Vixen 03 Part 47

as the gla.s.s splintered into fragments, slicing her dress and penetrating one immense sagging breast. Then Pitt thrust his weight upward and charged, hitting her harder than he had ever hit anyone in his life. For a woman of advanced age, Maxine was hard, but she was no match against Pitt's brutal onslaught. She soared backward with such force that she flew through the front door of the house and vanished.

"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" Lee screamed. He threw himself into the fireplace, s.n.a.t.c.hed the Colt from among the ashes, and swung to face Pitt.

A window suddenly disintegrated and Abe Steiger tumbled into the kitchen, collapsing the table beneath him. Lee spun, giving Pitt the instant he needed to s.n.a.t.c.h the pipe on the floor. A dazed Steiger never forgot the sickening sound of the pipe's crushing the bone of Lee Rafer-ty's temple.

Giordino sat on the ground, his eyes staring numbly at his punctured leg. He looked up at Maxine, not fully grasping what had happened. Then his mouth went slack and he watched helplessly as she deliberately ejected the spent sh.e.l.l and rec.o.c.ked the rifle. Maxine took careful aim at his chest and curled her finger around the trigger.

The blast was deafening and the slug tore the breastbone away, catapulting gore and marrow in a grisly pile at Giordino's outstretched feet. Maxine stood inert for almost three seconds before she folded limply to the yard in a fat, grotesque heap, her blood spilling out between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and staining the gra.s.s.

Pitt leaned against a porch railing, his hand wielding the Colt, barrel poised in the recoil position. He lowered the gun and walked stiffly toward Giordino. Steiger came out to look, paled, and threw up into a flowerbed.

Giordino's eyes were locked on a gleaming white bit of cartilage as Pitt knelt beside him. "You ... you blew that sweet little old lady's chest off?" Giordino asked.

"Yes," Pitt replied, feeling none too proud of himself.

"Thank G.o.d," Giordino murmured, pointing. "I thought that thing on the ground belonged to me."

"You fool!" Thomas Machita shouted across the desk. "You b.l.o.o.d.y fool!"

Colonel Randolph Jumana sat and regarded Machita's outburst with controlled indulgence. "I had the very best of reasons for issuing those orders."

"Who gave you the authority to attack that village and slaughter fellow blacks?"

"You overlook basic facts, Major." Jumana removed a pair of hornrimmed reading gla.s.ses and stroked one side of his flattened nose. "During General Lusana's absence I am in command of the AAR. I am simply carrying out his directives."

"By switching attacks from military targets to civilian villages?" Machita snapped angrily. "By terrorizing our brothers and sisters whose only crime is working as underpaid civil servants for the South Africans?"

"The strategy, Major, is to drive a wedge between the whites and the blacks. Any of our people who hire out to the government must be labeled as traitors."

"Black members of the Defence Forces, yes," Machita argued. "But you can't gain support by indiscriminately murdering schoolteachers, mailmen, and road laborers."

Jumana's face went cold and impersonal. "If killing a hundred children would advance our ultimate victory over the whites by one hour, I would not hesitate to give the order for execution."

Machita was swept by a wave of abhorrence. "You're talking butchery!"

"There is an old Western World saying," Jumana said flatly. " 'The end justifies the means.' "

Machita stared at the obese colonel and his flesh crawled. "When General Lusana hears of this, he will expel you from the AAR."

Jumana smiled. "Too late. My campaign to spread fear and havoc throughout South Africa is irreversible." Jumana managed to look even more sinister. "General Lusana is an outsider. He will never be fully accepted by the tribes of the interior, nor by the black leaders of the cities, as one of their own. I guarantee he will never sit in the Prime Minister's office in Cape Town."

"You're talking treason."

"On the other hand," Jumana continued, "you were born in Liberia before your parents immigrated to the United States. Your skin is as black as mine. Your blood has not been fouled by mixed s.e.xual intercourse with whites, as have most American blacks'. It might not be a bad idea, Machita, for you to consider a change of allegiance."

Machita replied coldly. "You swore the same oath as I when we enlisted in the AAR, to uphold the principles set down by Hiram Lusana. What you're proposing sickens me. I want no part of it. Rest a.s.sured, Colonel, your treachery will be exposed to General Lusana within the hour."

Without another word, Machita turned and stormed from Jumana's office, slamming the door with a loud crack.

Seconds later, Jumana's aide knocked and entered. "The major seems upset."

"A small difference of opinion," said Jumana without emotion. "A shame his motives are misdirected." He motioned outside. "Quickly, take two of my bodyguards and go to the communications wing. You should find Major Machita about to transmit a message to the general, in Washington. Stop the transmission and arrest him."

"Arrest the major?" The aide was astonished. "On what charge?"

Jumana thought a moment. "Pa.s.sing secrets to the enemy. That should be sufficient to lock him in a bas.e.m.e.nt cell until he can be tried and shot."

Hiram Lusana stood in the entrance to the House of Representatives library and searched until he spied Frederick Daggat. The congressman was sitting at a long mahogany table, taking notes from a large leather-bound book.

"I hope I'm not interrupting," said Lusana. "But your message sounded urgent and your secretary said I might find you here."

"Sit down," Daggat said with no sign of friendliness. ,

Lusana pulled up a chair and waited.

"Have you read the late-edition morning paper?" asked Daggat, again looking at the book.

"No, I've been lobbying with Senator Moore, of Ohio. He seemed most receptive to our cause after I explained the aims of the AAR."

"Apparently the senator missed the news, too."

"What are you talking about?"

Daggat reached into his breast pocket and handed a folded news clipping to Lusana. "Here, my friend. Read it and weep."

INSURGENTS Ma.s.sACRE 165 VILLAGERS IN RAID

tazareen, South Africa (UPI)-At least 165 black inhabitants of the village of Tazareen in the province of Transvaal were killed in a seemingly senseless slaughter by African Army of Revolution insurgents in a dawn raid, South African Defense officials report.

An army officer at the scene said the raid was carried out by an estimated 200 AAR guerrillas who swept into the village, shooting anything moving and chopping and hacking with bush knives.

"Forty-six women and children were murdered, some children still in their beds clutching dolls," one stunned investigator said as he pointed to the burned remains of the once prosperous village. "Militarily, it was a terrible waste, an act of pure animalistic savagery."

One girl about four years of age was found with her throat slit. Pregnant women were found with large bruises on their abdomens, indicating they had been stomped to death.

Defense Ministry officials were hard pressed to speculate on what provoked the attack. All the victims were civilians. The nearest military installation is 12 miles away.

Until now, the African Army of Revolution, led by American expatriate Hiram Jones, who now calls himself Hiram Lusana, has fought a strict military war, attacking only South African defense forces and facilities.

Barbaric a.s.saults by other insurgent groups have been commonplace along South Africa's northern borders. Defense leaders find this new pattern most puzzling.

The only previous type of ma.s.sacre involving the AAR occurred during the Fawkes farm raid in Umkono, Natal, in which 32 were killed.

It is known that Hiram Jones-Lusana is currently in Washington soliciting support for the AAR.

Lusana could not accept the article's impact until he had read it through four times. Finally he looked up, shaken, and opened his palms in a gesture of amazement.

"This is not my doing," he said.