Vixen 03 Part 36

At ten minutes to midnight Fawkes removed his gla.s.ses and rubbed his tired eyes. He took a small photo holder from his breast pocket and looked into the long-ago faces of his family. Then he sighed and propped the holder on a small packing crate set beside the cot he maintained in the control room of the ship. The first week he had slept in the captain's quarters, but the comfortable accommodations were gone now; furnishings, facilities, even the bulkheads that once enclosed the cabin, had been torched away.

Fawkes undressed and slid his huge frame inside a sleeping bag, taking a final look at the photo. Then he clicked off the drop-cord light and became smothered in the darkness of his loneliness and unrelenting hatred.

De Vaal rolled a cigarette between his slender fingers. "Will Fawkes meet his schedule, do you think?"

"One of my operatives reports that he is driving the shipyard workers like a s.a.d.i.s.t," replied Zeegler. "I cannot help but think the good captain will launch Wild Rose at the required time."

"What of his black crew?"

"They are under tight security on a cargo freighter moored off a remote island in the Azores." Zeegler sat down across from De Vaal before continuing. "When all is in readiness, the crew will be smuggled on board Fawkes's ship."

"Will they be familiar with the operation of the vessel?"

"Training is being conducted with mock-ups on the freighter. Each man will know his job when Fawkes casts off the mooring lines."

"What have the men been told?"

"They think they have been recruited to pick up the ship for sea trials and gunnery practice before sailing it on to Cape Town."

De Vaal sat in concentration for a moment. "A pity we can't have Lusana as a pa.s.senger."

"The possibility exists," said Zeegler.

De Vaal looked up. "Are you serious?"

"My sources say he has left for the United States," Zeegler replied. "Trailing him through Africa and knowing his exact traveling schedule in advance is next to impossible. He can slip out of the continent virtually undetected at will. But he cannot slip in without showing himself. When he leaves the States, I will be waiting."

"Abduction." De Vaal said the word slowly, savoring each syllable. "The very bonus that would make Operation Wild Rose virtually foolproof."

The BEZA-Mozambique overseas airliner pivoted off the main runway onto a seldom-used taxi strip and dipped its nose as the pilot applied the brakes. The boarding hatch swung open and a baggage handler wearing white coveralls and a red baseball cap stepped from the evening darkness and attached an aluminum ladder to the fuselage. A figure stooped in the light streaming from the interior of the plane, dropped a large suitcase to the man on the ground, and climbed down after it. Then the hatch closed and the ladder was removed. The engines picked up their whine and the plane rolled off in the direction of the Dulles Airport international terminal.

No conversation was exchanged as the baggage handler pa.s.sed the stranger a spare set of coveralls, which were quickly donned. They climbed aboard a small tractor that had four empty carrier carts attached to its rear hitch and steered a course to the maintenance section of the field. After a few minutes of dodging parked aircraft, the tractor pulled up to a floodlit gate. A guard leaned out at their approach and, upon recognizing the driver, stifled a yawn and waved them through. The

baggage handler waved back and drove to the employees' parking lot, stopping beside a door held open by the chauffeur of a large dark-blue limousine. Still without a word, the man from the airplane stepped into the backseat of the car. The chauffeur took the suitcase, lifted it into the trunk, and the baggage handler drove his empty caravan back toward the cargo terminal.

It wasn't until the car entered the outskirts of Georgetown that Lusana relaxed and slipped out of the coveralls. In past years he would have entered the States like any other traveler coming from overseas. But those were the days before the South African Defence Ministry took him seriously. Lusana's fears of a.s.sa.s.sination were well founded. With a sense of relief he watched the chauffeur stop in front of a house whose downstairs windows were lit. At least someone was home.

The chauffeur carried his suitcase to the doorstep and silently departed. A faint murmur from the TV set came through the open windows. He pressed the bell.

The porch light came on, the door opened a crack, and a familiar voice said, "Who is it?"

He moved under the light so that it illuminated his face. "It's me, Felicia."

"Hiram?" Her voice was stunned.

"Yes."

The door opened slowly. She was dressed in a sheer and s.e.xy chiffon peasant blouse and a long soft jersey skirt. A knotted bandana covered her hair. She stood motionless, her eyes searching his. She wanted to say something appropriately clever but her mind went blank. All she managed was, "Come in."

He stepped inside and set the suitcase down. "I thought you might be here," he said.

Her dark eyes quickly shifted from surprise to calm composure. "Your timing is right on the money. I just got back from Hollywood. I've cut a new alb.u.m and auditioned for a part in a TV series."

"I'm happy all goes well for you."

She looked up into his face. "You never should have sent me away with Frederick."

"If it will make you feel any better, I've often regretted my hasty decision."

"I could go back with you to Africa."

He shook his head sadly. "Someday, maybe. Not now. You can do more for our cause here."

They turned in unison as Frederick Daggat, casually attired in a paisley-print bathrobe, appeared from the living room. "My G.o.d, General Lusana. I thought I recognized your voice." He looked down at the suitcase and his face clouded. "There was no advance word of your arrival. Has there been trouble?"

Lusana grinned wryly. "The world is not safe for revolutionaries. I thought it expedient to return to the Land of the Free as inconspicuously as possible."

"But surely the airlines ... customs ... someone must have announced your presence."

Lusana shook his head. "I sat in the pilot's cabin on the flight from Africa. Arrangements were made for me to leave the plane after landing and bypa.s.s the Dulles terminal."

"We have laws that frown on illegal entry."

"I am a citizen. What difference does it make?"

Daggat's expression softened. He placed his hands on Lusana's shoulders. "If there is any fuss, my staff will take care of it. You're here, and that's all that counts."

"But why all the subterfuge?" asked Felicia.

"For good reason." Lusana's voice was very cold. "My intelligence people have uncovered a sensitive piece of information that can prove highly embarra.s.sing to the South African minority government."

"That's a serious charge," said Daggat.

"It's a serious threat," retorted Lusana.

Daggat's eyes registered a mixture of confusion and curiosity. He nodded toward the living room. "Come in and sit down, General. We have much to talk over."

"Every time I see you it's like looking at an old photograph. You never change."

Felicia returned Loren's admiring look. "Flattery from another woman is flattery indeed." She idly stirred the ice in her drink. "It's amazing how time evaporates. How long has it been-three, maybe four years?"

"The last inaugural ball."

"I remember," Felicia said, smiling. "We went to that little dive down by the river afterward and got smashed. You were with a tall, sad-looking dude with spaniel eyes."

"Congressman Louis Carnady. He was defeated in the next election."

"Poor Louis." Felicia lit a cigarette. "My date was Hiram Lusana."