Greg Iles - The Spandau Phoenix

cities at night. Robbery, murder, and rape are the rule, and all the

work of the mongrel races! Armed gangs roam the streets, just as in

Germany after the Great War. The defiled bloodlines drag America to her

knees, while in the highest circles of power your Zionist Rasputins work

their devious schemes."

Hess steepled his shriveled fingers. "But that is as it should be," he

said softly. "As it must be. Fascism isn't gangs of ruffians scrawling

swastikas on synagogues and tearing up Jewish cemeteries. It is the

final distillate of human society, the purest system of government, born

in the crucible of poverty, injustice, and war. That is why America is

the last hope of the world, Stern. It is there that the final struggle

will begin." Hess waved his hand in disgust.

"Germany has become too fat, too rich. The Fatherland is governed by

cowards who care only for money! Germany could have nuclear weapons of

its own now, if Bonn had any nerve. Social Democrats!" Hess spat.

"The swine should be lined up in front of the Reichstag and shot!"

Hess's solitary eye burned with evangelical fire. "But the change is

coming, Jew. And Germany will be ready. Even now loyal Germans in both

East and West work to push the communists out. When America calls,

Germany will step forward. Already immigrants choke American employment

lines; drugs poison the small towns; the people see that their

government is powerless to stop the madness. In a few years the

pressure will be so high that the smallest spark will set off the

explosion. And when the spark comes-be it war or plague or economic

catastrophe-when the price of patrol rockets to ninety dollars per

barrel, when American cars sit empty on freeways while their owners

freeze in their homes-then the great change will come. And it will come

like a crash of lightning! A new leader will rise, Jew, and it matters

not who he is! Like the Fuhrer he will be a man of the people. He will

be equal to the times, and when he steps forward the people will

recognize him! They will follow him to glory! America will finally

seize the reins of power she has shied away from for so long! Then

countries like Germany can stand up and play their part!"

"my God," Stern murmured.

"The day of reckoning is nearly upon us, Jew. That is why your race

must be purged. The incineration of Jerusalem will mark the birth of

the new millennium. By the year 2000, the Nordic race will rule over

three-quarters of the globe, and the Jews will be no more!"

Stern shook his head like a man faced with some human aberration of

nature. "But this is so utterly insane," he said

IL,

quietly. "Have you considered your family, Hess? Have you talked to

your wife? To your son?"

Hess turned his face downward. "What could I expect from my son, Stern?

A boy raised in a Germany poisoned by artificially imposed guilt ... a

Germany crippled by a psychological Versailles Treaty in which the

people can never pay enough tears for dead Jews? My family has been the

most painful burden of my life. To watch my son on television, fighting

so valiantly to free the man he believed to be his father. And now that

Horn has been murdered, to know that Wolf believes me dead. It tears my

heart to pieces! So many times I have been tempted. . ." Hess wiped a

tear from his eye and clenched his wrinkled hand into a fist. "My duty

to the Fatherland and to history comes first. I alone have survived to

carry on the Fuhrer's work!"

Stern stared thoughtfully across the desk. "How have you managed to

conceal -your true identity when you so brazenly used the name your

double gave when he landed in Scotland? Surely the name Alfred Horn is

known to anyone familiar with the Hess case?"

Hess smiled cynically. "Why do you assume that I have evaded detection?

Do you think your fellow countrymen are so constrained by moral

absolutes that they would feel compelled to send an assassin to my

(roor?"

"It's been known to happen," Stern said.

"Oh, yes," Hess agreed. "But my dear fellow, I was no Eichmann.

The so-called 'atrocities' against Jews took place long after I left

Germany. I signed a few pieces of legislation limiting Jewish social

activities, but that was simply paperwork. Hardly a reason to execute a

man who can be so helpful in vital areas of your country's national

interest."

"I don't believe you had anything to do with Israel's nuclear weapons

program," Stern said angrily. "No Jew would knowingly deal with you."

Hess leaned his head back with scorn. "Are you really so unworldly,

Stern? You know the saying, 'Don't look a gift horse in the mouth'? I

have found the Israelis to be great lovers of that proverb.

No one can afford to quibble over moral distinctions when he's shopping

for a nuclear bomb.

Not even the Jews. It is poetic, is it not? In their lust for power,

the Jews have sown the seeds of their own destruction. In its quest for

nuclear weapons, Israel gave over its most precious secrets to South

Africa. And I intend to give them back a thousandfold!"

"You won't succeed," Stern said.

Hess smirked. "I presume you're referring to the telephone call you

made to your associates in Pretoria? Requesting the aid of the NIS? Of

General Jaap Steyn, t4O be precise?"

Stern felt his heart stutter.

"In all fairness, I should tell you not to have any great hopes on that

account. The NIS is thoroughly under the control of certain associates

of mine. Respected members of the government." A cruel smile plucked

at the corners of Hess's mouth. "So, perhaps I shall succeed, yes?"

Pieter Smuts chuckled softly. Stern tried to still his quivering hands,

but the snuffing of his solitary hope for rescue drove him beyond

reason. With a primal scream he flung himself across the desk, groping

for Hess's throat. He felt his hands grasp the beribboned jacket, then

the old man's spindly neckSmuts's Beretta crashed down on his skull and

blotted out the light.

I .

6.35 A.m. The Union Building, Pretoria Hauer sat as still as possible

and tried to control his frustration. He had been waiting this way for

almost two hours.

Across the desk from him sat a tall, sandy-haired young man of about

thirty. His name was Captain Barnard, and he was one of General Jaap

Steyn's two personal staff officers. Captain Bernard had been working a

graveyard shift when Hauer and Gadi were ushered into his third-floor

office by an armed duty officer. The young captain had listened

patiently to Hauer's requests to speak to General Steyn, but he had

acted on none of them. General Steyn, Captain Bernard explained, never

woke before seven. And'unless Hauer could be more specific about what

he meant by "national crisis," he would have to wait until then, when

Barnard would be happy to call the general at home. No, the captain had

not heard of an Alfred Horn who had an estate in the northern Transvaal.

At that point Hauer had resorted to blackmail. He mentioned plan Aliyah

Beth, which Captain Barnard blandly explained was "Greek to me." In the

face of this delay, Gadi Abrams stood and moved softly toward the door.

"Where are you going?" Captain Barnard asked sharply.

Gadi reached for the door handle'and pulled. In the doorway stood the

khaki-clad duty officer who had brought them upstairs. He leveled his

pistol at Gadi's belly.

"I'd like to call my embdssy," Gadi said evenly. He was gauging his