Wilbur Smith's Smashing Thrillers (198 page)

"But-" Peter searched for some means of denial. But the Baron was mutilated. She couldn't-"

"Death is death, mutilation may have served some obscure purpose. God knows,
we're dealing with an Eastern mind, devious, sanguinary perhaps the mutilation was merely to make any suspicion of the wife completely farfetched just as you immediately used it to protect her." He was right, of course. The mind that could plain and execute the rest of such a heinous scheme would not baulk at the smaller niceties of execution. He had no more protest to make.

"So let us review what she had achieved by this stage.

She was rid of the Baron, and the restrictions he placed upon her.

An example of these restrictions, for we will find it significant later: she was very strongly in favour of Narmco banning the sale of all weapons and armaments to the South African Government. The Baron,
ever the businessman, looked upon that country as a lucrative market.

There was also the South African sympathy for Zionism. He overruled her, and Narrnco continued to supply aircraft, missiles and light armaments to that country right up until the official UN resolution to enforce a total arms embargo, with France ratifying it. Remember the
Baroness's anti south African attitude. We come to it again later.

"She was rid of the Baron. She was rid of her Russian control,
well able to maintain a small army to protect herself. Even her former
Russian masters would hesitate to take revenge on her. She was a
French Grande Dame now.

She had gained significant working capital twenty-five million for which she was not accountable to another living human being. She had gained an invincible power base at Altmann Industries. Although she was still under certain checks and safeguards-from the Board of
Directors, yet she had access to all its information-gathering services, to its vast resources. As the head of such a colossus she had the respect of and sympathy of the French Government, and as a fringe benefit limited but significant access to their intelligence systems. Then there was the Mossad connection: was she not the heir to
Aaron Altmann's position-" Peter suddenly remembered Magda speaking (if her sources" and never identifying them. Was she really able to use the French and Israeli intelligence as her own private agencies? It seemed impossible. But he was learning swiftly that when dealing with
Magda Altmann, anything was A possible as Kingston Parker had pointed out, she was not an ordinary person but Parker was speaking again.

"There was a period then of consolidation, a time when she gathered up the reins that Aaron had dropped. There were changes amongst the top management throughout Altmann Industries as she replaced those who might oppose her with her own minions. A time of planning and organizing, and then the first attempt to govern and prescribe the destiny of nations. She chose the nation which most offended her personal view of the new world she was going to build. We will never know what made her choose the name of Caliph-"

"You have to be wrong." Peter squeezed his eyelids closed with thumb and forefinger.

"You just don't know her."

"I don't think anybody knows her, Peter,"

Kingston Parker murmured, and fiddled with his pipe. "I'm sorry, we are going pretty fast here. Do you want to back up and ask any questions?"

"No, it's all right." Peter opened his eyes again. "Go on,
will you, Kingston?"

"One of the most important lessons that Baroness
Altmann had learned was the ease with which force and violence can be used, and their tremendous effect and profitability. Bearing this lesson in mind, the Baroness chose her first act as the new ruler of mankind, and the choice was dictated by her early political convictions, those convictions formed at her father's knee and at the
Communist Party meetings that she had attended as a precocious child in
Paris. There is a further suggestion that the choice was reinforced by the Altmann banking corporation's interests in South African gold sales, for by this time the Baroness had tempered her socialist and communist leanings with a good healthy dollop of capitalistic self-interest. We can only guess, but if the scheme to bring out forty tons of gold and a black-based government-in-exile had succeeded,
it would not have taken very long for Caliph to gain control of both government and gold-" Parker shrugged]. We just cannot say how ambitious, even grandiose, those plans were. But we can say that
Caliph, or the Baroness, recruited her team for the execution of the plan with the skill she brought to anything she handled." He broke Off,
and smiled.

"I think all three of us remember the taking of Flight 070 vividly enough not to have to go once more over the details.

Let me just remind you that it would have succeeded, in fact it had actually succeeded, when Peter here made his unscheduled move that brought it all down. But it succeeded. That was the important thing. Caliph could afford to congratulate herself. Her information was impeccable.

She had chosen the right people for the job. She even knew the name of the officer who would command the antiterrorist force which would be sent to intervene, and her psychology had been excellent. The execution of the four hostages had so shocked and numbed the opposition that they were powerless -the cup had been dashed from her lips by one man alone. Inevitably her interest in that man was aroused. Possibly with feminine intuition she was able to recognize in him the qualities which could be turned to her own purpose. She had that indomitable streak in her make-up that is able to recognize even in the dust of disaster that material for future victory-" Parker shifted his bulk,
and made a small deprecatory gesture. " - I hope this will not seem immodest if I bring myself into the story at this stage. I had been given the hint that something like Caliph existed. In fact this may not have been her first act after the killing of Aaron Altmann. Two other successful kidnappings have her style one of them the OPEC
ministers in Vienna but we cannot be sure. I had been warned and I
was waiting for Caliph to surface. Dearly I would have loved a chance to interrogate one of the hijackers-"

"They would have had nothing to tell you," Peter objected brusquely. "They were merely pawns, like the doctor we captured in Ireland." Parker sighed. "Perhaps you are right, Peter.

But at the time I believed that our only lead to Caliph had been severed. Later when the thing had been done and I had recovered from the shock of it, it suddenly occurred to me that the lead was still there stronger than ever. You were that lead, Peter. That was why I
recommended that your resignation be accepted. If you had not resigned, I would have forced you out anyway, but you played along superbly by resigning-" He smiled again. I have never thanked you for that."

"Don't mention it," said Peter grimly. "I like to be of service."

"And you were. Almost immediately you were on the loose, the
Baroness began making her approach. First she collected every known fact about you. Somehow she even got a computer run on you. That's a fact. An unauthorized run was made on the Central Intelligence computer four days after your resignation. She must have liked what she got, for there was the Narmco offer through conventional channels. Your refusal must have truly excited her interest, for she used her connections to have herself invited down to Sir Steven's country house." Parker chuckled. "My poor Peter, you found yourself without warning in the clutches of one of history's most accomplished enchantresses. I know enough about the lady to guess that her approach to you was very carefully calculated from the complete information that she had on you. She knew exactly what type of woman attracted you. Fortunately, she fitted the general physical description-"

"What is that?" Peter demanded. He was unaware that he had a specific type of physical preference.

"Tall, slim and brunette," Parker told him promptly.

"Think about it," he invited. "All your women have been that." He was right, of course, Peter realized. Hell, even at thirty-nine years of age it was still possible to learn something about yourself.

"You're a cold-blooded bastard, Kingston. Did anybody ever tell you that?"

"Frequently." Kingston smiled. "But it's not true, and compared to Baroness Altmann I am Father Christmas." And he became serious again. "She wanted to find out what we at Atlas know about her activities. She knew by this stage that we had our suspicions, and through you she had an inside ear. Of course, your value would deteriorate swiftly the longer you were out of Thor but you could still be useful in a dozen other ways. As a bonus you could be expected to do a good job at Narmco. All her expectations were fulfilled, and exceeded. You even thwarted an assassination attempt on her life-" Peter lifted an eyebrow in inquiry.

On the road to Rambouillet that night. Here we are only guessing,
but it's a pretty well-informed guess. The Russians had by this time despaired of returning her to the fold. They had also suspicions as to her role as Caliph. They decided on a radical cure for their one-time star agent. They either financed and organized the assassination attempt themselves, or they tipped off Mossad that she had murdered
Aaron Altmann. I would be inclined to believe that they hired the killers themselves because the Mossad usually do their own dirty work. Anyway, with NKVD or Mossad as paymasters, an ambush was set up on the Rambouillet road and you drove into it. I know you don't like coincidence, Peter, but I believe it was merely coincidence that you were driving the Baroness's Maserati that night."

"All right," Peter murmured. "If I swallow the rest of the hog, that little crumb goes down easily enough."

"That attempt severely alarmed the Baroness. She was not certain who had been the author. I think she believed it was
Atlas Command, or at the very least that we had something to do with it. Almost immediately after that you were able to confirm our interest in her, and our knowledge that Caliph existed. I invited you to America, Colin brought you to meet me, and when you returned you either told her about it, or in some way confirmed her suspicions of
Atlas Command and Kingston Parker. I am guessing again but how close am I, Peter? Be honest." Peter stared at him, trying to keep his face expressionless while his mind raced. That was exactly how it had happened.

"We were all hunting Caliph. You saw no disloyalty in discussing it with her." Parker prompted him gently, and Peter nodded once curtly.

"You believed that we had common goals," Parker went on with deep understanding and compassion. "You thought we were all hunting Caliph.
That is right."

"She knew I had been to America to see you before I
told her. I don't know how but she knew," Peter said stiffly. He felt like a traitor.

"understand" Parker said simply. He reached across the table and once again placed his hand on Peter's shoulder.

He squeezed it while he looked into Peter's eyes, a gesture of affirmation and trust. Then he laid both hands on top of the table.

"She knew who was the hunter then, and she knew enough about me to know I was dangerous. You were probably the only man in the world who could reach me and do the job but you had to be motivated. She picked the one and only lever that would move you. She picked it unerringly just as she had done everything else. It would have worked in one stroke she would have gotten rid of the hunter, and she would have acquired a top-class assassin.

When you had done the job, you would have belonged to Caliph for all time. She would have used you to kill again and again, and each time you killed you would be more deeply enmeshed in her net. You really were a very valuable prize, Peter. Valuable enough for her to find it worthwhile to use her sexual wiles upon you." He saw the lumps of clenched muscle at the corner of Peter's jaw, and the fire in his eyes.

"You are also a very attractive man, and who knows but she felt the need to combine business and pleasure? She is a lady with strongly developed sexual appetites." Peter felt a violent urge to punch him in the face. He needed some outlet for his rage. He felt belittled,
soiled and used.

"She was clever enough to realize that the sex was not enough of a hold to force you to commit murder. So she took your daughter, and immediately had her mutilated just as at Johannesburg she had executed hostages without hesitation. The world must learn to fear Caliph."

There was no smile on Parker's face now.

"I truly believe that if you had not been able to deliver my head by the deadline, she Would not have hesitated to carry on to the next mutilation, and the one after that." Again Peter was assailed by a wave of nausea as he remembered that shrivelled white lump of flesh with the scarlet fingernail floating horribly in its tiny bottle.

"We were saved from that by the most incredible piece of luck.

The Provo informer," said Parker. "And again the understandable eagerness of the Russians to co-operate with us. It is a wonderful opportunity for them to hand us their problem. They have let us have an almost full account of the lady and her history."

"But what are we going to do about it?" Colin Nobleasked. "Our hands are tied. Do we just have to wait for the next atrocity do we have to hope we will get another lucky break when Caliph kills the next Arab prince, or machine-guns the Shah's sister?"

"That will happen unless they push through the OPEC decision," Parker predicted levelly. "The lady has converted very easily to the capitalist system now that she owns half of Europe's industry. A reduction in the Oil price would benefit her probably more than any other individual on earth and at the same time it will also benefit the great bulk of humanity. How nicely that squares all her political and personal interests."

"But if she gets away with it-" Colin insisted, what will be her next act of God?"