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of bit every scoured had sand and sun desert The .p. beat
-hand a like almost lc.X(k it making ,txxiy the from paint
exceedingly an by done ,car a of rnodel aluminum hammered
.raftsman. poor
radio the where and ,up tom all wa.S car the of interior ne
hanging wires ,le. gaping ,large a wa.S there ,been had
.X(se).
,wheel the behind slipped He .ignition. the in was key A
Thecar .key the tumed and ,times acoupleof gas the pumped
and smoothly over ticking engine the ,immediately started
.quietly
,house the tO back started had and ,out got ,off it shut He
in change The .courtyard the through come Joy saw he when
fixed had She .startling than less nothing was appeara.nce her
-light a wore She .akeup. some on put had and hair her
straw pretty a camed and ,sandals and dress summer colored
her over shawl a thrown had She .bag matching and hat
and chic very looked She .anaages. the cover tO shoulders
intelligence undercover an jike nothing certainly ,French
a torturing been had ago while shorl a who operative service
.infonnation. for man
.tion. his with delighted ,asked she "Surprised?"
.ked. he "feel? you do How"
fifty-yard the run tO want t' wouldn I but ,feet my on l'm"
".h.
,garage the into back went they and ,a.rrn her took He
the tO around went He .ar. the into her hel}kd he where
looked and out jumped then ,engine the started ,side s' driver
leaped he .traffic n•O wa.S there sure wa.S he When . outside
the down and garage the of out squealed and car the in back
.treet.
back coming finally ,left then ,right turned he comer the At
.a. Ras tO
civilian few a and vehicles military of lot a were There
56
CARTER NICK
the from direction om«site the in Carter directed Joy .ks
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the from direction opposite the in Carter directed Joy .ks.
wa.S hotel the where area downtown the to stadium
.ocated.
with trucks and emplacements gun machine
every in stationed tr tO seemed launchers nxket antiaircraft
.ield. open and lot parking empty
-mom early increasing the directing were mwntown,cops
glance second a Ford ancient the gave one no and ,traffic ing
wa.S which ,Sheraton the of biock a within tO carne they until
of lot a were lhere .uctureü. steel and glass ultramcxlern an
the throughout fcxn on soldiers a,S well a,S vehicles military
the tO waved were they ,hotel the tO led that avenue the At
a half parking and up pulling ,turned dutifully Carter and ,left
.way. block
of line a faced and blcxk the of middle the in was hotel The
.tore. department a and buildings office
went ,car the of out got he a.S jacket his buttoned Carter
the down they together and ,out Joy help tO around
acrOSS buildings the behind ra.n that alley service the tO block
.tel. the from street the
the down ducked they a.S attention any them paid one No
of rear the at platforrn service the mounted finally and alley
.tore. depanment the
that see could andhe ,todo trying was he what realized Joy
although together herself hold tO desperately trying wa.S she
on bl)k(d of amount small a was nere .in. some in was she
.eak. tO begun had wound her shawl; her
the tO inside went they and ,open wa.S dc«r rear lhe*
the Acmss .around wa,S one No .a. receiving arxi shipping
wide a into d)X(rs swinging the through went they ,room
the of end the At .ned. offices several which off ,corridor
no still and ,office vx«sting and billing large the wa.S comdor
rcx:(rn big the crossed they as attention much them paid one
57
their at busy rotrs Arab in men adozen least
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their at busy robes Arab in men adozen least containedat that
.sks.
another into emerged they rxx:(im the of side far the On
.itself store the of fl)X(r main the into led finally that corridor
were lights overhead lhe .tore. the in one no was lhere'
dmp white with covered were displays the of many and ,out
.loths.
.o'clcx•k seven after well was lt .atch. his at lmked Carter
offce were there and ,eight at tO due was store The
clerks? sales the were where But .back the in workers
way their threading ,floor main the crossed Joy and He
.ß(X). glass front the tO displays and counters the through
on mounted guns machine with jeeps Military
the across hotel the outside just stationed were backs the
the manning ,everywhere soldiers were There .Strect
it if as looked place lhe .emplacements gun sandbagged
country entire lhe .as. it way a in which ,siege under were
.was
-regu for closed been apparently had store department The
-delega American the theproximityof tRcauseof larbusiness
.ion.
.asked Joy "do? tO going we are What"
rnore not wa.S lt .entrance hotel the at across stared Carter
.way. feet hundred a than
with filled counters store department the at back looked He
.it. had he suddenly And .oods.
into back huried and turned he and ,said here,"he Stay"
veils with filled W&S that section women's the to ,store the
.ings. silk and
negligees designer of armloads great gathered quickly He
several grabbed he counter perfume the at then ,peignoirs and
was Joy where doors fmnt the tO back went then ,txyttles large
.im. for wide-eyed waiting
French the re' You" .rightly. asked Carter "S'Ready?
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.riday. man your l'm and ,tore. the for consultant fashion
@. .imself. Huntington •. by ordered has stuff This
".lobby the in US for waiting be will Sutherland
just it ,crazy SO lt•s" .treet. the at out back looked She
-AI" .back looked She .grinning ,said she ",ork. might
"!go Let's" .id. she ",lons
"!mademoiselle, i Ou"
the sure made ,Luger his for coat his inside reached Caner
-tR concealed totally wa.S it sure made and ,off was safety
the unlocked Joy .olding. wa.S he lingerie silky the neath
.tside. stepped they and doors front
urgently whispered answer,"Caner an for no take t• Don"
.uff. the off arui sidewalk the across stepped they a.S
-Car before and ,up sat soldiers half-dozen a lmmediately
to up rushed officer an ,hotel the tO halfway got Joy and ter
.em.
Go !ck. Go" .bic. in shouted he "is?. is What"
"!back
you do What" .l)X(k outraged most her him gave Joy
what only bringing a.re We" .rench. in asked she "mean?
let and aside Step .tobring askedus has Huntington Monsieur
".uspass
confused the at rx(inted Luger concealed the had Caner
.fficer.
waiting is Sutherland Monsieur .lease. ,thmugh us Let"
your is Who" .imperiously. said Joy ",lobby the in us for
"officer? superior
".. will We" .aid. officer the ",Come'.
and street the across way the of rest the them esconed He
.desk front the by there waiting wa.S Sutherland. hotel the into
tO mshing ,out cried erland,"Cafier. Monsieur ,Ah"
-Hun Monsieur see tO here are we that man this nell• .im.
".ington.
he as scrkets their of out bulging were eyes Sutherland's
FORCE STRIKE ZERO-HOUR
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and lingerie of mountain a under half-buried .Carter
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and lingerie of mountain a under half-buried .Carter in ook
,swallowed He .ide. his at blonde attractive the and ,rfume
—right that's. . right SS1hat's .fficer. the at nodded en
".re. them asked Huntington cretary
Carter tO Sutherland from doubtfully looked officer lhe
will You" .ncxlded he Finally .again back then and ,Joy d
his on turned he Then .id. sir,"he ,them for responsible
,X(r). the out marched and l
acrOSS back them led he and ,said way,"Sutherland This"
-stand people several were There .levators. the tO lobby e
.taring. all were they and ,around ng
-Suther ,up started they doorsclosedand elevator the Once
didn't I ,Christ Jesus" .lief. of sigh deep a breathed land
".ll. tO trying were you what idea faintest the ave
Huntington tO us get Just"
,say tO started Carter".
collapsed she and her beneath buckled knees s' Joy hen
.all. a gainst
hit she trfore her grabbed and everything dm.M(r)pped Carter
. e
ГЛАВА ПЯТАЯ 5
apm(intees presidential the of one ,Sellkirk Roger
Carter time the By .llkirk. •. actually wa.S ,mission the on
.comfortably resting was she ,Joy left
she's if a,S l)X(ks it and ,lood. of lot a lost She's"
.id. doctor lanky ,tall lately,"the strain of deal great a under
.ed. Cafler "right? all be she'll But"
-some her gave I .St. little a needs just She .Absolutely'.
course a and ,pain the for something ,sleep her make tO thing
".ine. be She'll .tibiotics. of
out Sutherland with went he and ,id. 1hanks,"Carter"
suite master the tO corridor the down and suite s' doctor the of
their as designated had Hermande and Huntington which
.headquarters operational
lhe .orridor. the in out activity of deal great a was lhere
Saudis the ,floor top the over taken had delegation American
below floor the RedCross Swiss the and ,down floor next the
.that
.hotel e. mileof withinahalf allowed were journalists No
think SI' .aside Carter t)X(k Sutherland ,in went they Before
".is. at«ut ashell mad is Huntington that you tell better l'd
.thing. said Carter
screw tO damnedest your doing re' you convinced He's"
ب
ه
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CARTER NICK
.how. ishis is% . talks
He'll
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62 NICK CARTER up his best efforts at these peace talks. This is his show. He'll fight anything that takes it out of his hands." Carter nodded. "Thanks for the tip. Bob." "Just watch yourself. He's a powerful man just at this moment." They walked the rest of the way to the master suite in silence. Sutherland knocked once, and they went in. There was an ornately furnished sitting room, two bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, and a tiny kitchenette. Huntington was on the phone when they came in. He looked up, said something that Caner couldn't quite catch, then hung up. Them was no one else in the suite. "Secretary Huntington, you may remember Mr. Carter," Sutherland said as they approached. Caner held out his hand, but Huntington ignored it. "I have been on the phone with the secretary of state, the secretary of defense, the Joint Chiefs, and just minutes ago, with the Vice-President. And I can tel you that no one likes what is happening here. You were sent here to aid our best efforts. So far, from what I can see, you have set about doing exactly the opposite. Can you explain that, Mr. Caner'?" "I think I can," Carter said. "Were you involved in the disturbance at the soccer stadium?" Huntington asked. He was angry, and he seemed atrout ready to explode. "I caused it . . or at least I was a part of the cause." Huntington just looked at him. Quickly Carter explained exactly what had happened from the moment the last of the crew left Air Force One until he and Joy showed up here, including the events at the stadium and the Libyan tetnmist's admission of the words "Zero-hour Strike Forth." For several seconds Huntington just looked at Carter, But
L
ZERO-HOUR STRIKE FORCE 63
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ZERO–HOUR STRIKE FORCE 63 then he shook his head in exasperation. "Are you trying to tell me that you suspect the Libyans of dropping the bombs on the Saudi oil fields?" "I'm telling you that a Libyan terrorist knew about it. And I do not think the Israelis were behind this." Huntington turned away a moment. "The Central Intelli-gence Agency had no business operating here, in a friendly country. No business whatsoever." Caner couldn't believe what he was hearing. "If the CIA had not been working here, we'd never have found out about the Libyan connection." "It 's hand to believe such a story! Execution squads? Rows of naked bodies at the soccer stadium? This is crazy!" The door burst open and one of Huntington's aides rushed in. "They've taken over the hotel! The Swiss and the Saudis below us have all gone. The soldiers . . . they 're downstairs right now . . ." Carter and Sutherland raced to the windows at the same moment. Below, on the street, there were three tanks, and the entire block was swarming with soldiers and civilians. The hotel was definitely under attack. "Why"' Huntington said. "Try the phone," Carter snapped, and Sutherland hurried across the room. "The phone is dead," Sutherland said. "Get everyone in here on the double. It won't take long for the Saudis to get upstairs. When they do, Huntington is to demand to speak to our President and to demand an explana-tion for what's happening." "What about you?" "No one has ever heard of me," Carter said. "You're going to have to somehow stall them on Joy's identity. If they find out she's CIA, they'll probably kill her Tell her I'm
se NICK CARTER
T
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64 NICK CARTER following up the Kebir lead." "But how are you going to get cwt of here?" Sutherland asked as Caner headed out the door, With the Swiss delegation." "But they're gone!" "I know," Carter said He raced down the condo to the stairwell, threw open the door, and hesitated for just a mo-ment on the landing, listening. Them was a great deal of activity below. But it definitely sounded as if it was down on the ground floor. They were starting up. Taking the stairs two and three at a time, Caner raced down two flights, reaching the floor the Swiss Red Cross delegation had occupied just as the Saudi soldiers were com-ing up. The corridor was deserted as Carter raced away from the stairwell and around the corner toward the elevators. He pulled out his stiletto, quickly picked the lock of a mom just across from the elevators, and let himself in. The beds had not been made nor had the bathroom been cleaned. At the windows he looked down into the mar park-ing lot. It was crammed with soldiers and a shouting mob of civilians. Four tanks had been pulled up, their guns covering the back of the hotel. He turned and looked back toward the door. There was only one way he was going to get out of here. It would be a long shot. He went back to the door and opened it Then he mussed up his hair, pulled his tie half off, unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt, pulled out his shirttail, and pulled off one shoe. I He staggered like that to the elevator, and pushed the button. Then he banged on the elevator door, "Was is, las?" he shouted in German. He punched the elevator button again, and the car that had been on the first
ZERO-HOUR STRIKE FORCE 65
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T
ZERO–HOUR STRIKE FORCE 65 floor started up. He banged on the door harder. "Was gibr? Was isi /os?" When the elevator doors opened, Caner stumbled back-ward as if he were half drunk. Four soldiers and an officer stepped out into the corridor. "Was warren Si,?" Carter demanded. "Where are my friends? What is happening here?" "You are Swiss?" the officer asked in German. "Of course I am Swiss, you idiot!" Carter shouted. "I am Red Cross," he said and reached inside his jacket as if going for his identification, but his fingers curled around the bun of his Luger. The officer shook his head in disgust. "Your colleagues are already gone. They left an hour ago. They are at the airport by now." "But ... what am Ito do?" Carter said, bewildered. The officer made some rude remark in Arabic to his men, and then he detailed two of them to eseon the drunken Swiss. 'They will take you to your people at the airport. We will radio ahead. Do not worry. We want you out of our country as badly as you want to leave." Carter staggered, and the officer looked past him through the open door of the room. "What about your luggage? Are you going to leave it here?" Caner looked back toward the room. "It is gone. They took it. I don't even have a clean shirt." The officer shook his head again. "Cot him out of here. I'll call the airport commander." Carter let himself be escorted onto the elevator, downstairs, and across the lobby. Them were soldiers everywhere, but no one paid them much attention. His escorts dumped him in the back seat of a jeep, and they
66 NICK CARTER
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,back looked He high at hotel the from away headed
and Huntington that realize tO feeling odd an him gave it and
,town across embassy the at Americans the plus ,others the
had force whatever ,moment any At beingheldhostage were
device nuclear a drop tO decide could fields oil the attacked
will U.S.forces .en•ible. be would toll death The. city this on
the allow can•t We .ought. Carter ,intervene tO have
the But ,n. depend we that resources oil /o takeover
might they and ,mind in ideas sa.me the had probably Soviets
.her intervene tO time it thought have also
and beginning possibly was what think tO shuddered He
.oment. this at was really EEace world fragile how just
,minutes twenty than less in airport the tO it made lhey
they and ,gate side a through admitted was jeep the where
Force Air . terminal the of side tlightline the tO around drove
main the of front in tam the beneath parked still wa.S One
,apron parking the of side far the on but ,entrance terminal
red-and-white the with 707 a was .way. mile half a about
symtk(l Cross Red lnternational the and tail the on flag Swiss
.txx\y the on
lhe .tairs. boarding the at people of knot a was lhere
waiting were they and ,takeoff for ready obviously wa.S plane
.him for
,him help could escorts his before and ,up pulled jeep The
and ,delegates Swiss the of one tO hurried ,out hopped Carter
.im. on fell half
Help !joumalist American an m l !Swiss m l think They"
.man. in urgently e!"Caner.
it what understcxxi Swiss the if a.S seem didn't it first At
-sa and up came soldiers the then But . wanted Carter was
ب
.luted
"yours? of one man this ls€s
.prayed Carter ,on Come
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Carter at looked .said Swiss ours,"the of one is he ,Yes"
"him? find you did Where" .isgustedly.
"!Drunk .otel. the at still wa,S He"
a and ,said Swiss the ",is. about SOITY terribly am I"
boarding the up him helped and Carter took others of couple
.in. a suppress barely could He .tairs.
I although ,clearance our have we if ,now leave will We"
"—have we treatment the protest vigorously must
.id. soldiers the of one ",sir ,a.r. at are We"
.napped. delegate Swiss the "whom? S'With
,jeep the into back got ,heels their on turnaj soldiers The
.way. drove and
jeep the watched delegation Swiss the tWO or moment a For
stairs the up came and turned they then and ,comer the round
.lane. the into and
.ts. rear the of one tO led been had Carter
in asked escorts his of one "you? are hell the who Just"
.erman.
Press AmaJgamated with journalist a l'm .arter. Nick"
".Washington,D.C of out Services Wire and
were engines the later second a and ,shut was hatch The
had who delegate lhe* .ressurized. was cabin the and started
.gry. seemed He .back came Carter for vouched
"about? all this is what and you a.re who just Now"
.over. service wire his explained Carter
"hotel? the into get you did How"
I And" .aid. sir,"Carter ,delegation American the With"
".e. helping for you thank tO want
there were you If .er. .. ,understand t' don I S'But
did why ,years in exclusive biggest the covering obviously
"Arabia? Saudi of out get to desperately SO want you
by seized wa.S hotel the ,left delegation your as soon As"
".ized. tEen also has embassy Our .ilitary. the
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-hos Tehran Another" .breathed delegate Gcxi,"the My"
situation?'i tage
".. tO managed barely just I .ir. ,SO afraid l'm"
down sat runway,andeveryone the theendof at were They
were they as soon As .ll. takeoff the for in strapped and
Carter but ,forvard staned and up got delegate the ,airborne
.im. after called
"Geneva? or Bern tO going we Are"
.im. tO going re' We .Neither'. .k. looked man ne
".ere. shop up set tO going We're
Egyptian the in blazed sun desert hot the and ,('nc:x:(l was lt
wa,S Carter .airo. in landed plane Cross Red Swiss the a.S sky
delegates Swiss the with customs Egyptian through passed
Ameriean his merely He .hed. being without
then and ,interest slightest the not elicited which ,passpofl
.is. for waiting outside were they
had who delegate the ",Carter •. ,you to luck Gcxxi"
.ands. shook They .aid. him for vouched
.id. Carter ",all us tO luck Good"
it make and cab a get tO Carter for hour an than more took lt
American the tO traffic impassible almost Cairo's through
a tO desk front the at passm«rt his showed He .mbassy.
.lerk. harried
".bassador. the see tO need I"
".ir. ,moment the at Cairo in not He's"
".d'affaires écharg the Then"
the is ask I may What" .yebrows. his raised clerk The
"problem? your of nature
the where ,Riyadh Sheraton the from escaped just I"
State of Secretary Assistant by led ,legation. American
".ostage. held being is ,untington. Howard
th around came He .reathed. clerk God,"the Go•cxl"
.said he ",sir ,way this come Ptease" .ounter.
FORCE STRIKE HOUR -ZERO
69
to up then ,corridor the of end the tO him followed
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to up then ,corridor the of end the tO him followed Carter
view a with office an into shown wa.S he where floor third the
.ity. the of
came hair graying with man middle-aged a later moment A
I StOIY this what's ,Now" .im. door the closing ,in
tx:(ther to Sorry" .indow. the by standing tEen had Carter
Stateside your of use the need l'll but ,sir ,this like you
-lm .ission. top-secret a for facility communications
".ediately.
.oment. a for there st)xxl just d'affaires écharg lhe
".. facility such no is There"
-voice your is which ,6-KO a either have You'll"
.letype. is which ,26-KW a perhaps or ,facility encryptcd
Force Air Ramstein through routed ll' they way Either
-distribu for Pentagon the tO there from Germany,and in Base
".ion.
".ir. ,paSSEX(rt your see better l'd think I"
can You" .id. ccxfes,"Carter routing the you give l*ll"
pen grabbed irst."He. access my verify and circuit the up set
that ccxies the out wmte quickly and desk the from and
.night or day ,AXE at Hawk David with him connect would
".ircuit. voice the prefer l'd" .éharg. the tO it handed He
the left and turned then slipof the l»x«kedat man ne
.igarette. a lit and window the to back turned Carter
had Swiss the ,flight eleven-hundred-mile entire the During
told Carter .el. the at situation the atx(ut nonstop talked
of none and ,stadium soccer the at goings-on the about them
-re claimed had activist lsraeli An .urprised. seemed them
the with anyone And .trike. nuclear the for scx«nsibility
.tcxl. been had sympathies lsraeli of hint slightest
days,"Carter tWO least at for on going txen had that SSBut
.protested
70
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-mark lsraeli had bombs the delivered that aircraft lhe"
the saw who away miles twenty witnesses were There .rngs.
".tetvard. desert the over low vety flying planes
Caner,"oneof .Mr ,it at«ut something todo tor will We"
promise cannot we But" .aid. had delegates other the
".uch.
Joy about thought he And .OW. tired wa.S Carter
protect tO Sutherland's within was it If .Makepiece
hated had he Yet .best his woulddo man the knew Carter ,her
i. her leaving
.ttitude. deferential highly a with back came écharg The
".y. is circuit Your .ir. ,waiting you kept have tO Sorry"
lifted and ,adrawer opened ,desk the behind around came He
up picked He .utton. red a with telephone black plain a out
tO it handed then and ,button the punched ,receiver the
.er.
".ir. ,anything need you if outside just be will l"
,gone wa.S man the until waited He .said Thanks,"Carter"
".ere. Caner" .hone. the up picked then
with LIP come YOIJ have and ,Cairo tO get you did How"
vety was lt .ff. voice his ,said N3?"Hawk ,yet anything
.Washington in moming the in early
CIA other the and Joy about explained Carter Quickly
the at incident the ,house safe the of out working operatives
,from exit his and ,tO entry their finally and ,stadium soccer
.otel. the
l'll and on Hold" .id. Force,"Hawk Strike SZero-hour
wa.S ith."He. up come can Archives what see Smitty have
"move? next your What's" .ment. a just for line the off
Makepiece .Ms'. .aid. sir,"Carter ,TriB(li tO going l'm"
.ieutenants. KaddafCs of one as Kebir el Edri this identified
".ething. it's but ,lead a of much not lt's
an runs Avorix Claude .assport. French your Use"
".iend. a He•s .ere. business import-export
FORCE STRIKE ZERO—HOUR
"Service? Secret S'French
71
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ZERO-HOUR STRIKE FORCE
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"French Secret Service?"
"Yes, SDECE," Hawk said. "Smitty's on. What'd you
find?"
"Nothing, and yet something, sir, " Smitty said over the
encrypted line. 'The term "Zero-hour Strike Force' has ap-
parently been flagged in our reference section."
"But?" Hawk prompted.
"The computer files have been erased."
SIX
The chargé d'affaires, F. Monkton Clarke, turned out to be
a bright, very capable man, and by four in the afternoon,
Carter was being piloted in a twin-engine Beechcraft up the
coast toward the Libyan border nearly four hundred miles
distant.
His pilot was Ben Sidirin, a former Egyptian fighter pilot
who now worked for the American embassy. For the most
part his job consisted of flying VIP guests around Cairo, up to
Alexandria, around the Pyramids, and up and down a
hundred miles or so of the Nile.
During the two-hour flight to the tiny coastal fishing town
of Salûm, which was just across the border from its sister
town El Bardi in Libya, Sidirin talked nonstop about his
relatives. It seems he had dozens of them who worked for
numerous governmental agencies in Cairo.
It suddenly occurred to Carter that Sidirin was spying on
the American embassy for his own government. But he was
so obvious it was almost laughable. Clarke had to know about
the man, but this flight really didn't matter. Egypt and Libya
were not on the best of terms. It wouldn't benefit the Egyp-
tian government to let Kaddafi know that an American had
been allowed to sneak into his country.
73
74
NICK CARTER
74
NICK CARTER
In fact, he thought, if Clarke and the embassy staff were on
the ball, they'd have fed Sidirin whatever information they
wanted the Egyptians to have, and held back on the rest. A
spy such as this, out in the open and in plain sight of
everyone, was certainly preferable to a deep-cover man, even
if the deep agent was suspect.
"Have you any relatives in Salûm?" Carter asked the little
pilot.
"Yes! Yes, of course," the man said. "I have a second
cousin on the fisheries board. He also runs a fleet of fishing
boats. Alas, they are doing so poorly now, they lately have
taken to smuggling.
Cigarettes and whiskey, don't you
know, up to Tobruk. "
"What is this cousin's name?"
Sidirin laughed. 'His name? We are friends, Mr. Carter.
Are you interested in the fisheries business, perhaps?"
'Let's just say I'm interested in getting to Tobruk without
the stupid formalities of a border crossing. It could be very
profitable for your cousin . . . and for you as well."
'American dollars? Perhaps five thousand for me, five
thousand for my cousin?"
Carter smiled. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled
out one of the packets of diamonds. He opened it and handed
it over to the pilot, whose eyes went wide. The plane dipped
down and slewed to the left before Sidirin regained control.
But he didn't spill one of the diamonds.
"They are real," Carter said. "And the manner of their
division between you and your cousin I will leave entirely to
you. I merely wish to be taken to Tobruk without fuss and
without questions."
"It will be as you wish, Mr. Carter, " Sidirin said. He
looked lovingly at the diamonds again, then carefully folded
the packet with one hand and stuffed it deep into an inside
pocket. "Indeed, " he said, smiling. "It will be as you ask."
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Carter leaned over a little closer. "One thing, Ben," he
said, his voice low.
Sidirin's eyes narrowed. "I wouldn't cheat you!" he
stammered in alarm.
'You will be a dead man should I not reach Tobruk safely.
But not by my hands. By your own government's hands for
taking bribes from an American spy."
Sidirin turned white. But he said nothing for the remainder
of the trip, making a beautiful landing at the government field
outside the small town.
They borrowed an ancient rattletrap of a Chevy van, and
Sidirin drove him into the tiny fishing village of about a
thousand people.
The sun was just going down on the western horizon when
they pulled up behind a collection of old, decrepit stone huts
with tin roofs about a hundred yards up from a stony beach. A
half-dozen heavy-looking open fishing boats rested on the
beach. Anchored fifty yards out was a much larger boat, a
dhow, its lateen sail furled and taken in for the night. A light
breeze ruffled the water, causing the big boat to bob gently at
her mooring.
"Good, they are back," Sidirin said, climbing out of the
van.
Carter followed him across to one of the huts, then waited
outside while the Egyptian pilot talked his "deal" with his
cousin.
It took less than five minutes, and Carter was invited
inside. There were four fishermen there, drinking very thick,
very sweet coffee. They invited Carter to sit, and another cup
was produced.
No one had poured Sidirin a cup, and after a few moments,
the largest of the men got up and went outside with him. They
were gone fifteen or twenty minutes during which time Carter
had two more cups of the vile-tasting coffee and listened to
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the fishermen tell stories about their day's catch, which
included him.
At length the big man came back, and Carter looked up
Sidirin wasn't with him.
"Ben is gone back Cairo. Fly back. We go in one hour. "
"How long will it take to get to Tobruk?"
"All night, all day, then late at night."
He had hoped for something a lot faster, but it could not be
helped now. He nodded.
"Good," the big fisherman said, slapping him on the
back.
Carter never learned the names of Sidirin's cousin or his
three crewmen, but at around eight o'clock, carrying their
provisions with them, they rowed out to the large dhow, set
sail, and traveled well out into the Mediterranean; Carter
guessed at least thirty miles, perhaps more. Then they turned
west with an increasingly strong northerly wind that shot
them like an express train over and through all but the very
largest of the waves.
He managed to get some sleep, forward under the over-
hang on the mostly open deck, one hand inside his jacket on
his Luger in case they tried to rob him and throw him
overboard. But they made no move against him.
By morning the seas had moderated somewhat, and the
crew made some hot tea to go with their meal of bread and
goat cheese, topped off by dates and figs.
It was pleasantly warm and peaceful on the water as the sun
climbed higher into the sky at their backs. Once, sometime
before noon, they saw the trails of four very high-flying jets,
and twice in the afternoon they saw large ships well beyond
them out to sea, racing fast to the east.
"It is the American Navy, " one of the fishermen said
"They are on their way to Israel. "
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So close, Carter mused, and yet so very far away. It was
peaceful out here, but now they were offshore of Kaddafi's
Libya. And well out to sea were American naval war vessels.
It was somehow incongruous.
The wind died completely in the early afternoon, and the
four of them took turns sculling the heavy dhow through the
flat, calm sea.
At about four o'clock, however, the wind came up again,
and within a half hour, they were once again roaring across a
sea studded with whitecaps in every direction.
There was no compass on the boat, and when the sky
clouded over and night fell, Carter was certain they'd have to
turn toward shore. But the big fisherman did not alter his
course until nearly ten, when he finally turned toward what
Carter took to be south and the Libyan shore.
The glow of Tobruk showed up on the horizon within a half
hour, and by 11:30 they were picking out individual lights as
well as the blinking red lights on the radio tower.
"We put you ashore west of city," Sidirin's cousin
said. "There is good beach there and not so many lights."
"How far to the highway?" Carter asked.
"Not far," the big man said. "Five hundred meters. Is
good?"
"Is very good," Carter said.
It was well after 2:00 A.M. by the time they stopped just
offshore and a small dinghy was lowered over the side.
Carter shook hands all around. "Thank you," he said.
"You have paid well," Sidirin's cousin said, and Carter
climbed down into the rowboat with one of the other men.
Five minutes later the rowboat was heading back to the
dhow, and Carter stood on Libyan soil. As an American he'd
be shot on sight if he were discovered. He was going to have
to be very careful.
He lit a cigarette and, cupping the lit end in his hand,
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trudged up from the beach over a series of dunes, walking
across a wide field of low brush, then up a steep embankment
and finally onto the surface of the paved highway.
Tobruk was not a very large town; it had less than twenty
thousand people. But there was nothing else along the coast
for a long way in either direction, so its lights ten miles away
lit up the night sky. A few miles up the highway was the
rotating green and white light of an airport.
Carter looked in the opposite direction down the long dark
highway. It was more than six hundred air miles from here to
Tripoli, and because of the way the coast curved, perhaps
half again that far by highway. He had wasted too much time
on the dhow. He was rested. Well fed. It was time to move
fast now.
He turned and started down the highway toward the air-
port. One way or another, he was going to be in Tripoli before
lunch.
A wide, well-paved road led from the main coastal high-
way back to the airport, which turned out to be a small
commercial field. In this Carter felt lucky. Had there been
any military stationed at the field, security would have been
tight.
The small terminal building was open but deserted when
Carter walked in. He went across to the door that led out onto
the field and looked outside.
The taxiway and runway lights were off; only the rotating
green and white light atop the terminal building gave any
indication that this was a working airport. To the left were
three large hangars. Attached to the side of the nearest one
was what appeared to be an office. A light was shining in the
window.
He stepped out of the terminal and headed down the
parking apron to the office. He knocked at the door and let
himself in.
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An older man, who appeared to be American or European,
was sitting back, his feet up on a battered wooden desk,
sound asleep. He had long, dirty gray hair, wore boots and
khaki trousers, and a scuffed leather jacket was thrown over
his shoulders. He obviously had been drinking. The tiny
office reeked of booze.
Carter took out a packet of diamonds, opened it, and laid it
on the desk. Then he lit a cigarette and sat down.
The nameplate on the desk said Arbogast. Carter reached
forward and shoved the man's feet off the desk.
"Monsieur Arbogast?"
The man's feet hit the floor, and he sat up sputtering.
"What the bleedin' hell..." He realized he was not alone
and reached for the desk drawer.
Carter sat forward and grabbed his wrist. He smiled. "I
don't especially like Brits, you know,
" he said in English
with a heavy French accent.
"But if you will look on your
desk you will see the present I have brought you."
Slowly the man's eyes left Carter's, and he looked down
at the open packet of diamonds. His eyes widened, and he
licked his lips.
Carter released his wrist and sat back. With shaking hands
the man examined the diamonds a little more closely, finally
looking up. Sweat had beaded on his upper lip.
'Who do you want me to kill, Monsieur ..."
"My name is of no consequence. And I do not require that
sort of work."
"What then? Smuggling?"
"Don't be tedious,
" Carter said in French, then switched
to English: "My automobile is in town. Completely ruined.
It is something with the motor... seizing or something
because of the heat."
Arbogast nodded. He glanced at the stones. 'You want me
to take you somewhere? Crete, maybe?"
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"Tripoli."
Arbogast's eyebrows came up. "You surprise me. I've not
heard of you.
. of a Frenchman doing business in To-
bruk."
"Nor have I heard of you. I do not need introductions. I
need a pilot."
"When?"
"This morning. I wish to be in Tripoli certainly no later
than noon."
Arbogast looked at his watch. "It'll be light in a few hours.
We'll go then."
"Why not now?"
"The generator for the runway lights has gone bad. Be-
sides, we've lost our clearance for night flights. We can leave
in the morning as soon as it's light enough to see.
"We will be there before noon, with no interference?"
'Guaranteed," Arbogast said. 'We'll have to make two
stops to refuel-one at Benghazi and the second one at
Misurata across the Gulf of Sidra. "
Carter nodded. Arbogast folded the packet of diamonds
and pocketed them.
"I have two airplanes, a very good DC-3 and a small
DeHavilland. We'll take the small plane. It will attract less
attention."
The DeHavilland was a very old Otter, the same kind of
cargo-carrying light plane that Canadian and Alaskan bush
pilots used. It was a little after 5:00 A.M. when they went out
to it, and Arbogast made a brief walk-around inspection
before they climbed inside and strapped in.
They had talked through the morning. Carter had learned
that Ralph Arbogast had been born in Liverpool, but after
some trouble with the law in London -which he did not go
into he had come here to North Africa to fly anybody or
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anything for a price. Here he had remained, finally ending up
a few years ago in Tobruk after some trouble in Algiers.
"I have to stay away from the big cities, " he explained.
"Too much trouble there for the likes of me.
He called the military base east of town on the radio for
flight clearance, and then they were airborne, climbing up
into the brilliantly clear air, the startlingly blue Mediterra-
nean to their right, and the faded brown desert to their left.
It was nearly seven-thirty when they landed at the sieepy
Benghazi airport to refuel, which took nearly forty-five min-
utes. It was well after ten when they again refueled at Mis-
urata, getting airborne at quarter to eleven.
At exactly noon they touched down at Tripoli's large
airport, military aircraft parked in long rows across the field
from the terminal.
n, and it was disgorgin
ts passengers as Arbogasi saxid over to the business ain
tion terminal.
"Will I be required to go through any customs check?"
Carter asked
"No. In fact you won't even have to go over to the main
terminal. Someone here at the business terminal will take you
into town if you like."
"Thanks, " Carter said.
"You've made me a rich man. I should thank you,"
Arbogast said, bringing the plane to a halt but not cutting the
engines.
"You're not coming in?"
He shook his head. "Big cities are trouble. Tripoli now for
me, with my new sparkling pals, here,
" he said, patting his
pocket,
"would be disastrous. No, I'm going back to Tobruk
where it's a damn sight safer."
They shook hands, and Carter got out of the plane and went
into the business terminal, where he hired a taxi to take him
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into town. He was just leaving the airport area a half hour
later when he looked back and saw the DeHavilland taking
off.
Tripoli was alive with people and traffic, so it took the
better part of an hour to make it into town and to the water-
front district. They drove past Avorix Import/Export, housed
in a large warehouse on the quay, and stopped a couple of
blocks later at a small hotel.
When the taxi was out of sight, Carter walked back to the
warehouse and entered by a side door marked Office.
The place was a madhouse. A large French cargo vessel
was being unloaded. A dozen forklifts scurried back and
forth, and twenty or thirty men swarmed on and around the
ship.
Carter was directed to a glassed-in suite of offices on a
balcony in the back. He went up the stairs, knocked, and
went inside. An attractive young woman sat behind a desk.
She looked up from her typewriter.
"Monsieur?"
"I am Marcel Mentoir. I am here to speak with Monsieur
Avorix.
"He is very busy, but I will see if he can spare you a
moment, " the girl said. She was dark, with high cheekbones
and a fine, delicate nose. She picked up the phone. "Claude,
there is a Monsieur Mentoir to see you." She paused a
moment, looked up in surprise, then nodded her head
"Oui," she said and hung up the phone. "Please go in," she
said, pointing toward a door. "He will be right up.
"Merci," Carter said with a smile, and he entered Av-
orix's tastefully furnished, air-conditioned office. The far
wall was mostly window, and Carter looked out on the ship
and down at the workmen on the docks. It was a spectacular
view.
He lit a cigarette and watched what was going on below for
a few minutes. Soon the door opened behind him, and a
short, pudgy, balding man breezed in.
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"I can see what is happening on my docks from there," he
said. He came across the room and pumped Carter's hand. "I
trust there was no trouble making it here?"
Carter told him about Arbogast.
"I know him. Not a bad sort, but he can't pay his gambling
debts. There are a number of unsavory characters in Algiers
who would like to talk to him."
Avorix poured them both a cognac, and they sat down.
"How secure is your office?" Carter began.
"Very," Avorix said.
"It's swept daily. Hawk got a
message to me about you. I understand you know something
of the nuclear attack on the Saudis.
"Perhaps," Carter said. "But I am going to need your
help. There may be a connection here, to Libya."
"With Kaddafi?"
Carter nodded.
Avorix laughed. 'You Americans have become paranoid
over our ludicrous colonel. But how do you think he is
involved in this?"
Very briefly Carter described to Avorix what had hap-
pened at the soccer stadium in Riyadh, including Kebir's
name and the Zero-hour Strike Force.
Avorix sat back in his chair, deep in thought for several
moments. "Kebir in Riyadh," he said. "It could not simply
be a coincidence. And yet.
"And yet what?"
"Libya has no reason to attack Saudi Arabia, even if she
did have nuclear weapons."
•The Saudis are friendly with the U.S."
Avorix shrugged. "There are other, more enticing targets
if that is the criteria. No, it is something more than that. And
then this business of the Zero-hour Strike Force. I have not
heard of it before, but it sounds ominous."
''There's no possibility that Kaddafi could have gotten
hold of four nuclear devices? They weren't very large."
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'The Israeli planes and ground equipment, yes, easily.
But the nuclear weapons? I have worked here for ten years-
ten active years —and I have found no evidence that he has
managed to come up with a nuclear force. He has tried. He
does have the money. But no one trusts him.
"We have to find out very soon. War will erupt unless we
can come up with proof that the Israelis did not do it."
"Are you so sure they didn't?"
'Yes, " Carter said.
"Very well, what is it I can do to help?"
"Who did Kebir work for?"
"Kaddafi."
"I meant, who was his direct boss?"
Avorix shrugged again. 'I do not know, for certain, al-
though I have my suspicions."
"I want to get to the man, whoever he is. Immediately.
Tonight if possible.
"To do what? Kill him?" Avorix asked. "You would
never get out of Libya."
"To talk with him. Kebir knows of this Zero-hour Strike
Force, whatever it is. And he was in Saudi Arabia. His boss
should know more."
"Yes," Avorix said thoughtfully. "And then what, when
you have your information. What will you do with it?"
"Act on it."
"You mean bring the proof back to Riyadh with you?"
"Possibly that."
"Or? Perhaps you discover it was Kaddafi's doing."
"I would kill him," Carter said.
"Isee," Avorix said. He got up and came around the desk.
'You will have to remain here. I will have Marie bring you
something to eat later this afternoon. For now there is cognac
and wine, and there are cigarettes. Please help yourself. I will
be gone for a while... probably several hours.
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"We have to do this tonight."
'I will have something arranged for tonight. Meanwhile,
do not leave this office. There is no need to expose yourself
until it is absolutely necessary."
SEVEN
Marie, Avorix's secretary, brought Carter his lunch at
around 2:30, then hurried back out of the office as if she
thought he might bite her. She had brought him a couple of
bottles of ice cold beer, some bread, cheese, and several
different kinds of sausage; all of it was very good
Before he had gone out, the little Frenchman had shown
Carter where the shortwave receiver was located and how it
operated, so that he could listen to some Western news
programs. But he warned Carter not to snoop around the
"I mean it when I say this, Monsieur Carter. I have many
secrets here, and they all are wired with some very nasty
surprises . . . all of them fatal. "
"I'll be careful," Carter had said. And he had been.
Before lunch he
had found the plastique and trigger
mechanisms for the desk drawers, for the shortwave transmit-
ter cabinet, and for three of the four hidden file cabinets. He
had gotten through two of the last file cabinet's interlocking
trigger mechanisms, and he knew there'd be more. Avorix
had many secrets, but his most cherished were evidently in
the final file drawers.
Avorix called in at three o'clock and told Carter that
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progress was being made with his deal, but that it would take
a little longer than expected. He said he'd be back sometime
after dark.
Carter attacked the man's office with a vengeance then,
finding three more trigger mechanisms for the file cabinet.
For just a minute he had the urge to cross-connect all the
devices, but then he had to remind himself that Avorix was a
friend, not the enemy.
The file cabinet, after all of that, contained little of value.
There were a number of diagrams of various Libyan military
establishments, the wiring and encoding diagram for a
Russian-built automatic identification unit that was installed
in all Libyan Air Force planes, and the transcript of an
interrogation Avorix conducted of a Sicilian Mafia leader
working a drug-smuggling deal here in Tripoli.
Disappointed, he replaced the files in their proper order
and reset all the trigger mechanisms, then poured himself a
drink and went to the window.
The off-loading of the ship had progressed very fast, and
from what Carter could see, it was nearly finished
He stood by the window for at least an hour watching the
comings and goings of the dock crews until finally they began
leaving, waving good night to each other.
By 5:00 the docks were fairly quiet up and down the quay,
and by 5:30 nothing moved below. Suddenly Carter was
feeling very exposed. There was no reason for him not to trust
Avorix, and yet...
He looked at the door, then back down at the dock.
Everyone had gone for the day. If the police came and
arrested him, no one would know. Avorix could claim he
knew nothing——he was off doing the American's bidding—
and sooner or later it would all blow over.
There was no reason for him to suspect anything of the
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sort, nor was there anywhere in the city he could run to and be
reasonably safe. But this place was very definitely getting on
his nerves.
He finished his drink, then turned on Avorix's answering
machine to the record-message mode. "I'll contact you here
at ten, " he said, and he rewound the tape and set the machine
to answer the incoming call. If someone other than Avorix
called, they'd not understand the message. There was a slight
risk involved, but not a big one.
At the door he listened for any sounds from the outer
office. It was quiet. He shut off the lights, opened the door,
and stepped out. Avorix's secretary was seated at her desk
reading a French fashion magazine. She looked up, startled,
her eyes wide, just as surprised at seeing Carter as he was of
seeing her.
"Good evening," he said.
"Monsieur," she replied in a small voice.
"You are to
remain in the office."
"I think not," Carter said. He went to the windows that
looked down into the warehouse. The girl jumped up.
"Please, monsieur, it means my job.
The warehouse was deserted. Only a few small nightlights
were on. He turned back to the girl. "You were supposed to
watch me? Make sure I didn't take off?"
She nodded uncertainly.
Carter smiled. "Fine. I'm getting out of here, and you can
come along and watch me. Any ideas where I might go to
wait for Claude?"
'You are supposed
.. to stay here
"I'm not going to stay here. I am leaving. You may come
or you may stay,
" Carter said. If Avorix was on the level
after all, Carter would make sure the girl did not lose her job.
If he wasn't—if he were playing a double cross—- then the girl
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would be much better off not working for him.
He went to the door, opened it, and looked downstairs. He
glanced back. "Coming?"
She looked around wildly, then grabbed her sweater, her
purse, and the magazine, and followed him out the door,
locking it behind her.
Carter went down the stairs and started for the side door,
but the girl called after him.
'Monsieur Mentoir, "
Carter turned back.
''Do you know Tripoli? Do you have an idea where you
would like to go, to wait for Monsieur Avorix?"
"No," Carter admitted. 'But I won't stay here.
"May I ask why?"
Carter shrugged. "I don't trust your boss. Not fully. I
would prefer to wait somewhere for him that he does not
control."
Marie smiled. "I understand, " she said. "Then come with
me. My car is in the back. " She turned and headed toward a
back door.
"Where are we going?" Carter asked, starting after her.
"My apartment," she said over her shoulder.
Her car was a small Renault, clean and well maintained.
They headed off the quay and went a dozen blocks through
town, then pulled down a side street and parked at the rear of
a high-rise apartment building that overlooked the sea. It
wasn't the most luxurious of neighborhoods, but like the girl
and her car, it was neat and very well maintained.
Her small apartment was on the corner of the fifth floor.
From one side she could look across the city of a quarter of a
million people, and from the other, across the harbor to the
blue Mediterranean beyond.
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'Very nice," he said, standing in the middle of the living
room. "You live here alone?"
She nodded. 'There is wine in the kitchen. Please help
yourself while I change my clothes."
She disappeared into the bedroom, and Carter went into
the kitchen where he found several bottles of good red wine in
the cabinet, and a few bottles of a nice Pouilly-Fuissé in the
refrigerator.
He opened one of the bottles of red wine, and brought the
bottle and two glasses back into the living room, where he
had spotted a stereo and a rack of LPs. They were mostly
classical. He put on a Brahms concerto and poured them each
a glass of wine. Then he pulled off his jacket, stuffed his
Luger and holster into a pocket, kicked off his shoes, and sat
down on the carpeted floor, leaning back against the couch.
She came out a few minutes later, her long, jet black hair
flowing down her back. She was wearing an old, faded
T-shirt and a pair of denim shorts, a highly unusual, very
Western outfit for this part of the world.
She smiled. "Needless to say I don't go outside dressed
like this," she said to a surprised Carter in accent-free En-
glish. She came across the room and took the glass of wine he
had poured for her. "Thanks, " she said, and she went into
the kitchen.
Carter remained where he was, bewildered, staring at the
doorway. This young woman was more than she seemed to
be.
She was back a few minutes later with a small tray of hors
d'oeuvres, which she placed on the coffee table. She sat
down cross-legged on the floor next to him.
"My name is Marie Arlemont. My parents were French,
but I was born and grew up in Philadelphia. I spent my
summers in France with grandparents and went to college in
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Paris at the Sorbonne. When I graduated I joined my parents
who had moved to Monaco. I was hired by the SDECE five
years ago, and I've been out here working with Avorix for the
past eighteen months."
Hawk hadn't known about her, or he hadn't considered her
important enough to mention. "Is Avorix on the level?"
"Do you mean, is he a double? I don't know. That's why I
was sent out here. Once upon a time he was the very best. His
stuff lately is less than grade four."
"And me?" Carter asked. "What do you know?"
'Your real name is Nicholas Carter and you work for U.S.
intelligence, although for which branch I couldn't find out.
State Department, I'd guess. Certainly not the Company."
Carter had to smile.
"I've been able to get through everything except his A
source file. Did you find anything?"
"You watched me?"
"Everything in there is silently alarmed."
"Nothing that sophisticated. Just a tape recorder. " She
drank some of her wine. "So now you're looking for the man
who ran the infamous Edri el Kebir. Then what?"
"That depends on what he has to say to me."
She thought about that for a moment. "You do realize that
once you approach Kebir's control, no matter what is said or
done, the clock will begin running on you at that moment.
Kaddafi's people are pretty efficient in this. You'll have to
leave Libya tonight. And so will I. Avorix is not a stupid
man. He will know what has happened and who helped you. I
will have to go."
Carter was beginning to like this woman. She seemed very
self-sufficient. She seemed to know exactly who she was and
what she was all about. "You have a bolt hole?"
She nodded. 'I have hidden a helicopter outside of the
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city. Not too far from here. It has sufficient range to make
Sicily, which is about three hundred miles."
Carter sat up. "A helicopter? How in hell did you manage
that?"
"It wasn't easy, let me tell you. It took a lot of money,
three months of work, and a lot of nervous nights. But it's
there."
"You have a pilot?"
She laughed. 'I'm the pilot, of course."
She fixed them a light dinner, and afterward Carter took a
quick shower and laid down to get some rest before he
telephoned Avorix.
It was a couple of minutes before ten when she came into
the bedroom, sat on the side of the bed, and shook him
awake.
"It's time to call Avorix," she said. She had evidently
taken a shower. Her hair was up in a towel, and she was
wearing a bathrobe. She smelled of perfumed soap.
Carter looked at his watch.
"Go ahead and dial his
number. I'll talk with him."
She did, then handed him the receiver. Avorix answered
on the first ring
'What did you find out for me?" Carter asked.
"That was a very stupid thing you did, Monsieur Carter.
Where are you telephoning from?"
"What have you got for me?"
"Come here to my office."
'No. Someplace else.
"What is the matter with you?" the Frenchman shouted
"Don't you trust me?"
'I don't trust your office. It's probably being watched
Where can we meet, away from there?"
Avorix was silent. Marie had pulled out a dark pullover
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NICK CARTER
and dark slacks from her closet and laid them over a chair.
'The main highway toward Zwara. Do you have transpor-
tation?"
"Yes."
"Five miles outside of the city. Just past the oil storage
tanks. I have a Mercedes. Tan. It will be parked at the side of
the road."
'When I pass I will blink twice, and you can follow me,"
Carter said. 'What time?'
Avorix sputtered, but finally he calmed down enough to
tell Carter he would be there at midnight. Earlier would be
too dangerous..
Carter hung up and was about to get out of bed, when
Marie opened her bathrobe and let it fall from her shoulders to
the floor. She undid the towel from her hair, then came over
to the bed and helped Carter out of his clothes.
"It's been a long year and a half here, Nick, " she said
huskily as she came into his arms...
Before they left Marie bound her breasts tightly against her
chest. and pinned her hair up so that when she pulled her
black watch cap low on her forehead, she could be mistaken
for a slightly built man or a boy.
At the door to her apartment she hesitated only a moment
to look back. There was nothing personal here, she had told
Carter. No photographs, no letters or favorite books, nothing
that would tell anyone she was anything more than the secre-
tary to the owner of a French import-export firm.
It had been an empty life for her these last eighteen
months. When she turned and they headed downstairs to her
car, her step was light. Carter was sure she was happy to be
leaving here.
No one was on the back streets, but when they made it
downtown there still was some traffic. Carter drove in case
ZERO-HOUR STRIKE FORCE
95
E FORCE
95
they were stopped. He figured he would more easily pass a
police scrutiny than she would.
The night was cool, and within a few minutes they had
made it to the outskirts of the city; beyond, they could see the
lights outlining the tank farm.
Carter pulled his Luger out of his holster, checked to make
sure there was a round in the firing chamber, and laid the
weapon beside him on the seat.
Marie had a little .380 Beretta automatic.
She levered a
round into the chamber and held the weapon below the level
of the window.
Just beyond the oil tank farm, parked at the side of the
highway, was a tan Mercedes 300D. As Carter passed, he
blinked the headlights twice.
The Mercedes's lights came on, and the car pulled out onto
the highway. If there was going to be any trouble, it would
happen now, Carter thought. But there were no other vehicles
behind or ahead of them, nor was there anything in the air.
Avorix was evidently playing it straight. Or at least he hadn't
brought anyone with him.
About five miles farther up the coast, Carter slowed down
and pulled off to the side of the road. He left the car running,
grabbed Wilhelmina, and hurried back to Avorix who had
pulled up just behind him.
The Frenchman seemed very nervous. "I don't understand
why suddenly you no longer trust me,
" he said.
"What have you got set up for me?" Carter asked, a hard
edge to his voice. He made no effort to conceal the Luger.
Avorix kept glancing nervously at it.
"That is my secretary's automobile,
" Avorix said. He
seemed disappointed. He looked up again at Carter. "I have
arranged a very private meeting tonight for you."
"With whom?"
"Captain Waddam. He is in the Air Force, but more
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NICK CARTER
importantly he is an assistant minister of defense."
"What kind of a meeting?" Carter snapped.
"Captain Waddam, I have found out, has, shall we say,
certain peculiar tastes for his recreational activities."
'He's gay?"
"A sadomasochist. I told him about you. About your
looks. Your build. He insisted on seeing you tonight."
"Alone."
"Naturellement."
"We will follow you," Carter said, and Avorix nearly
jumped out of his skin.
"Marie.. is with you?"
'Yes, " Carter said. 'But we won't be there long. She can
remain out of sight in the car. "
"If he has guards tonight, they certainly will not let a
woman into the compound at this hour of the night."
'They won't know she's a woman, " Carter said. "We'll
follow you. " He turned, went back to the Renault, and got in
behind the wheel.
Avorix pulled back up to the highway and headed down the
road. Carter followed him.
"What has he set up?" Marie asked.
"I'm the blind date of an assistant minister of defense."
EIGHT
On the way out, Carter explained to Marie what Avorix
had set up for him, and she laughed.
"'He 'll be very surprised when he finds out what's in store
for him. But that means Claude's position here will be ex-
posed. "
Carter had been thinking about just that. "He's planning
something. He'll either kill the man, or-"
"He'll kill you and save the day for Waddam, thus
solidifying his position with the Libyans, " she finished.
"It's a thought, " Carter said, glancing over at her. Their
eyes met and she smiled nervously.
"At any rate, the helicopter is not far inland from here. We
at least came in the right direction."
The Mercedes turned off the highway and continued
slowly along a narrow paved road that led over a series of
sand dunes toward the sea. Carter followed, and within a mile
they came to an area of huge estates, all facing the Mediterra-
nean. Each was fenced ff from the road, and although some
apparently were secured only by locked gates, Avorix pulled
up at one where the main gate was manned by an armed
guard.
The guard came up to the Mercedes, and he and Avorix
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98
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NICK CARTER
spoke for a minute or so. Once the guard looked up, switched
on his flashlight, and pointed it back at the Renault. Finally
something changed hands, and the guard sauntered to the
gate and slowly swung it open.
Avorix drove the rest of the way inside, and as Carter
passed with the Renault, the guard looked in at him. There
was a disgusted expression on his face.
Inside, the road curved to the left, then up to the huge
house. Avorix parked his Mercedes in front of the entryway,
and Carter parked behind him but with the Renault's hood
angled out; if they had to get out in a hurry, they would not be
blocked by the Mercedes.
"I'm not going to be long," Carter told Marie. 'I want
you to get behind the wheel and be ready to take off the
minute I come running."
Avorix had gotten out of the Mercedes.
"Be careful, Nick, " Marie said. "Remember, we have a
date in Monaco."
He got out of the car and went up to where Avorix was
waiting for him. The Frenchman was out of breath.
"You are going to have to kill him when it is over. And
then you are going to have to take that foolish girl with you
out of Libya. Immediately!"
Avorix might have been a very good operative at one time,
but now he was a frightened little man, apparently more
concerned about his own welfare and his position in Tripoli
than the work he was supposed to be doing.
"You've been here before,
" Carter said
Avorix nodded after a hesitation.
"I bring him boys,
mostly from our ships, and he gives me information."
"Edri el Kebir is a big name here. Why hadn't you gotten
something on him earlier?"
"I didn't know until a week or so ago that Waddam was
Kebir's control officer... and lover. I swear it. "
ZERO-HOUR STRIKE FORCE
99
99
Carter looked up at the imposing mansion. "Any guards
inside?"
"No," Avorix said. 'They come in shifts from the army
base just outside the city. There are staff in the house,
though. Cook, a couple of servants, a gardener."
"Let's get this over with," Carter said. He and Avorix
went up the walk, and the Frenchman let them in the front
door.
Just inside, they found themselves in a huge entry hall,
dimly lit from above by recessed lighting. Water flowed from
a fountain set in the middle of a lush tangle of plants at the
center of the entry hall.
"Follow me," Avorix said, leading Carter to a grand
stairway to the second floor. They walked down a long,
plushly carpeted corridor, then Avorix knocked at a wide,
ornately carved wooden door and shoved it open.
Waddam's master suite was huge and was open to the
Mediterranean breezes along the entire front of the house
except for a wall of sheer silk curtains that moved softly,
almost as if they were alive.
"Is that you.. Claude?" someone asked in French
from across the room.
"Oui," Avorix said. "I have brought someone to meet
you."
"Good."
Avorix and Carter moved across the vast suite to a huge
bed covered with black satin sheets and which faced the sea.
In the center of the bed, nude, was a huge man, rolls of fat
cascading down his body from massive double chins to
elephantine thighs. His hands looked more like ham hocks
than human limbs.
Waddam was grinning broadly. "Isn't he a lovely one,"
he said, slurring his words. He had been drinking red wine
and some of it had dribbled down his chin onto pendulous,
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NICK CARTER
hairy breasts. "Come a little closer. I won't hurt you..
yet."
Carter's stomach was churning. He stepped closer, then
pulled out his Luger, which he pointed directly at the obese
man's head.
Waddam moved much faster than Carter would have sup-
posed possible for this whale of a man, rolling over and
reaching out for a telephone console beside the bed.
Carter lunged forward, smashing the barrel of the Luger
across the man's fingers. Waddam cried out in pain, fell
back, then looked up as Carter knelt on the bed, the Luger
pressed against his skull.
"And now we will talk, " Carter said in French.
Waddam's eyes darted to Avorix. "Is this your doing? Are
you scaring me too? Tell me..
Avorix had turned away and was going toward the bal-
cony.
"Edri el Kebir," Carter said softly.
Waddam's eyes went wide, and his complexion turned
pasty.
"He is dead in a tunnel beneath the soccer stadium in
Riyadh. I was with him when he died. We talked. "
Waddam was whimpering.
"We talked about the Zero-hour Strike Force."
Waddam tried to press back farther into the bed. "I know
nothing! Why do you come to me? Who are you?"
"You were Edri el Kebir's lover. You were his control.
You sent him to Riyadh. Why? What was he doing there?"
'You are an Israeli? A Zionist?"
"Why did you send him to Riyadh? Was it to coordinate
Colonel Kaddafi's nuclear strike on the oil fields?"
'No! No! You have it all wrong! It was not Libyans who
made the attack. It was someone else. Kebir was just observ-
ing for us."
ZERO-HOUR STRIKE FORCE
101
101
"What was he doing in Riyadh?"
"He had not yet reported back.
"You didn't know your man was in the Saudi capital?"
Carter pressed. "You'll have to do better than that. "
Waddam looked around in desperation, his eyes rolling,
sweat forming all over his grossly bloated body. "I knew he
would be going there. But I didn't know he had arrived."
'Where had he been before Riyadh?"
"Tehran," Waddam said fearfully.
"Tehran?" Carter said. He had been there a few years ago
on another assignment.
"What was he doing there?"
Waddam said nothing.
"What was he doing there?" Carter repeated. "What's the
connection between Riyadh and Tehran?"
Still Waddam held his silence.
'What did Kebir find out for you in Tehran? And what
made you send him there in the first place?'
"Not there first. He followed someone there."
"Who?"
"I don't know. He didn't know."
"What was his starting point? What did you send him out
after? What did you want to know?"
'He was in Muscat, then Doha, and Abu Dhabi first."
They were the capital cities of Oman, Qatar and the United
Arab Emirates. All oil kingdoms. "Why there?"
"We had heard rumors, " Waddam said. "I sent Kebir to
find out what he could. "
'What is the Zero-hour Strike Force? What does that
mean? Whose force is it?"
'No!" Waddam screamed. He batted the Luger aside and
with a powerful thrust shoved Carter off the bed. He rolled
the rest of the way across the satin and grabbed the phone, but
before he could bring it to his lips Avorix had come from the
balcony, a silenced pistol in his hand. He fired one shot,
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NICK CARTER
blowing the back of Waddam's head off, blood, bits of bone,
and white tissue spraying up against the wall and the leather-
covered headboard.
Waddam flopped forward, knocking his face against the
front of the telephone console.
Avorix pulled the receiver from beneath the dead man and
brought it to his ear. Apparently no connection had been
made, because he pulled out his handkerchief, wiped his
fingerprints from the instrument, and set it back in its cradle.
Carter had picked himself up and held the Luger loosely at
his side. The safety, however, was off.
Avorix turned to him, the silenced pistol pointing in Car-
ter's general direction. In the dim light Carter could see that
the hammer was not cocked. It would take the man a crucial
split second to cock the weapon before it would be ready to
fire.
•You have caused a great deal of trouble, Monsieur
American Intelligence Agent, " he said
"I will kill you long before you fire your weapon, Avorix.
Please believe me, " Carter said.
Something flashed in the man's eyes and Carter started to
bring up his Luger, when Avorix's head snapped back, his
right eye disappearing in a splash of blood at the same instant
the sharp crack of an automatic came from the doorway.
Carter was around in a crouch, his Luger up and ready to
fire before Avorix hit the floor.
Marie stood just within the doorway, her .380 Beretta in
her right hand. She too stood in a crouch, a very slight smile
on her lips.
Carter swore softly to himself.
He looked back at Avorix, but it was obvious the man was
dead
A siren started up below in the compound. The shot must
have been heard by the guards on staff.
ZERO-HOUR STRIKE FORCE
103
102
NICK CARTER
blowing the back of Waddam's head off, blood, bits of bone,
and white tissue spraying up against the wall and the leather-
covered headboard.
Waddam flopped forward, knocking his face against the
front of the telephone console.
Avorix pulled the receiver from beneath the dead man and
brought it to his ear. Apparently no connection had been
made, because he pulled out his handkerchief, wiped his
fingerprints from the instrument, and set it back in its cradle.
Carter had picked himself up and held the Luger loosely at
his side. The safety, however, was off.
Avorix turned to him, the silenced pistol pointing in Car-
ter's general direction. In the dim light Carter could see that
the hammer was not cocked. It would take the man a crucial
split second to cock the weapon before it would be ready to
fire.
•You have caused a great deal of trouble, Monsieur
American Intelligence Agent, " he said
"I will kill you long before you fire your weapon, Avorix.
Please believe me, " Carter said.
Something flashed in the man's eyes and Carter started to
bring up his Luger, when Avorix's head snapped back, his
right eye disappearing in a splash of blood at the same instant
the sharp crack of an automatic came from the doorway.
Carter was around in a crouch, his Luger up and ready to
fire before Avorix hit the floor.
Marie stood just within the doorway, her .380 Beretta in
her right hand. She too stood in a crouch, a very slight smile
on her lips.
Carter swore softly to himself.
He looked back at Avorix, but it was obvious the man was
dead
A siren started up below in the compound. The shot must
have been heard by the guards on staff.
ZERO-HOUR STRIKE FORCE
103
103
"Cover the door!" Carter snapped, and he leaped to Av-
orix's body, searching the man's pockets until he came up
with the keys to the Mercedes. The Renault would be too
light to crash through the heavy steel mesh gate outside, and
it was too slow if and when the Army decided to come after
them.
Marie was halfway down the stairs when Carter emerged
from Waddam's suite in a dead run, skidded, and nearly
tripped on the thick carpeting, then raced headlong down the
stairs.
The guard from the gate burst through the front door, his
rifle at the ready.
Without pausing, Carter brought his Luger up and fired
twice, the first shot catching the man in the throat, the second
in his chest, slamming him backward out the door and onto
the walkway.
'The Mercedes!" Carter shouted as he and Marie leaped
over the guard's body. Carter raced around to the driver's
side and had the car started as Marie climbed in.
He slammed it in gear and spun the wheel around, then
jammed the accelerator to the floor. The powerful car shot
around the curved driveway and back to the main gate, the
siren rising and falling behind them.
'Brace yourself!" he shouted just before they hit the wire
mesh gate. They burst through it, cracking the windshield
and badly shoving the front of the car inward.
Fluid from the radiator immediately began to leak out as
the car accelerated toward the highway.
"How far?" he asked.
'About five miles, " Marie said, looking over her shoul-
der back toward Waddam's house. There were a lot of lights
coming on in the other compounds along the road. It
wouldn't be long before the Army would be out here in full
force.
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104
NICK CARTER
Five miles. It would be a testimony to Mercedes engineer-
ing if the car made it.
At the main highway Marie directed him to turn left, back
toward Tripoli, and he did so without appreciably slowing
down, the car slewing way to the right, nearly off the road,
before he regained control.
The speedometer crept upward toward the two-hundred-
kilometer-per-hour mark, and within a mile the temperature
gauge was already climbing up into the red.
"There's a tumoff to the right just before the oil tank
farm, " Marie said.
Carter glanced in the rearview mirror. No one was follow-
ing them yet. If the Army were already on their trail, he did
not think he would have enough lead time for Marie to get the
helicopter ready for takeoff.
The oil tank farm came into sight in the distance, and
Marie motioned for Carter to slow down. "Just beyond the
power lines. To the right. The road runs parallel to them."
Carter jammed on the brakes, the big car slowing to less
than fifty, and he made the turn onto the narrow dirt track.
Immediately he accelerated, then turned off the head-
lights. For a few seconds he couldn't see a thing, but then he
could make out the road stretching ahead of them as the
temperature gauge continued into the red, the needle finally
pegging, steam coming out of the ruins of the radiator.
"There they go," Marie said. She was looking back
toward the highway.
Carter glanced in the rearview mirror in time to see a dozen
sets of headlights racing down the highway from Tripoli.
There were more in the distance, coming from town. It
wouldn't be long before they began a search pattern, which
would include this road. And if they suspected that Wad-
dam's assassins had escaped by air, they'd send up their
fighter-interceptors.
ZERO-HOUR STRIKE FORCE
105
105
The odor of burning oil was becoming very strong in the
car, and their speed was noticeably dropping, when Marie
pointed out a collection of low, fallen-down stone buildings a
few hundred yards off the dirt road
Carter turned that way, the Mercedes slamming over the
heavy ruts and deep sand.
Something deep within the engine suddenly began to
screech loudly, the speed dropped off, and suddenly the car
bucked three or four times, coming to a stop. It was the end of
the line.
Marie was out of the car and racing across the desert to the
largest of the buildings of what apparently at one time had
been some sort of military compound. Possibly from World
War II
Carter caught up with her as she got to the building and
began pulling large pieces of corrugated metal from its side
wall.
Immediately Carter could see the gleam of new metal
inside, and of plastic. Within a minute he could see that it was
a helicopter, a fairly new design by Dessault, the French jet
aircraft manufacturer. How she had gotten it here was a
complete mystery, despite what she had told him back at her
apartment.
It took them another five minutes to get all the corrugated
metal away from the wide opening, then they ducked inside
where Marie pulled the cocks out from the wheels, and the
machine began to slowly roll outside. It had been put up on a
small incline so that it would roll easily out into the open. She
had thought of everything.
Once the machine was clear of the building, Marie untied
the straps holding the rotors in place, then pulled several
thick foam rubber plugs out of the various air intakes and oil
cooler orifices.
Carter pulled the protective tarp off the plastic bubble
106
106
NICK CARTER
windshield and tossed it back inside the building. As Marie
climbed into the chopper to get it ready for takeoff, Carter
shoved the sheets of corrugated metal back in place so that no
one coming by here would know that anything had been taken
out recently. Not unless they stopped, pulled the tin aside,
and looked in.
By the time he was finished, the rotor blades were begin-
ning to spin, the engines catching. He climbed aboard and
strapped himself in. Marie had one earphone on, and she
looked over at him and winked.
'The Air Force hasn't been called out yet. All we need is
ten minutes, maybe fifteen, and we'll be clear.
Gradually she brought the throttle up and eased the rotor
pitch so that the big blades bit deeper into the cool desert air.
They lifted off gently, and at about fifty feet they turned
toward the north, Marie bringing the machine to full throttle,
just skimming the desert.
Carter was about to ask her if she remembered the power
lines, but they were already over them. She skirted to the
west of the tank farm before dropping down again and head-
ing north. Soon they were out over the water.
Marie stiffened in her seat and glanced over at Carter.
"They asking about us?" he guessed.
She nodded. 'Tripoli Military Control is demanding us to
stand down. They've lost us—we're too low. "
"They'll be coming out after us," Carter said, looking
over his shoulder, back the way they had come. The lights of
Tripoli were spread out to the east.
'How far will they come out?"
'Twelve miles, maybe more. Hard to tell after our Navy
shot down their planes in '81. But they'll be coming after us
with jets."
"We'll see just how good they are, " Marie said, and she
dipped the helicopter down in a sickening lurch to within a
ZERO-HOUR STRIKE FORCE
107
107
few feet of the waves, which, as far as Carter could tell, had
built into eight- and ten-footers. They were skimming just
over the tops of them, leaving a spray behind.
The machine was doing well over a hundred miles per
hour, and Carter estimated they were not more than ten or
twelve feet above the tops of the highest waves: Marie was
much better than a good pilot, he realized. She was one of the
best.
"They're on their way, " she said suddenly, not looking up
from what she was doing. "A pair of fighter-interceptors.
They're coming after us with orders to shoot us down if we
don't turn around. "
Carter alternately watched her and the sky overhead. For a
long time there was nothing except the drone of the helicopter
engine and the waves shooting past just beneath them.
"One of the pilots thinks he's spotted us," Marie said.
"They're coming down to take a look. " She immediately
slowed the machine down and came around into the moving
trough of one of the waves. For half a minute or more she
jockeyed the controls back and forth until she had the chopper
settled into the wave trough, moving sideways in line with it.
A jet fighter flashed overhead at about five hundred feet,
then screamed out toward the horizon, making a wide loop-
ing turn to the east.
Instantly Marie popped up out of the wave trough, cranked
in full throttle, and they accelerated toward the north
Sweat shimmered off her brow as she concentrated. "He
couldn't find us, " she announced triumphantly. 'He's mak-
ing another pass."
Once again she dropped down into a wave trough, but this
time she stabilized the chopper's speed and drift much more
quickly.
The jet screamed overhead, lower than the last time, but
Marie held her position, the waves at times towering over
NO CATC
108
NICK CARTER
them. If one of the crests broke, or if she miscalculated by the
slightest amount, tons of water would come cascading down
on top of them. They'd never know what hit them.
The jet screamed past them about a half mile to the north.
Marie maintained their position, but finally she broke out
into a grin and pulled the helicopter up out of the trough, this
time turning to the northwest.
When she had gained enough altitude that her control
wasn't so critical, she looked over at Carter and pulled off her
earphones and the attached microphone.
"I hope you know someone aboard the Forrestal," she
said, handing the headset to Carter.
"Our aircraft carrier?"
"She's out there, and she's scrambled four of her fighter-
interceptors to see what our Libyan friends were up to."
Carter took the headset and put it on. He could hear the
chatter between the Libyan pilots and their controller. But in
the background he could hear the American pilots speaking
with their ship.
"Red leader, this is Red Dog one. We pick something
coming up out of the clutter bearing one-seven-niner."
"Heading out?"
"That's a roger, Red leader. Slow. . . hold one... it's
a chopper, I think. "
Carter keyed the microphone. 'That's affirmative, For-
restal. This is Commander Nick Carter aboard a Dessault
helicopter. We'd appreciate a little help."
"Did you copy that, Red leader?"
"That's a roger, Red Dog one. Keep tracking, we're
checking. "There was a silence until the Forrestal was back.
"Did he say Commander Nick Carter?"
"I think so, " one of the pilots said.
"Affirmative," Carter said into the mike. "Request per-
mission to land aboard. "
ZERO-HOUR STRIKE FORCE
109
109 121 of 212)
一十 110%
ZERO-HOUR STRIKE FORCE
109
"Permission granted, Commander. Do you need vec-
tors?" the Forrestal radioman asked.
Carter was about to say yes when he spotted the lights of
the gigantic aircraft carrier on the horizon. Swarming over-
head were the lights of four fast-moving jet fighters.
'That's a negative, Forrestal. We have you in sight,"
Carter said. "I'll turn you over to my pilot for landing
instructions.
"Roger."
Carter handed the headset back to Marie, who pulled it on.
"I've never landed on an aircraft carrier before," she said
"There's a first time for everything, " Carter said with a
grin.
NINE
Carter and Marie were escorted immediately up to the
admiral's quarters just below the bridge deck, where Admiral
Richard Brewster himself was waiting with his executive
officer, Captain Howard Baker.
They were both astounded that the helicopter's pilot was a
woman, but they were even more surprised to learn that she
had been born in America, was now a citizen of Monaco, and
worked for the SDECE.
"This is just a bit unusual, Commander Carter," the
admiral said.
"But we were told you were in the area and
were alerted to provide any assistance we could if and when
the need arose. We were not told about a woman.
"I'll need to use your crypto facilities, and I'm sure
Mademoiselle Arlemont will want to report to her
superiors, " Carter said
'We'll set up a circuit for you, Commander, " the admiral
said, "But Miss Arlemont's message will either have to wait
until she returns home or will have to go through the State
Department. Policy, I'm afraid."
"TIl wait, " Marie said. She turned to Carter. "Just tell
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NICK CARTER
your people exactly what happened, especially regarding
Avorix. They'll pass that along to Paris.
Carter nodded. "Where is this ship bound, Admiral?" he
asked
'Nowhere in particular. We're merely here to show our
nuclear presence in case something heats up, " the admiral
said. 'We can get Miss Arlemont to Athens if she wishes to
get to Paris. That would be the quickest way.
'That's fine, " Marie said
"And you, Commander?"
"Tehran, I think. "
The executive officer started to say something, but the
admiral cut him off. "Shall we go up to communications?"
"Yes," Carter said. He turned to Marie. "I'll see you
later. "
Captain Baker escorted Marie to her quarters on level five
while the admiral went with Carter up to the bridge deck,
where aft they were admitted through a series of security
checks and finally into the tiny encrypted communications
center, off the main comm facility.
There were four teletype crypto units along with one fac-
simile device, all linked by satellite to the Pentagon. On the
admiral's orders, the operator cleared out, and Carter
punched in the routing codes that within a few minutes
connected him with Hawk on Dupont Circle.
As quickly and succinctly as possible, Carter explained
how he made it from Riyadh to Tripoli, his connection with
Claude Avorix, the help Marie Arlemont had given him and
her suspicions about Avorix, and the events at Waddam's
estate. He typed:
PLAN TO PROCEED TO ATHENS FROM
THERE DIRECT ON GREEK AIRLINES TO
TEHRAN. COVER MARCEL MENTOIR,
ZERO-HOUR STRIKE FORCE
113