Live Bait

by David Archer

  The phone went dead. Sam looked at it for a moment, then spoke into the radio Rob had given him earlier. “It’s going down at a nightclub called The Fisherman’s Net. Heinrich has his men all around the place, so everybody be careful. We don’t want to tip them off that you guys are there, so be as careful and discreet as you can.”

  Everyone tried to acknowledge at once, so all Sam got was static, but he knew what they were saying. Outside, several cars started up and roared out of the parking lot. Sam could hear Rob talking over the radio, telling various members of his own team where to station themselves to get a good shot.

  Thank goodness for the age of the Internet, Sam thought. Rob must be looking at satellite pictures of the surrounding buildings. He’s putting snipers up where they can pick off Heinrich’s men without ever being seen themselves.

  A moment later, as Sam was going down the elevator, the radio chatter went silent. As soon as it did, Sam heard Jade’s voice come through.

  “Sam? Summer and I are going into the club. He’s never seen us, so we should look like local traffic.”

  Sam thought for a second. “That’s good, but don’t get too close. Try to put yourselves where you can keep Indie covered, but don’t worry about me. Just be ready when all the fun begins, and maybe we’ll all get out of this.”

  “We’re on it!” Sam heard her say, and then the radio went quiet again. Sam stepped out of the elevator and left the hotel, then got into his own rental car. Ron had arranged something special for Sam, a brand-new Mustang GT that was pushing more than six hundred horsepower. He climbed in and started the car and the exhaust rumbled under his seat.

  Sam punched up the club on GPS and pointed the car toward it. He would be there in less than thirty-five minutes, but Rob and all the others would be in position before he ever got there.

  That wasn’t a problem, because Heinrich’s people were sure to let him in. It was getting out again that was uncertain. By that time, Denny and the rest of the snipers would be somewhere on top of the buildings in the area, ready to cover him and Indie as they made their escape.

  Slightly over half an hour later, he pulled into the parking lot of the club, and three men with obviously and poorly concealed weapons approached his car. Sam had left his weapons in the hotel room, knowing that they would only be taken away if he tried to bring them, anyway. The three men approached him cautiously, but Sam smiled and raised his hands.

  “I’m not going to give you any trouble,” he said. “Heinrich told me to go inside unarmed, and I’m doing exactly what he wants. Go ahead and frisk me, I don’t have any kind of weapons on me at all.”

  One of the men stepped forward and patted him down quickly, checking everywhere a weapon might be concealed. A moment later, he nodded at the others and they stepped aside to allow Sam to enter. He stepped through the door that one of the men held open, and then stopped to let his eyes adjust to the dim light. Music was playing toward the back of the room, but Sam ignored it as he looked around the dark interior. He spotted Summer and Jade, sitting together at a table of their own and apparently giggling about something, but then he saw Indie sitting with Heinrich near the wall to his right. Heinrich, of course, had his back against the same wall.

  A barmaid came over as he took the empty chair. “Hi,” she said. “What can I get you?”

  “Rum and Coke,” Sam said, and the girl nodded.

  “Okay, be right back with it.”

  The barmaid walked away and Sam looked at his wife. “You okay?” he asked.

  “A little shook up,” she said. “I haven’t been hurt badly, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  “I’m glad,” Sam said. He turned his gaze toward Heinrich.

  “So, here we are,” he said. “How do you want to handle this, Heinrich?”

  Heinrich grinned from ear to ear. “Straight to business, eh? I suppose I can understand that, under the circumstances. I, however, would like to enjoy my drink. Can we not wait until after we have finished them?”

  Sam looked at Indie again, and his eyes had adjusted enough that he could see that her face was bruised. He slowly raised a hand and reached out to touch her cheek, watching Heinrich for any sign that he would object. He didn’t, and Indie laid her face against his hand. There were tears on her cheeks, and Sam brushed one away with his thumb.

  “Sam, I’m so sorry,” she whispered, but he shushed her.

  “It’s okay, Indie,” he said. “I’m here now, and I’m going to do my best to get us out of this.”

  “Ah, you are an optimist. I am always amazed by the optimism that people display, even under the worst possible circumstances. I have killed hundreds of people, and they always seem to think that some miracle is going to happen to save them, all the way up to the very last breath.”

  “I’m not really much of an optimist,” Sam said. “I think of myself more like a realist, but I’ve survived enough things already to believe that there’s always a possibility. As long as I’m still living, then the chance to keep on living remains, right? You don’t have to be an optimist to recognize that as a fact.”

  Heinrich continued to smile. “Maybe you’re right,” he said. “Either way, unless something were to change, both of you are going to die here, right here at this table, tonight. Now, perhaps we should discuss what might prevent that from happening. Don’t you agree?”

  “I’m listening,” Sam said. The barmaid returned with Sam’s drink and set it on the table in front of him. Heinrich handed her a twenty dollar bill and told her to keep the change, and she was smiling as she walked away.

  Heinrich raised his glass. “I propose a toast,” he said. “To the future. May we come to some agreement that will allow the two of you to have one.”

  Sam looked at him for a second, then raised his own glass and touched it to Heinrich’s.

  Sam took a sip of his own drank, then set his glass down on the table.

  “So, what is it you have in mind?” Sam asked.

  Heinrich grinned, leaning his elbows on the table. “Isn’t that rather obvious? A man in your position could be a great benefit to someone like me. You have access to information I might want from time to time, and you are obviously good at tracking down people I might wish to find. Of course, I would pay rather generously. I’m sure you know by now that I really did deliver the ten million dollars, yes?”

  Sam nodded. “I also know you lied to me about the suitcase nuke,” he said. “There never was one in the case with the money, and I haven’t heard yet whether any of the others turned out to be real.”

  “Oh, they were. One of my sources tells me that your FBI has taken charge of them. They will undoubtedly be dismantled, in some vain hope of determining who built them for me. Oh well, no matter. They weren’t nearly good enough for what I truly need. Of course, the Sixpack would have served marvelously, but you even managed to keep me from getting away with the two I had. That was very upsetting, Mr. Prichard. I should probably kill you just for that.”

  Sam raised his eyebrows slightly. “You mean you honestly thought you were going to be able to get away with them? Each one of them was heavier than a large truck, how could you really believe there was any hope you were going to be able to smuggle them out of the country?”

  Heinrich gave him a wicked smile. “What makes you think, Mr. Prichard, that I was going to take them out of the United States?”

  Sam could see Indie’s face in his peripheral vision and knew that she was scared, but he kept his eyes on Heinrich. “Are you telling me that you have a target within the U.S.? I thought the PAF was about liberating and enriching the poor African nations. Committing a terrorist attack on American soil would only result in American military forces laying waste to those countries, just to track you down. That strikes me as being pretty stupid, Heinrich.”

  “I’m sure it would look that way to you,” Heinrich said. “On the other hand, you are assuming that we would get the blame. How would it go, however, if something like,
say, the city of Kansas City, Missouri, were to suddenly cease to exist at the hands of ISIS? All that American military might would suddenly be taking care of some of our biggest problems for us.”

  “But how could you blame it on them, when you were the one who stole the bombs?”

  “I would not have to blame them,” Heinrich said. “They would claim responsibility for the attack. I already have people high in their organization who will make those announcements when I tell them to. They get what they perceive as the glory, and I get a nuisance removed. It is a double win.”

  Sam looked at him and wondered if the man might be even more shrewd than he had originally thought. “Okay, I can see the point. Now, let’s get back to this proposition you have for me. You say you can be generous, and I don’t doubt that for a minute. The trouble is, if I start doing work for you on the side, it’s not going to take long for Uncle Sam to figure that out. If I end up in federal prison, I’m not going to be doing you a lot of good.”

  “Oh, come now, Mr. Prichard. Surely you don’t think me so feeble-minded that I would put you at risk, especially if you were of benefit to me? Everything I would ask of you would come to the company you work for, from paying clients. Our private financial arrangement would be strictly between ourselves.”

  “And suppose I say no?” Sam asked. “What happens then?”

  Heinrich turned to Indie, and she tried to sink down into her chair. “Tell me, Mrs. Prichard,” he said. “Is it frightening to know that you could be within moments of your death? Or is it in some way exhilarating, perhaps even liberating?”

  “Don’t let him scare you, Indie,” Sam said without taking his eyes off Heinrich’s face. “He’s trying to use you to distract me, make me look away from him at you. If I do, he’ll make his move to kill one of us then, and I might not be able to stop it in time.”

  “I’m all right,” she said, but he could hear the fear in her voice. “I just want you to kill this arrogant son of a bitch.”

  “I’m certain that’s what he has in mind,” Heinrich said. “The only question, then, my dear, is whether you will be alive to see which of us might survive the encounter.”

  Sam continued to watch Heinrich closely, keeping his eyes focused on the man’s face. If Heinrich decided to make a move, Sam was hoping it would be reflected in his eyes, in an expression on his face. That was the only chance he would have to see it in time to react, but even then it might be too late.

  “Drink up,” Heinrich said. “Good liquor should never be allowed to go to waste.” He picked up his glass and took another drink, then looked at it as he set it down. He seemed to be contemplating what he would say next, but Sam never relaxed his attention.

  TWENTY-FOUR

  “Suppose I were to tell you, Mr. Prichard,” Heinrich said, “that there could be a position of great power in our organization for you. You have a talent for seeing things that others do not, and we could use a man like you.”

  “I'll listen to any job offer,” Sam said, “but I’m not going to make any promises.”

  Heinrich smiled at him. “I can perfectly translate that. What you actually just said was that you would almost certainly never consider working with us, because you abhor what we do. However, you do not have the entire picture. You see, Mr. Prichard, we are not exactly the terrorists you believe us to be. Yes, we resort to quasi-military actions at times, things that you refer to as terrorism, but only when they are absolutely necessary to achieve our end goal. Until you know that end goal, you’re not in a position to judge whether we are justified in using such tactics. Therefore, I'll tell you now what those goals are, so that you can make a proper decision.”

  “The end justifies the means? Sorry, I’ve heard that argument used too many times in court. It never holds up there, so why should it hold up here?”

  Heinrich continued to smile. “During the Second World War, both Germany and Japan set out to rule the world. Each of them wanted to be on top when the dust settled, and yet they found opportunities to work together at times. The rest of the world, particularly the Allies, didn’t want either of them to rule. Therefore, they joined forces and committed some of the greatest atrocities ever perpetrated against human beings in order to achieve the end they desired. The Allies were ultimately successful, so they are now regarded as the heroes of that war. Can you argue that I have not told the truth about this?”

  Sam shrugged. “That’s in every history book,” he said. “I guess it only proves the old adage that history is written by the winners. If the Nazis or the Japanese won the war, those same books would say that the Allies were the evil opposition to a perfect world, and had to be stopped.”

  “How perceptive,” Heinrich said. “You have just struck upon one of the most important truths of human nature, Mr. Prichard. Humanity approves of success. Now, the PAF, in your current estimation, is nothing but a terrorist group trying to force its will upon the world. But what if, and please keep an open mind, what if the PAF were truly part of a popular desire to form an entirely new nation on the continent of Africa? What if a number of economically and technologically disadvantaged countries had looked at your own United States and said, ‘This is what we desire, to be like you,’ and formed the PAF to help them achieve that goal?”

  “Are you serious? That sounds like a pipe dream.”

  “The peoples of Chad, Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, along with a dozen or more of the smaller nations, have for several years been working in secret to form a union like yours. From those eight nations would come thirty-two states, states whose populations would seek to become part of the global community. Those states would model themselves after the states in your own country, basing their laws after your laws, forbidding religious theocracy from oppressing the people and ensuring true and legitimate freedoms for everyone. This is the end goal of the PAF, Mr. Prichard, and a man like you would be most useful as the new nation and its states begin to establish real reform in the enforcement of laws.”

  “Wait a minute,” Sam said. “You say that the people of these countries have been working toward this goal, but this is the first I’ve ever heard about it. If there was that big a conspiracy among so many people, you would think the news would’ve gotten out.”

  “The vast majority of the people of these nations, Mr. Prichard, are not those who occupy the few sparkling, beautiful cities. They are the peasants, the poor people, those who are forgotten when the benefits of statehood trickle down from the top. For years, I, and many others, have traveled among the villages and smaller communities, hearing from the people themselves. For more than half of the populations of these countries, evolution into a global community nation is the only hope they have for survival.”

  “And they think you’re their savior? You are the man who will lead them into these wonderful freedoms?”

  Heinrich shrugged. “I am only a man employed to bring this nation into existence. When the United States of Central Africa is announced next year, when the people of those nations rise up to unseat the corrupt individual governments that rule them so cruelly at this time, I'll be the head of the provisional government committee. For two years, I'll hold veto power over the Congress of the new nation, to help them shape the government and work toward truly free elections. It will be within my power to appoint the top people who will move that government into our modern age, and I can think of no one better for Director of its Justice Department than yourself.”

  Sam stared at him. “You’re off your bird,” he said. “I’m no kind of politician, I can’t stand them. Besides, I thought you wanted to kill me.”

  “My personal desires can be put aside, Mr. Prichard, for the good of the nation I am trying to midwife into existence. If you accept, then I'll need your assistance with certain matters for the next year or so in the position you now hold, but the day will come when you will need to leave
the United States of America and take your position in the government of the U.S.C.A. You would be the senior most law enforcement officer of what will almost certainly be the largest single nation on all the Earth. It will be larger than Russia in land area, with a population nearly double that of China.”

  “But I have to take orders from you? Sorry, that doesn’t sound like freedom, to me.”

  “No one would give you orders, Mr. Prichard,” Heinrich said. “I would have the power to appoint you for a five-year term, after which you would have to stand for re-election. My own appointment as provisional administrator will last only two years, and I am specifically prohibited from ever running for political office in that country afterward. Believe it or not, Mr. Prichard, I and the PAF truly have the best interest of the people of the U.S.C.A. at the forefront of our thoughts.”

  Sam suddenly chuckled. “I can’t believe this,” he said. “I’m sitting here listening to an offer to be the head of a national Department of Justice from a man who has already threatened to kill me and my wife. Doesn’t that strike you as little bit contradictory?”

  “Not really,” Heinrich said. “As a man, there is a rage inside me that wants to make you suffer for what you did to my poor sister’s son. As a political leader, trying to shape the future for more than two billion people, I know that my own desires are worthless compared to their welfare. If you accept, you will have nothing to fear from me. If you do not, then I am free to allow my personal feelings to achieve the vengeance they desire.”

  The man is a total lunatic, Sam thought. Does he honestly expect me to believe that he will surrender all that power once he gets it? Power corrupts—and we all know that absolute power corrupts absolutely.