Greg Iles - The Spandau Phoenix

"Perhaps," Gadi said, speaking for the first time, "Mr.

Horn isn't who he appears to be."

General Steyn eyed the Israeli suspiciously. "Just who the devil do you

think he is, lad?"

When Gadi didn't reply, the general turned to Hauer.

"What is it you want me to do, Captain? Exactly?"

Hauer looked straight into General Steyn's eyes. "I want you to place a

small group of men under my command and give me until midnight before

you call out the army."

The general gaped in astonishment. "You're mad! You're asking me to

place South African officers under the command of a foreign policeman?

So that he can carry out an unsanctioned and illegal operation within

this republic? Is that what you're asking?"

"I'm not asking." Hauer's eyes were flat and steady. "I'm demanding

it."

General Steyn reddened in outrage. "You're not in a position to demand

a bloody toothpick!"

Hauer looked pointedly at his watch. "General, I have a man waiting in

Pretoria for a telephone call. He has a full description of Plan Aliyah

Beth. If he does not receive that call in the next twelve minutes, he

will call the New York Times, the London Daily Telegraph, CNN, Der

Spiegel-" General Steyn raised his hand. "And if I don't consider that

a strong enough threat?"

"You may be personally responsible for the deaths of millions of

people."

Captain Bernard stood openmouthed in astonishment. He had never heard

anyone speak to General Steyn like this, and the mention of hostile

nuclear weapons on South African soil had all but pushed him over the

brink. But General Steyn simply rubbed his right hand over his

close-cropped scalp and said, "Excuse us for a moment, gentlemen..

Barnard?"

When they had gone, Gadi leapt to his feet. "What the hell are you

doing, Hauer? My uncle told you to get enough troops to flatten Horn's

estate. You're asking for a small group of men! What are you up to?"

"I'm trying to save your damned country for you," Hauer snapped.

"Since you don't have the presence of mind to do it yourself.

Would you use your brain for one minute? Let's say I tell General Steyn

everything. Where the bomb is, who really has it, everything.

What will he do? His first impulse will be to do what Stern wants-take

a battalion up there and flatten Horn's place. But guess what? While

the good general is flying up to the Transvaal, he's going to realize

something. He's going to realize that Alfred Horn's target is not South

Africa.

Eh? Because if it was, Horn could have sabotaged it a thousand ways

before now. He'll realize that Horn's target must be outside South

Africa, as we well know. And when General Steyn's political bosses find

that out, they're going to realize that the smart thing to do for South

Africa-is to simply let the deal happen. Let whoever's buying that bomb

land their plane, load it on board, and fly it right out of South

Africa, thereby neutralizing the threat to their country."

The color drained from Gadi's face. "They wouldn'L@ -They damn well

would," Hauer asserted. "Even if they want to stop Horn, how can they?

He's got the ultimate blackmail weapon. If they attack him, he can

detonate the weapon right where he is-inside South Africa. And I

imagine someone in the South African government knows he's crazy enough

to do it."

"All right," Gadi said. "I see your point. But General Steyn isn't

going to give you any men."

"He is," Hauer said calmly. "On one condition."

"What condition?"

Suddenly, the steel door clanged open. General Steyn marched in with

Captain Bernard on his heels.

"Let's see," Hauer murmured to GadiGeneral Steyn stopped in front of

Hauer. "Before I answer," he said, "I want to hear exactly what you

want."

Hauer didn't hesitate. He'd made his shopping list while he waited in

the cell. "I want an armored car. I want it mounted with a heavy

machine gun, not a water cannon. I want five men from your elite

counterterror unit. I don't want them to know where they're going or

what the mission is, but I want them to bring along their whole bag of

tricks: flash-bang grenades, body armor, flares, combat shotguns, the

works."

"Mmm," the geneml murmured. "Is that all?"

"No. One more thing."

"yes?

"A Steyr-Mannlicher SSG.69."

General Steyn glanced at Captain Barnard-our counterterror team uses a

different sniper rifle," Barnard explained. "But I think we can get

hold of a Steyr."

Hauer was still watching General Steyn. "Do I get my men, General?"

"On one condition," the Afrikaner said stiffly. "And it's

nonnegotiable."

"I can't imagine what it is," Hauer said, almost smiling.

"I go with you."

Gadi's jaw dropped.

"But I'm in command," Hauer pressed.

General Steyn pursed his lips. "Tactical command," he allowed.

Hauer breathed a sigh of satisfaction. "Make your calls, General."

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

5.51 Pm. Horn House Jonas Stern's head, chest, and ankles had been

scraped bloody by the leather restraining straps of the X-ray table.

Blinding white light stabbed his eyes. He had counted forty blasts of

the X-ray unit already, and in between he had heard the muffled voices

of the men behind the heavy lead shield.

His murderers. They had asked no questions, given no explanations, and

Stern needed none. He was a Jew.

"That's 150 rads," said a voice Stern recognized as Pieter Smuts's.

"How much is that?" asked a second, eager voice. Jiirgen Luhr.

"How much can he take?"

"Oh, quite a bit more," Smuts replied. "And he will."

"Just a moment," said a hoarse, high-pitched voice.

Stern heard the hum of an electric wheelchair, and then Hess rounded the

lead shield. Stern tried to move his head to look, but the straps held

him fast. He saw only the brilliant white light overhead.

Hess chuckled beside his ear.

"Pieter has devised a rather ingenious method of eliminating my Jewish

problem, wouldn't you say, Herr Stern?"

Stern said nothing.

"I wanted you punished, you see," Hess explained, "but I also wanted you

to live long enough to see your country destroyed."

"He may not actually see it, sir," Smuts INTERJECTED as he stepped

around the shield. "In a few hours he will experience blindness similar

to that caused by flashburns. He may or may not recover his sight."

Hess's face darkened. "But he will live long enough to know that Israel

is no more?"

"If the Libyans stick to the schedule, yes. We could stretch this out

for months, if you like."

Hess shook his head. "Just long enough for the Jew to see what happens

to Israel. What will become of him after that?"

Smuts's voice took on a clinical detachment. "It varies.

This dosage will cause severe nausea and vomiting for the next

twenty-four hours. He'll have deep burns, bloody diarrhea, his hair

will fall out, there'll be bone marrow destruction-" Hess raised his

hand. "How much.can he stand and survive for two weeks?"

"I wouldn't push it over 500 rads, sir. Not if you want him to live

until the detonation."

When Stern finally spoke, his voice was a knife blade. "In one week,

Hess, you will stand in the dock before a war crimes tribunal in

Jerusalem."

Hess laughed. "Yes? Well, you might be interested to know that your

friend Hauer and his young Jewish companion are now in a Pretoria police

cell. And General Jaap Steyn is chasing a school of red herrings at the

request of my Pretoria office."