Iron Gate
Page 49
Epilogue
Friday, May 1
Cape Town, South Africa
*
MacKay found his seat in the first-class section of the Boeing 747-400. The white South African Airways steward came by and smiled. ‘It’s nineteen hours to New York. If there’s anything I can do to make your flight more comfortable, please ask.’
‘A pillow and a blanket,’ MacKay answered. ‘I’m really tired.’
‘You’re an American?’ the steward asked as he got a pillow and a blanket from the overhead compartment. MacKay nodded an answer. ‘Were you in South Africa long?’
‘Just a few days,’ he lied, falling easily into his cover story. ‘Business.’ Will I ever know the full truth of it? he thought.
‘I hope you enjoyed your stay and will come back,’ the steward said, moving on.
MacKay settled into the deep leather seat and felt the tension drain away as the turbofan engines came to life and they taxied to the runway. He turned to the window as the big airliner climbed into the late-afternoon sky, passing to the north of Table Mountain. He could see the coast stretching down to the Cape of Good Hope and ahead of them, the clear blue of the South Atlantic. He was going home.
But no matter where he went, Ziba would be with him.
*
Wednesday, May 6
The White House, Washington, D.C.
*
Cyrus Piccard was in an unbelievably good mood when he entered Carroll’s office. ‘Germany!’ He was almost shouting. ‘Can you believe it? They want Beckmann tried by the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague. The neo-Axis advancing the concept of universal jurisdiction! The world never ceases to amaze me.’
Bill Carroll smiled at the old man and looked at Mazie. His voice was going and it was difficult to talk.
‘Germany misread the situation,’ she said. ‘Prime was too much of a temptation and they went after it. That’s why they backed Beckmann. Unfortunately, that also meant backing his dream of an Afrikaner homeland. It was simply a matter of showing them the error of their ways. Now they’re scrambling to mend their political fences.’
‘Who accomplished that miracle?’ Piccard asked.
‘Mazie,’ Carroll said.
It was one of the few times that Cyrus Piccard was at a loss for words. ‘I must know,’ he finally managed, ‘does cold fusion work?’
Mazie shook her head. ‘Not yet. Doctor Slavin claims he can get ignition without an explosion. Unfortunately, he gets an uncontrollable meltdown. He thinks he can solve the problem in ten or twenty years. Our scientists aren’t so sure.’
Mazie is ready, Carroll thought.
His secretary knocked at the door. ‘Your wife is here, Mr Carroll.’ Mary came through the door dressed in warmups. The two Secret Service agents Carroll had run countless miles with were right behind her. But that was over, in his past. The two men were also dressed in warmups and running shoes.
Carroll stared in horror at the wheelchair Wayne Adams and Chuck Stanford were pushing. It was a specially designed sports chair with a headrest. ‘From us,’ Adams said.
‘We’re going for a run,’ Stanford announced.
Mary looked at her husband. ‘Get in the chair, Bill.’ Carroll didn’t move. ‘You only have to do it once,’ she said. Silence. Slowly, the National Security Advisor pulled himself up and sat in the wheelchair. It fit him like a glove and Mary fastened the seat belt.
Without a word, Adams pushed him out the door with Mary and Stanford right behind. They walked briskly out of the White House, never slowing. When they reached Ellipse Road, Adams started to run, pushing Carroll. It wasn’t a sprint, but it was a hard run, well under six minutes a mile. When Adams couldn’t maintain the pace, Mary took over. They never slowed. Then Stanford took over as they raced around the Mall.
Tourists stared in wonder as an agent on a mountain bike cleared a path for them. Carroll lay back in the chair and felt the wind whip at his face.
For a few moments, he was at peace with his world.
*
Wednesday, May 27
Aubagne, France
*
The Legion’s band marched into position before the Monument aux Morts. Muffled drums beat the cadence as four companies of the 2nd Régiment Etranger Parachutiste moved forward to the ready line. General Charles de Royer stood with the commander of the Legion on the reviewing stand, his back ramrod straight and his tan uniform devoid of medals. On a small table in front of him a glass case held a black glove destined for the Legion’s museum.
The ceremony played out with precision as La Légion Etrangère honored its dead. Fourteen names were read off, not by rank but by the order in which they died. That was the Legion. A salute was fired and the 2nd REP passed in review. The band marched off and the ceremony was over. The TV cameras were turned off and the reporters returned to their cars.
Little Matt held on to his father’s hand. ‘I remember him from the United Nations,’ he said. ‘He looks taller outside with that funny hat.’
‘It’s called a kepi, good buddy,’ Pontowski said.
‘Will I be as tall as him when I grow up?’
Pontowski smiled. ‘I don’t think so.’
Elizabeth Gordon joined them. ‘Congratulations on your promotion, General. Sam told me the Senate finally confirmed your nomination.’
‘Thank you,’ he said, not telling her that he was as surprised as Congresswoman Nevers. He had never expected the Secretary of Defense to make good on his promise.
‘I never had a chance to thank you.’
‘There’s nothing to thank me for,’ Pontowski replied.
‘For inviting us to the ceremony,’ she added. ‘I’m glad we came.’
They looked at each other, trying to be polite. ‘I thought your special on the Iron Guard was outstanding,’ Pontowski said. ‘I understand you swept the ratings.’
‘It was Sam’s special, not mine,’ she admitted. Then: ‘Will there ever be peace between us?’
Can anyone keep the peace when there is no peace to begin with? Pontowski wondered. ‘I doubt it,’ he replied.
‘It’s between you and me,’ she said. ‘Not you and Sam.’
Pontowski accepted the truth. ‘There’s someone I’d like you to meet,’ he told his son, taking his hand.
‘She’s by the cars,’ Liz Gordon called as they walked away.
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Acknowledgments
I owe a debt of gratitude to the many people who gave unsparingly of their time, knowledge, and advice to make this book happen. Without the help and encouragement of my wife Sheila and my son Eric, I would have lost my way countless times. Major Jim Preston of the 442nd Fighter Wing (AFRES) was always there when I needed a dose of reality, advice, and help.
Charles D. Poe, a linguistic researcher par excellence, helped with the fine-tuning of terminology, ideas, and pointing out sources that proved invaluable in creating a realistic scenario.
Others contributed significantly; Dr Michael Spieth for his help in understanding Lou Gehrig’s disease, Lauri Mighton-Kain for her insights into TV reporting, Rob Barnes for the help with nuclear attack submarines, Derek Greeff for sharing his experiences as a Parabet in the South African Defense Force, and Lt. Col. Paul Woodford, USAF, for an introduction into the world of Hashing.
Ken and Marcia Fritz helped with their unfailing good humor and support. Marcia’s insights into South Africa, not to mention accounting, came at a critical time. Jimmy Ntintili of Face to Face tours in Johannesburg promised me the ‘good, the bad, and ugly’ of life in Soweto. He also showed me the beautiful.
Lieutenant Commanders Dan Hendricks and Richard Rieckenberg, USN, gave me a quick education in nuclear
energy on board the USS Nimitz and an appreciation of what goes on below the glamour of the flight deck. On the Air Force side, Captains Paul Heye, Jr., and E.T. King II, along with TSgt. Lyle Inscho proved again what a grand old lady the C-130 Hercules is. And in the process they showed me how far forward the 37th ALS, the Blue Tail Flies, was leaning in support of Operation Provide Promise in Bosnia. But that is a story in itself.
Finally, my portrayal of the problems of command only hints at what goes on behind the scenes. Col. James H. Kyle, USAF (Ret.), reveals the reality and agony of command better than any work of fiction in his book The Guts to Try.
Glossary
AA-52: French-made 7.5mm light machine gun, weighs 20 pounds, with 800 rounds per minute cyclic rate of fire. An excellent weapon
ACT: Air Combat Tactics; dogfighting
Adjudant Offisier: A warrant officer
ALS: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Lou Gehrig’s disease. ALS is a motor neuron disease that affects mostly men and causes a degeneration in the nerves controlling the muscles. The cause is unknown and there is no cure
ANC: African National Congress. The oldest political party in South Africa and the first black political movement of its kind in Africa. It cuts across tribal lines and played a major role in the defeat of apartheid
Apartheid: Afrikaans for ‘separateness’ or ‘apartness’. It became the official policy of South Africa in 1948 in order to give whites economic, political, and social control of the country
AWB: Afrikaanse Weerstandsbeweging, a neo-Nazi, white supremacist group that believes in the use of force. Its military arm is the Iron Guard. The AWB considers the Ku Klux Klan a liberal organization
Azanian: The Azanian People’s Organization is a pan-African political movement that believes there is a need for cathartic violence to overcome the brutalization Africans have suffered under apartheid Any aircraft positively identified as hostile
Bandit: Any aircraft positively identified as hostile
BDU: Battle dress uniform. The latest name given to the uniform worn in battle
CAP: Combat air patrol. A protective umbrella of fighters with the specific intention of finding and destroying enemy aircraft
CBU-58: Cluster bomb unit. The CBU-58 contains 650 baseball-sized bomblets, each of which explodes into 260 fragments. Inside each bomblet are two five-grain titanium incendiary pellets. It is a quantum jump over napalm and has the advantage of being a politically correct weapon
COIC: Combined operations intelligence center. It brings command, communications, control, intelligence, and operations together under one roof
DCI: The director of central intelligence. The individual in charge of all U.S. intelligence agencies and functions. Also heads the CIA
Fission: The process where a neutron strikes the nucleus of an atom, splits it into fragments, and releases several neutrons, radiation, and heat
Fusion: The opposite of fission. Two hydrogen nuclei collide, fuse, and create a new nucleus. The result is a form of helium, radiation, and large amounts of heat
GPS: Global positioning system. A satellite-based navigation system that provides extremely accurate positioning of aircraft, ships, and individuals. Current receivers are the size of a hand-held scientific calculator and are getting smaller. Very cosmic and available to the public
IG: Inspector General. A military organization that investigates complaints and conducts inspections
Inkatha: The Zulu-based political party in South Africa. It is the rival of the ANC and located mostly in KwaZulu/Natal province
ISA: Intelligence support agency. One of the ‘boys in the basement’ of the Pentagon. The ISA was formed during the Reagan Administration under the Department of the Army to bypass the restrictions placed on the CIA for covert operations. It was effective and its current status is unknown
Koevoet: Literally ‘crowbar’ in Afrikaans. It was an elite counterterrorist unit operating on the Namibian-Angolan border during the 1980s. Now disbanded
Kommandant: A lieutenant colonel
Kukri: A South African variant of the earlier Sidewinder air-to-air missile
Laager: A defensive circle of wagons used by voortrekkers to fight off hostile tribes. The laager became the symbol of Afrikaner resistance to political change
LZ: Landing Zone
Mark-82 AIR: Air inflatable retarded. A 500-pound bomb that can be employed at low altitudes. Its fall is retarded by the balute, an inflatable balloon/parachute, that deploys behind it and slows the bomb’s descent, allowing the delivery aircraft to escape the bomb’s blast
MAT-49: French-made 9mm submachine gun comparable to others in its class. Empty weight of 7 pounds and fires at 600 rounds per minute
MOPP: Mission operative protection posture. The protective suit and equipment worn to counter chemical warfare. It is very hot and cumbersome
NVG: Night vision goggles
PRC-103: The latest small survival radio used by aircrews. It can be integrated with the LARS (lightweight recovery system) to provide a discrete beacon, coding, and homing. The homing feature is accurate to a few feet
ROE: Rules of Engagement. Normally, a collection of very good ideas designed to keep fighter pilots alive. The ROE gets screwed up when politicians think they’ve got a clue and make inputs
SAR: Search and rescue
Sidewinder: The AIM-9, or air intercept missile. It is infrared-guided and the latest versions are guaranteed to water a bandit’s eyeballs
STU-III: A portable, key-activated, plug-in-any-where telephone that scrambles telephonic conversations
Tomahawk: A 20-foot long sea-or land-launched cruise missile. The latest models have a 1000-mile range and can deliver a 1000-pound warhead with extreme accuracy
Tsotsi: The vicious young black township gang members who lead a life of violent street crime
Twin Gun: A twin-barreled 20mm antiaircraft artillery system manufactured by Rheinmetall of Dusseldorf. It has an excellent fire control system and a 1000 rounds per minute cyclic rate of fire per barrel. The actual rate of fire is limited by the 550-round ammunition box per barrel
VLS: Vertical Launch System. The vertical launch tubes for the Tomahawk cruise missile located in the bow of Los Angeles class attack submarines
Voortrek: The migration of the trekboers (semi-nomadic Dutch cattle herders) in the 1830s to avoid English rule in South Africa. They were called voortrekkers and their fierce spirit of independence and stubbornness has become the symbol of the modern Afrikaner.