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.”“Right, boss.”The two reporters and whatever the hell Paula Preston was were scared and could not hide it.Alex Marsh was sweating and trembling, Marilyn Dickson was bug-eyed with fear, and Paula kept blinking her eyes and wiping the palms of her hands on a moist handkerchief.“Interesting game you three were playing,” Ben opened the dance.“Fortunately for me, very unfortunate for you it didn’t work out as planned.”“Whatever in the world do you mean, General?” Marilyn managed to squeak.“Yes.What are you accusing of us?” Alex asked, his voice breaking.“Oh … consorting with the enemy and espionage will do for starters, don’t you think?”“You can’t prove any of those charges!” Marilyn blurted.Ben smiled.“Not, ‘what are you talking about?’ Not, ‘I didn’t do anything.’ Just, ‘you can’t prove it.’ That just about says it all, doesn’t it?”“The Union must be restored!” Alex finally found his balls and shouted the words.“Even to the point of getting in bed with some low-life scum such as Bruno Bottger?”“You talk about someone being low-life scum?” Mar-279ilyn said.“You are one of the vilest men to walk the face of the earth.You … you … filthy beast!”Ben chuckled.That phrase reminded him of one of his favorite Cary Grant movies, but he couldn’t recall the name of it.“Very convenient of all you press types to get away just before the assault.How’d you manage that?”The three of them stood silent before him.They said nothing.“Let me guess,” Ben said.“Paula here had a radio.Set on a scrambled dark frequency straight to Bruno.It’s possible it’s just a receiver.He alerted you when the attack was to take place and you simply walked out of camp and got clear.Maybe he even had vehicles waiting for you.I don’t know.But you sure as hell didn’t hoof it from the attack site to Jega.”The three said nothing.“I don’t know how many others are in on this with you, maybe none of them.Maybe all of them.But nevertheless, they’re all homeward bound as I can arrange it.I can’t risk spies wandering around our camps.”“You have no proof to back up any of these accusations,” Marilyn said, her words dripping with hatred.“Oh, but I do,” Ben corrected.“My intel people back home have now directly linked you and Marsh here to the takeovers outside the SUSA and the recent overthrow of the government.Paula here works for the intelligence section of the state department.Always has.She’s the only real pro in the bunch.The rest of you are just whiny left-wing liberals-of the worst type: the pukey kind.”“May we sit down, General Raines?” Paula asked.“Certainly.I’ll even have coffee or water brought in for you, if you like.”“That would be very nice.Thank you.Coffee for me.”280“And for me,” Marilyn said.“Give me liberty or give me death!” Alex suddenly shouted.“Oh, sit down and be quiet, you silly twit,” Ben told him.“If you were interested in true liberty you wouldn’t be a fucking liberal looking for big government to solve all your problems.At least know something about history and politics before you start flapping that foolish mouth.”“Bring him a glass of water,” Paula said.“Coffee makes him very nervous.”“Goodness, we certainly can’t have that,” Ben muttered.With Paula and Marilyn sipping their coffee and Alex gulping at his water, some of it running down his chin-or what passed for a chin-Paula said, “I can’t speak for the others.I’m not qualified to do so.I can only speak for myself.”“Go ahead,” Ben said.The entire conversation was being recorded by a technician in the next tent, which butted up against Ben’s CP.“Bruno swore to us that he would never commit genocide.He said it was all sorts of diseases that were responsible for the deaths of so many people here in Africa.”“You’ve met him?”“Yes.Many times since his arrival in Africa.”Ben cut his eyes to the reporters.“You two met him?”“No,” Marilyn said.“Only his emissaries.”“And you all believed him?”“Yes,” Paula said.“Up to a few weeks ago.”“What changed your mind?”“Survivors of the germ attack.Something is wrong with the … germs, or gas, or whatever it is he uses.Something is out of balance.I don’t know.I’m no scientist.But it drives people mad.Many of them have281281survived and are hiding in the bush, some in the cities.Thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands.It … distorts their features.Makes them bug-eyed.Their lips are enlarged, tongues are slightly swollen, faces all puffy.Great open sores all over them.They’re … hideous [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]