Law of the Lion

Twenty

Nick Carter was carefully examining the buildings in the next compound, hoping to find a trace of Zachary.

Bezeidenhout could have made it a major goal to get the CIA man to come over to Lex Talionis. LT could have made Zachary an offer. And Zachary, wealthy in his own right, would have laughed and that apparently was something you did not do with Bezeidenhout. You didn't laugh at him, and you didn't ignore his offers.

Carter could be in this by himself now.

He got past a patrolling sentry and made a bolt for a place about a hundred yards from some buildings. There were three or four trees including one rotted stump, which was just right for Carter's purpose. Cupping his hands carefully, he lit a cigarette and let the smoke run in the stump. He'd covered half the buildings in the compound and had decided which one he'd look at next before he moved out.

When he heard the whistling sound, he nearly laughed aloud. He took one last puff of his cigarette, ground it out, and carefully destroyed all traces of it. By that time, a loud thump had landed on one of the buildings Carter had already checked. The thump caused a small explosion and a lot of thick, white smoke. Another whistle and another projectile hit the building.

Carter was positive it was Samadhi and his boys, hitting at the LT camp.

Men ran from the shed, waving away smoke, grabbing at weapons. One more shell arced from its firing position, slammed into the shed, and caused the biggest explosion so far.

Carter heard a good deal of yelling in Spanish, French, and English. Lex Talionis men were trying to form a group and start some kind of counterattack.

A shell hit another building in the roof and got enough of a fire going so that Carter thought he'd better get some distance. Even though there was general confusion, it made no sense to take the chance of being seen by patrols. He headed down to the farthest of the sheds he'd wanted to check out. Gunfire erupted and for a moment he found himself caught in a hail of shots, but a last shell took a building squarely on the roof, filled it with smoke, and produced a shattering blast.

Carter could see as many as twenty LT men, weapons out, firing at everything that moved. To his right, someone yelled, "Here it is! Those pigs had a grenade launcher and a bazooka!"

By the burning or smoking buildings, a number of men, unfamiliar with chemical fire extinguishers, were trying to put out the fires that had been started. The air was filled with smoke and pungent smells. One shed must have contained ammunition. It was rocked by a series of explosions that destroyed all the internal support. The room came pitching in, sending more sparks and flames into the night sky.

As Carter neared the back building, he heard a commotion. "Hey, come here! You aren't supposed to leave yet. The boss still wants to talk to you. There's more stuff to look at."

A figure appeared in the window, did a roll tuck, and hit through the frame with a shower of glass. Sam Zachary landed outside, brushed some of the glass from his shoulders, and started moving.

"Hey! I've got to shoot if you don't stop!"

"Shoot away," Zachary called. "I'm not stopping."

There were two warning shots fired at Zachary, but he didn't stop or look back. Carter angled toward him, ducked beside a building, found a rock, and tossed it. The rock caught Zachary's attention. He looked up, saw Carter, and smiled. "I don't have any weapons."

"Later," Carter said. "We'll get you some."

They put about half a mile between them and the activity back at the compound before stopping to catch up.

"I take it they made you an offer," Carter said.

"We hadn't reached that point yet." Zachary explained. "Bezeidenhout wanted me to see the operation. He was coming on slow, trying to impress me with all the resources. He also thought I'd be a good minister in the field. Expense accounts. Travel. Seeing a lot of potential customers. I think he had Chepe pegged as his man in the field."

"How come they had you and Chepe separated?"

"Psychology. If one of us went, then the other would be likely. Same tricks as when you go in to buy a new car."

"Not quite," Carter said, and he told Zachary how Munoz had bought it from the LT.

Zachary watched him for a moment. "Screw it, let's go get 'em."

"I'm way ahead of you," the Killmaster said.

"My vote." Zachary said, "is that we finish up with what we started this morning. Let's knock as many vehicles out of commission as we can."

Carter agreed. They spread out the Mossad map and set two rendezvous points.

"As far as I'm concerned," Zachary said, "the only reason for bringing Bezeidenhout in will be if he doesn't get hurt on the way. You follow me?"

Carter nodded. "I'd like to talk to him if possible. Get some details squared away." Another muffled explosion sounded in the distance. "You may notice an occasional bit of help from Abdul Samadhi," Carter said. "He's after his own revenge and his own justice." He gave Zachary his automatic and a bandoleer of shells, then started back to see what was left of the compound that had been bombarded by Samadhi and his band.

Uniformed LT men were having trouble bringing the fire under control, getting the debris set aside, and trying to keep the flames away from anything explosive. Carter could see the problem. Some of the officers might have made it to the rank of sergeant in some armies, but they were clearly not lieutenants or captains, standing there, berating their men and shouting louder and louder.

Carter circled his way back to one of the larger motor pools. Here, he had to begin making contact with the guards. There were about twelve of them in varying degrees of walking patrol, maintaining surveillance over a sector of the park, and, in one case, performing actual repairs on a command car.

The Killmaster brought Hugo out and went at the most remote of the guards, over by the large troop transports. Carter got the man squarely in the neck and quickly hefted the body into the back of one of the large transports.

He cut the fuel lines on two of the large vehicles and moved on to the next guard, whom he was able to overcome with a neck pinch and finally a sharp rabbit punch. Taking no chances, Carter used the man's belt and his bandoleer to secure him. The man's automatic weapon made a good substitute for the one Carter had given to Zachary. Carter helped himself to pockets full of clips.

He decommissioned two trucks and a Jeep, cut fuel lines on another, and now began to approach two of the VW Baja buggies. A guard sat asleep in one and Carter decided he'd pushed his luck as much as possible. He doubled back to the farthest point he'd worked, ran some rags through spilled fuel, thumbed his lighter, and produced a torch.

Two trucks caught immediately and the trail of fuel led quickly to others, the burning fuel beginning to make a roar. Someone noted the flames and began shouting. Soon there were others taking up the cry. Carter paused to watch until it became clear that there was going to be a lot of damage, then he melted away from the light and started toward the main compound where he'd overheard the conversation between Bezeidenhout and Chepe Munoz.

He cut carefully through the open-air amphitheater and came back to the large barracks. Movement was more difficult now. The LT cadres were out in force organizing patrols.

Inching his way to the side of the building, he placed his listening device against a wooden slat. The device immediately brought in the sound of a familiar voice. "We are sincerely pleased to have you with us, even though there seem to be some minor disturbances."

"Sounds to me like your security system isn't so hot for an organization your size." The voice belonged to Rachel Porat, and there was a note of scorn in her tone.

Piet Bezeidenhout was not flapped. "There are a lot of loose ends to be ironed out for an organization this large, but I can assure you I have a powerful security committee. Anders Koven, my chief, has been with some of the major multinational organizations."

Rachel Porat hooted in derision. "Apparently Abdul Samadhi can come into your encampment and raise hell whenever he chooses. It makes me wonder why an organization as good as yours is supposed to be can't handle a small gang of PLO. It also makes me wonder what you could possibly have that would interest us." Rachel was really pouring it on now. "Why should we pay Lex Talionis for a number of things we could do cheaper and better ourselves?"

"You see," Bezeidenhout said, "you forgot the obvious. If you want something of sensitivity or delicacy done, you must be positive in advance that your security is excellent and that there are no traitors. When your people, for instance, eliminated Abu Jihad…"

"There is no proof whatsoever that we were involved with that," Rachel protested.

Bezeidenhout laughed. "All the world is the proof, my dear lady. There is not a country in the world that doesn't think you people did that, simply because you didn't deny it at the proper time. But look, let's get to some specifics. We have within the Lex Talionis two of the most elite action squads. One is, at this very moment, headed to the North Sea to arrange an event on an oil platform. I can tell you no more than that because of security reasons, but when the worldwide headlines break, you will say to yourself, "I was told by the head of Lex Talionis about this very event. "

"Go on," Rachel Porat said.

"My second action squad is about to cause aviation history. There will be a disaster — a tragedy, you might say — and a major manufacturer of passenger aircraft will be discredited to the detrement of its market position." There was a moment of pause, and Carter wished he could see the Israeli spy's expression.

"I see your scorn plainly on your face, but look at the Americans and their defense department scandals. Big money is at stake here, with organizations willing to do drastic things to achieve their long-range goals."

"So get to the point," Rachel said.

"The point is that I ask you to join me. There are not many good women in your profession. You will go far."

"And live here, amidst all these dregs of humanity who can get jobs in no other way other than to sell their very souls?"

"My dear, you don't understand. This is to be the main base of Lex Talionis, but there is no reason to spend time here except for occasional strategy meetings. You no doubt favor a warm climate. Say the right word and by this time next week, you will be in a condominium in the Pacific Heights section of Honolulu, looking out one balcony at Diamond Head, the other at Waikiki Beach."

"And I suppose if I play my cards right," Rachel said, "I can have some kind of budget for clothing so that I can look just the way you want me to when you come for a visit."

"The idea crossed my mind. You are attractive, and I am a man."

Carter heard a long sound of disrespect — a Bronx cheer. He suppressed a laugh, stood, replaced his listening device in his wallet, and gathered his weapons. It was time to get out of there.

"You there!" a voice at his rear said. "You don't belong here. Who are you? What are you doing?"

"Bezeidenhout's personal security," Carter said quickly. He turned to look at a large, thick-lipped, bearded man in olive drabs, field boots, and a bright red beret.

"You are one clever son of a bitch to come up with such an answer," the man said, "but it won't wash." He leveled his automatic at Carter. "I am Anders Koven, Bezeidenhout's personal security, and I know nothing at all about you. I think you'd better come along with me." He motioned at Carter with his gun. "You're probably Carter. Wouldn't come in for a little chat, would you? Had to have it entirely your own way, didn't you? Damn! You're the one who blew up the motor pool."

Carter had his weapons and the potential for surprise. Things wouldn't be any better and they could get a lot worse. He started toward Anders Koven, who motioned that Carter toss his weapon down.

Carter tossed his automatic at Koven's knee, caught him a stinging, surprising blow, then launched himself at Koven. He kicked the tender knee and brought a yowl out of the man. From inside the shed, Bezeidenhout heard his security man. "Is that you, Anders? Is everything under control out there?"

The big security man took a swing at Carter with his gun, clearly wanting to mash him at the kneecap or ankle. Carter did a snap roll to escape a swing from Koven's gun, then leaped at Koven's chest, catching him forcefully with both feet and driving the big man to the ground.

"Answer me, Anders!" Bezeidenhout called.

Anders Koven was about to, but Carter brought out Hugo.

Koven's response was a guttural roar of anger.

Carter danced into throwing position and did an underhand toss that caught Koven right where he'd wanted Hugo to go. The throat. The big man tugged at Hugo, got him free with a yank, and saw to his horror that he'd made things as bad for himself as they could get. Blood spurted freely from Koven's throat. The big man could do nothing now but lay there and gurgle.

Piet Bezeidenhout appeared in the doorway, a Luger in his hand. His eyes went from Anders Koven to Carter, catching the situation immediately. "So? Nick Carter, I'd say."

Carter nodded.

"You wouldn't come in. You wouldn't even talk or listen to a proposal. I am a hard man, but in my way I am fair." He spread his hands for a moment as if to demonstrate his fair qualities. "Why would you not even listen? Don't you understand? This is the first organization of its sort. It goes beyond nation and race."

"Does it?" Carter said. "Talk doesn't do much good with people like you. Duvalier in Haiti was so sure of his cause that even when they were overthrowing him, he was trying to explain to them. When a group of peasants staged a protest in Chile, Pinochet was so angered by their point of view that he wanted to have them punished for daring to disagree with the truth — his truth."

He could see the prominent vein on Bezeidenhout's forehead begin to throb. "It could have been such a sweet deal for the right people, Carter. It can still develop and have as much power as any organization the world has ever known."

"With you as its head?" Carter asked, shaking his head.

"It was my idea, my plan. Show me someone who is smarter, better prepared for this. I will personally go to that person and make him or her an offer that is the very essence of fairness." His eyes glowed like smoldering coals. "Show me a group like this that has begun with so much money. Most groups have to wait until they are highly successful before they attract financing. I brought large sums from the very beginning."

Carter nodded, a grim frown on his face. "Half that money was ripped off from other sources. It wasn't donated or even lent in good faith. I have very little sympathy for the diamond security forces because I've seen what they've done. But you even stole from them, your own people."

"You don't understand the Afrikaner personality, Carter. They are either very stolid and conservative, or imaginative beyond dreams. Forgetting the problem with the blacks, if you were to take all the money in the country and divide it up equally among the Afrikaners, within a year half of them would be very rich, the other half very poor."

Bezeidenhout watched Anders Koven give a last, convulsive twitch before he died. "Damn you, Carter," he said. "The time is right for Lex Talionis. It's what people want. You see it all over the world. If someone like you came in, if the right people joined, it would be unstoppable."

He thumbed the catch on his Luger, lifted the weapon, and pointed it at Carter. There was no way Carter could get Wilhelmina out or get his hands on his automatic weapon. The only solution was to put as much distance between Bezeidenhout and his Luger as possible. Carter dived for the side of the building and the shadows. Scrambling with his hands and feet, he got more forward motion. The night was split by the roar of Bezeidenhout's Luger tiring. The first shot was wide by about ten feet, but the second shot was less than six inches away.

As Carter scrambled to get out of Bezeidenhout's range, the Lex Talionis man squeezed off yet another shot that creased Carter's arm before he got to the darkness and safety.

Bezeidenhout was still firing, calling for help. Carter pulled out Wilhelmina and took off the safety catch. He came around the side of the building in time to meet two LT grunts, each of whom carried an automatic weapon. He shot one before they realized what was happening. The second one tried to take cover, and began cursing when the time came to get (he safety off his automatic.

"You've got a choice," Carter called to him. "Leave your weapon and a bandoleer of clips and you're out of here alive."

The LT man seemed to consider this for a moment. "Hey, man, how do I know you ain't jivin' me?"

"I don't want your pistol. Take it and get out of here. You've got five seconds."

The LT man swore, tossed his gun, fumbled in his holster, brought out his .45, and took off into the night. Carter swooped down on the abandoned weapon and checked the safety. Nothing. Carter ejected the clip and saw what the problem was. The first shell in the clip was defective. He pulled it out, snapped the firing pin once, moved the safety, and refitted the clip. He pulled the trigger and had the satisfaction of firing a successful burst.

By the time he got back to the site where he'd left Anders Koven, there was a commotion by a row of vehicles. Unkefer, the man Carter had seen in Belize City, was trying to start Jeeps. One after another failed and Unkefer finally put his hand on his hip and told Bezeidenhout, "Shit, chief, every one of these fuckers has been fixed!"

Bezeidenhout stormed to one of the wide-tread troop transports, got in, and began cranking the ignition. The lumbering vehicle started up and Bezeidenhout began shouting some instructions.

A moment later two men brought out Rachel Porat, her hands tied behind her. She was stuffed into the troop transport. Bezeidenhout, now wearing a .45 at each side, mounted the carrier and sped off in an easterly direction.

Carter watched Unkefer for a moment. A group of uniformed men stood around him. "You heard where he was going," he said to some of them. "You want to complain about getting paid and having interesting assignments, that's the place to go."

"Where are you going?" one of them asked.

"I don't know about you guys," Unkefer said, "but I took a bonus to sign on, and I accepted a job. Right now I'm going to try to get things cleaned up here and mount some kind of system and run this damned organization like something we can be proud of. You guys got any complaints?"

The men stood slack-jawed for a moment, then nodded their heads. "Okay," Unkefer said. "Let's get on with it."

Carter found Koven's corpse, retrieved Hugo, and set out to look for the motorcycle he'd hidden. Unkefer was going to have an uphill battle here. This group looked demoralized.

It took Carter twenty minutes to drive the cycle back up to the larger compound. With the exception of the vehicles he and Zachary had disabled, things looked more orderly here, and Carter noticed that guards had been posted outside each building. Before abandoning the cycle and setting out on foot again, Carter looked carefully for sight of the troop transport with Bezeidenhout and Rachel Porat. He saw it in the distance, sitting under the protective light of an arc light, guarded by two men with automatic weapons.

For the moment, everything seemed to be under control with the LT. Carter circled to the east and brought himself behind tree cover that gave him an opportunity to open fire on a small shed. He carefully planned the path he'd take, slipped off the safety on his automatic, and shattered the night with a long burst.

The Lex Talionis people were faster to respond. A group of three men started toward Carter's position. He followed his plan of moving about twenty yards to his right, firing another burst, then doubling back to his left. He put another long burst into the building, then opened up on the building next to it, trying to give the impression that there were at least two of him, working on a cross fire. The Lex Talionis men began firing at Carter's position. Two more LT men told Carter exactly what he wanted to know. They moved to the middle of the largest building in the compound, their guns at the ready. That was certainly the place Carter wanted, the place where Bezeidenhout had taken Rachel Porat.

He circled the compound, spraying the buildings within his range, bringing more LT men out to hunt for him. There was no point in letting them have any rest now. As Carter saw it, every attack, every round fired at the LT brought the group that much closer to chaos and ultimate destruction.

And if he'd timed things properly, the LT was in for yet another surprise.

Carter sprayed a building that turned out to be a kitchen: A small fire started in some cooking oil, and to Carter's satisfaction, as an LT set out at a zigzag to reach the building and see about the burning, a spray of automatic fire came out of the south, stitching a building Carter had hit several times. There was a tinkle of breaking glass and a smell of more burning.

Carter heard Bezeidenhout roaring at someone. "I don't care how many of them there are out there, I want you to get them, is that understood?"

The other source of automatic fire was no surprise to Carter. It would have to be the very welcome support of Sam Zachary. On the strength of another burst from the south, Carter zigzagged across the courtyard, risking some fire, but bringing himself within firing range of the main building.

Before he could open up, a spray of automatic fire came from the west. It was not as steady a spray, causing Carter to think the person doing the firing was more of an amateur. Perhaps it was one of Samadhi's teen-agers, he thought.

Carter circled around to see who his latest cohort was. For a moment he was pinned down by two LT soldiers, but help came from the rear. A covering blast drove the LT soldiers off, dropped one of them, and allowed Carter to make his circuit back to the cover of a clump of trees. In a few minutes he was joined by Sam Zachary.

"Who else is out there?"

"I thought you could tell from the irregular but accurate pattern. That's Margo, and I think she has the makings of a natural."

Zachary handed Carter a large metal canister. "One for each of us," he said. "It's from the PLO and it's a fire bomb. I think we ought to get this place up to barbecue level again and then we just might push them over the edge."

Carter studied the fire bomb for a moment, figured out the fuse device on it, then bolted toward the large building. "Cover me!" he yelled.

Zachary responded with a stitching from Carter's right. Off in the distance, Margo Huerta responded with such vigor that planks began to shatter in the right corner of the building and two LT soldiers made a run for it.

Carter was within ten yards of the building. He twisted the fuse activator, gained another few yards, and used an overhand heave to get the fire bomb onto the front porch. It bounced, rolled haphazardly, and for a moment Carter thought it might be a dud, but then there was an acrid smell spreading through the area, followed by a phosphorus sputtering and finally a splash sound.

Carter withdrew in the smoke, nearly bumping into Zachary who was on his own momentum. Carter began firing and two more LT soldiers made a break into the jungle night. Zachary's fire bomb brought down the front porch and caused a sheet of flame to spread across the building.

They heard a good deal of yelling, and through the smoke Carter saw two men lowering Rachel Porat, trussed and bound, through the window to the ground below. Carter had only a moment to respond, and he was immediately up and running.

Carter reached the heap that was Rachel. He waved the gun at both men who'd lowered her out the window. "Back!" he shouted. "Get back in!" Then he opened up, drawing supportive fire from Margo Huerta.

One of the LT men clutched at his chest, but the other retreated. Carter knew he'd try to get out through another window.

Carter brought out Hugo, stashed the bonds on Rachel, and tossed her Wilhelmina. "That's a good friend. Take care of it."

"Give me a boost," Rachel said, making a gesture of bringing her hands together. Carter understood exactly what she wanted. He made a stirrup of his hands and Rachel bounded from it into the window of the burning building. She was going in after Bezeidenhout.

Carter knew better than that.

He went around toward the back, bumping into an LT soldier who had long since thrown down his guns and now raised his hands at the sight of Carter.

There was a burst of automatic fire, and Bezeidenhout, protected by two men with Kalashnikovs, made a rush toward the secured troop transport. Carter went in pursuit and Bezeidenhout called after him, "You have not seen the end of Lex Talionis so easily, Carter." He showed Carter a large duffel bag. "There are plenty of resources to tide us over, and when the offshore well goes and the airline disaster is seen throughout the world, we will be back as strong as ever." He began laughing maniacally. "I am the law of the lion and I shall have the final say."

He moved closer to the troop transport, his laughter growing even wilder. As he neared the troop transport, there was another sound of laughter, almost like a hyena.

Bezeidenhout stopped, his eyes wide. "Who laughs at me? What is this? Are you laughing, Carter?"

The laugher grew even more scornful, and after a moment it definitely took on the sound of a group of pack animals surrounding their leader.

Bezeidenhout threw the duffel bag into the troop transport and tried to make his departure look dramatic. He slammed the door of the truck and suddenly the laughter changed to a series of guttural Arabic commands. The guards, all wearing LT uniforms, began to run, trying to put as much distance between themselves and the troop transport as they could.

The driver turned the ignition and the troop transport went up in a loud roar.

For several moments a shower of currency floated downward to the ground, and as it did, Carter and Zachary heard the laughter of Abdul Samadhi.

As the Arab's laughter echoed, all around them the buildings of Lex Talionis burned in the night and the mercenary soldiers faded away one by one.