whites won’t be so interested in foreign conquests if they start going hungry,” Hurley said.

Forrester hesitated and then nodded.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I mean.

Let’s speed up the process.”

It seemed strange to contemplate accelerating South Africa’s economic collapse in order to stave off a larger, bloodier catastrophe. Something like innoculating people with a weakened version of a deadly virus to protect them from the disease itself.

Forrester turned to the secretary of commerce.

“Hamilton, I’d like your people to prepare an analysis of South Africa’s greatest vulnerabilities.

Where can we really turn up the heat on these people? As a start, we’ll recommend to the President that we freeze South African assets in this country.

“I need something I can show the President within the week. Clear?”

The commerce secretary was obviously more comfortable with fixing an economy than fouling one up, but he nodded and took notes.

Forrester glanced around the crowded, suddenly silent table.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are no longer talking about simple sanctions. Those are designed to show a government how we feel, or as a mild form of coercion.

What we need is a hook we can sink into Vorster himself.” He bared his teeth.

“And I suspect the best kind of hook would be the threat that his own supporters will vote him out of office because they can’t work and can’t eat.”

He looked across the table at Nicholson.

“Chris, we may need to consider active measures by your people. Use Hamilton’s list as a starting point, but have your Covert Action folks put together their own ideas as well.

Again, we’ll need to see whatever they can put together ASAP.

The CIA director nodded once, his high forehead creased by a worried frown.

Covert operations were notoriously dangerous for any intelligence chief with political ambitions. Disgruntled political opponents and press cynics loved nothing better than to expose them to public scrutiny and congressional ridicule. Nicholson already knew that no covert action would survive the rigid test he planned to apply-risk of failure.

Hurley caught Forrester’s eye.

“I’d suggest additional consultations with some of our allies on these proposals. Especially with the United Kingdom.

It has substantial military and economic interests in the region. ” He glanced in Nicholson’s direction.

“It also has a top-notch intelligence service. They may even have data we’ve missed.”

The CIA director frowned slightly at that, but nodded his reluctant agreement.

Forrester held up a hand.

“Let’s hold off on that for a week or so, Ed.

Just until I’ve had a chance to get some feedback from the President.”

He scanned the table one last time.

“Anyone else?”

General Hickman cleared his throat and leaned forward.

“Let me get one thing straight, sir. Is our basic assumption now that things in South

Africa are going to get a lot worse than they presently are?”

” Yes. “

“Then I recommend we start moving out any U.S. citizens we can. Without delay. They could be a real liability for us if we have to take direct action against these bastards. “

The room fell silent. Direct action. Nobody wanted to ask exactly what the chairman of the Joint Chiefs meant by that. Forrester wondered if the

Pentagon had finished working up the contingency plans he’d asked for.

He made a mental note to check later-when there weren’t so many prying ears around.

Hurley frowned.

“I’m not sure how much more we can do to persuade our tourists and businessmen to stay out of South Africa. We’ve already issued a travel advisory for the whole region. Anything more, like an outright ban on travel or a forced evacuation, would require either congressional action or a presidential National Security Decision Directive. “

Forrester matched the shorter man’s frown. A travel ban made military sense, but it might also fan the flames of hysteria in the world’s financial markets. He turned to Hickman.

“Look, General, your point’s well taken. We certainly don’t want too many of our people getting caught in the cross fire over there. I’ll raise the issue with the President next time I see him. Fair enough?”

Hickman shrugged as though he hadn’t expected immediate agreement.