The Death’s Head Conspiracy

One

It was two weeks after the fiery death of Mumura and its people that the nuclear explosion began to have its effect on my life. It happened at a most intimate moment.

Her name was Yolanda. She had straight blue-black hair and a creamy complexion. I had met her earlier in the evening in a small flamenco club just off Broadway. She was dancing there, wearing a tight red velvet dress that emphasized her fine breasts and small waist, and flared around her long dancer’s legs. She gave me a long, challenging look as she paused in her dance in front of my table. It was an invitation and a dare. It was a look that asked a question I couldn’t ignore.

Now, as she stretched her body on my bed, she wore only the proud smile. She wanted me to admire her nude body, and I didn’t disappoint her.

“Come, Nick,” she said, “get rid of your clothes now and come lie with me.”

I pulled off my shirt, grinned, and took another sip of my Remy-Martin.

Yolanda ran her eyes over my bare chest and down my body. “Come,” she said imperiously, “I want you now.”

I widened the grin a little. “Funny thing about me. I don’t respond too well to orders in my own bedroom. We’re going to have to come to an agreement about who’s in charge here.”

She sat up in bed, Spanish eyes flashing, carmine lips parted to speak. I stepped quickly to the bed and silenced her protest with my mouth. At first she tensed and gripped my bare shoulders as if she wanted to push me away. I slid my hands down her velvety sides, kneading the yielding flesh where the bulge of her breasts began.

She gasped under my mouth, and her tongue darted forward, tentatively at first, then more eagerly. Her hands moved around to my back and I felt the bite of her nails as her fingers trailed down my body. Her searching hands slid inside the waistband of my slacks probing, seeking.

Abruptly she pulled her mouth from mine. She was breathing hard, and her skin glowed with the blush of desire. She found my belt buckle and undid it with hands that trembled ever so slightly. I stood up and finished the job for her, returning to lie naked beside her. I kissed her open mouth, pushing my tongue past her sharp little teeth. She seized it in her lips and sucked, moving her mouth back and forward on my tongue in a sensual promise of delights to come.

I pulled back gently, kissing her rounded chin, then moving down to the hollow of her throat. Yolanda pulled in her breath sharply as my tongue trailed down the crevice between her breasts.

I raised my face above her, and she cupped her breasts in her long-fingered hands, offering them to me. The nipples stood erect, moist roses against the darker brown of the aureoles. As I bent forward to take the offering, an insistent beeping came from the small room off my livingroom, which I use as an office.

“Oh Nick, please don’t stop,” Yolanda gasped as I hesitated.

“Darling,” I said, “there is only one thing in the world that could make me leave you at a time like this, and that sound you hear is it.”

I swung my legs out of the bed and strode out of the bedroom and into my office. There on the desk the red scramble phone continued its shrill summons. Beside myself, only one man had the number of that phone — David Hawk, Director and Operations Chief of AXE, U.S. Special Espionage Agency. An electronic scrambling signal made it impossible for anyone to tap into the line. I picked up the receiver and spoke into the cupped mouthpiece, which made my voice inaudible in the room.

“You have a genius for picking the most inconvenient times to call,” I said.

Hawk’s voice answered in the familiar dry New England twang. “The lady will have to wait, Nick, whoever she is. This is urgent.”

“I figured it was,” I said, ignoring his accurate guess as to how I was occupied.

“There’s been a nuclear explosion in the Pacific. A little island called Mumura, in the Tuamotu group.”

“You mean somebody’s started testing again?” I asked.

“This was no test. The island was destroyed, along with several hundred Polynesians who lived there.”

“How long ago did it happen?”

“Two weeks.”

“I haven’t heard anything about it”

“I know. There’s a total news blackout in effect. All the big nations know about it, of course. We all have radiation detecting systems that will locate a nuclear explosion anywhere in the world. But none of the countries with atomic capabilities will admit to knowing anything about it.”

“Somebody’s lying?”

“It’s hard to say for sure, but I don’t think so. This morning our government received what amounts to a ransom demand from the people who claim to have blown up Mumura.”

“You mean they’re asking for money?”

“Much more than that. What they’re asking amounts to the unconditional surrender of all U.S. military forces and delivery of our government into their hands.”

“Could the message come from a crank?”

“Were convinced it’s genuine. They have facts about the Mumura explosion that only those responsible could know.”

“They sure ask a big price. What if we turn them down?”

“According to the message, our largest cities will go up like Mumura. New York will be first, and after that, one of our cities will be destroyed every two weeks until we capitulate to their demands or there’s nothing left.”

I gave a tow whistle. “Where do I fit in?”

“The President wants an all-out effort on this, but we can’t afford a highly visible operation. Well have the full support of the Joint Intelligence Committee, but the job itself falls to AXE. And you’re the man, Nick.”

“When do you want me in Washington?”

“How soon can you make it?”

For the first time I saw that Yolanda was standing in the doorway watching me. She was still naked. One hand rested against the door jamb and her long legs were spread slightly. Her Spanish eyes smoldered with desire.

I said into the phone, “I can leave right away if you need me, but would tomorrow morning do?”

Hawk’s sigh came through clearly over the wire. “I suppose there’s nothing we could accomplish tonight, anyway. Go on and entertain your lady, but try to save some strength. I want you here and alert first thing in the morning. There’s a time factor here, and the morning briefing will be a crucial one.”

“I’ll be there,” I said and hung up.

Yolanda’s eyes roamed down my body, lingering when they came upon the center of her interest

“Thank goodness,” she said. “For a moment I thought I had lost your attention.”

“Not a chance,” I assured her. I moved forward quickly and picked her up in my arms. She was a big girl — broad through the shoulders and tall, with full, solid hips, and she was not used to being lifted into the air by a man. I carried her into the bedroom and eased her down onto the sheets.

“Oh, Nick,” she breathed, “please don’t leave me again like that.”

“Not tonight I won’t,” I promised her. Then I leaned forward and picked up the action where we had left off.