Nick Carter: The Omega Terror

In the moment it took him to try to wrench the cleaver free, I pulled a leg up close to my chest and kicked out, hitting him hard over the heart.

His jaw flew open as he released his hold on the buried cleaver and fell backward to the floor, making ugly grunting gasps.

I saw the Luger near me and stretched out my arm to retrieve it.

“That will be quite enough!” the loud voice commanded.

I turned and saw the tall, husky General Djenina standing in the doorway. In his hand was one of the bulky automatics, and it was aimed at my head. Behind him, in the tight grasp of an orderly, was Gabrielle.

“I am sorry, Nick,” the girl said.

Another uniformed man, probably the general’s chauffeur, moved into the hallway. He held a gun on me too, as he came over and kicked the Luger out of my reach, glancing at the men on the floor. He muttered something in Arabic.

“They warned me about you,” Djenina said, striding toward me. “But it appears I did not take you seriously enough.” He spoke excellent English. He was a tough-looking man in his fifties, with a square jaw and a scar across his left eye. He was about my size, and he looked as if he kept in shape. He had a way of pulling his chin up as he talked, as if he were wearing too tight a collar. His uniform was covered with braid and ribbons.

“I’m glad I didn’t disappoint you,” I said.

He stood ominously over me with the automatic, and I thought for a moment that he might pull the trigger. But he replaced the pistol in a big holster on his hip.

“Stand up,” he ordered.

I did and felt a throbbing along my neck where the slug had grazed me. Blood had caked on my neck and collar. While I stood with the chauffeur’s gun on me, the general searched me. He found the map in my pocket. He looked at it and grinned. Then he turned to the chauffeur.

“Handcuff him and bring them into my office.” He was speaking in Arabic now. “And take care of these people.” He gestured indifferently toward the soldiers and cook on the floor.

A few minutes later, Gabrielle and I were sitting in the big library. I had guessed right about its being the general’s office. Djenina sat behind a long, highly polished wood desk, tapping a pencil on a pad before him and regarding us somberly. He was a light-skinned Moroccan, probably a Berber or a descendant of the fierce Almohads. He was as tall as I, and probably outweighed me by twenty pounds.

Gabrielle and I were on straight chairs in front of the desk. They had not bothered to handcuff or bind her. The soldier who had been holding Gabrielle was on guard at the door to the library. He still had a gun on us.

“So you know about Li Yuen’s little project?” Djenina said, still tapping the pencil.

“We know,” I said. “You made a serious error, General, aligning yourself with the Chinese in such a situation. Did you ever get hard cash for the protection you gave them?”

The general seemed nettled by the question. “Li Yuen keeps his word, my friend. Soon we will have the capital necessary to finance a real coup, not a farce like the last one.”

“Which you also led?” I asked.

His eyes narrowed on me slightly. “I was not the moving force in the unsuccessful one. The next time I will do the planning.”

“And perhaps someone in your group will turn on you at the last minute, when things look black, and shoot you as you did the first leader.”

Djenina smirked arrogantly. “Very clever, wasn’t it, to kill those inept bunglers and save myself from the firing squad.”

“It depends on which end of the gun you were on, I suppose.”

Djenina did not acknowledge my sarcasm. “They deserved exactly what they got, Mr. Carter,” he said to me. “Their weak leadership led us into a position in which all of us almost lost our lives. That will not happen again.”

“Do you really think you’ll get another rebellion off the ground with the Chicoms backing you?” I asked.

“I am counting on it,” he said coldly, pulling the big chin up and jutting it forward, Mussolini-style. He had removed the braided cap, revealing thick, dark hair that was graying at the temples.

“And it doesn’t concern you what Li Yuen and Dr. Zeno are concocting down there under your protection?”

“But, Mr. Carter,” Djenina smiled slyly, “they are establishing a health clinic for the poor de-prived citizens of the area.”

“If the Chinese succeed in their Omega project” I said to the General, “no people or country will be safe. Not even Morocco. You have the proverbial tiger by the tail, Djenina. At the moment the tiger is using you for his own purposes. Later he may turn and bite your head off.”

“That is always a possibility, of course,” he said smoothly. “But this country is different from yours. Here one does not get ahead by hard work. I enjoy my present rank and position because I was born into the monied class and because I was strong enough to take what I wanted. You get only what you can grab from somebody else. I do not intend to be caught short when the grabbing is over, Mr. Carter, even if I have to deal with the Chinese to get the help I need.”

I decided it was pointless to discuss the matter further with Djenina. He had long ago rationalized his motives, and he could not be reached with reason now.

“What do you plan for us?” I asked him frankly, I thought I knew the answer, but I wanted his confirmation before making any plans.

“He will kill us,” Gabrielle said. “I know it.”

She still wore the guard’s uniform over her clothes. I could not help thinking how helpless she looked, sitting there blurting out her fear to the man who had so much power over her.

“Yes,” the general agreed casually with her, “I may have to kill you. After all, you have invaded my home, killing several trusted men and injuring others. You deserve to be summarily shot. Moroccan military law demands it.”

He had not yet said that he definitely intended to shoot us, however, and that surprised me somewhat. “I didn’t know you cared all that much for the law,” I said with an edge to my voice.

He was wearing that damnable grin again. The scar that ran across his left eye appeared more livid in this light. “I utilize it when it serves my purpose,” he said. “I also break it when it serves my purpose. And I am prepared to do so now, Mr. Carter, to save your life. Your lives, perhaps I should say.”

“You know I’m in no position to make deals, General.”

“What I had in mind was more involved than a deal.”

I stared at him uncomprehendingly.

“I respect you for your peculiar talents, Mr. Carter,” he said, his eyes serious now. “Not many men could have gotten in here the way you did and accomplished the damage you managed to accomplish with what you had to work with.”

The compliment surprised me.

“Li Yuen has mentioned you,” the general continued. “It seems he, or rather L5, has a rather large file on you.”

“I’m sure of it,” I said.

“I am impressed with what I was told and what I have seen,” Djenina continued. He leaned forward conspiratorially. “The West has lost the struggle, Carter, with Damon Zeno’s discovery. I don’t have any real idea what it is, because they won’t tell me, but I know it is very powerful.”

“I’m sure it is.” I managed a shrug.

“And where will that leave you, my friend? Very probably dead, on the losing side.”

“I’m not going to buy a cemetery plot just yet,” I answered.

He leaned forward even farther. “I will offer you your life, Carter, in more ways than one. I need a man like you. You can work for me. If I trust you, Li Yuen will. I can arrange a commission for you and have you assigned to my personal staff. How does Colonel Carter sound?”