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alive again. He dreaded the end of the caper when his friend K would drive him
back to Ptolemai's. He would then walk the last mile and a half to his secret
place and settle into his awful routine.
The plan was for K to pick up the boy and him in the country at the north edge
of town. They would stay on the outskirts, getting Marcel close enough to the
co-op to where he could walk there and get his meager bag of belongings.
Georgiana Stavros would wait for them on the southern end of town, off the
road that led to the airport. Cameron Williams and Marcel had told him she was
a tall brunette, fair-skinned for a Greek, and pretty. Laslos liked to imagine
that she looked like his wife when first he met her more than forty years
before.
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Chang noticed that Carpathia's plane sounded as if it was descending when
Suhail Akbar returned to talk with the potentate. "Ah, Director," Nicolae
began, "we are planning something very special for Petra when Ben-Judah is
confirmed present, no?"
"Sir, we need to talk."
"Answer my question, Suhail."
"Yes, of course, but I have bad news."
"I do not want bad news! Everybody was healthy! We had plenty of equipment for
the Petra offensive. You were going to ignore the city-waiting to destroy it
when Micah and Ben-Judah were both there-and overtake those not yet inside.
What could be bad news? What do we hear from them?"
"Nothing. Our-"
"Nonsense! They were to report as soon as they had overtaken the insurgents.
The world was to marvel at our complete success without firing a shot, no
casualties for us versus total destruction of those who oppose me. What
happened?"
"We're not sure yet."
"You must have had two hundred commanding officers alone!"
"More than that."
"And not a word from one of them?"
"Our stratospheric photo planes show our forces advancing to within feet of
overrunning approximately five hundred thousand outside Petra."
"A cloud of dust and the enemy, in essence, plowed under."
"That was the plan, Excellency."
"And what? The old men in robes and long beards fought back with hidden
daggers?"
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"Our planes waited until the dust cloud settled and now find no evidence of
our troops."
Carpathia laughed.
"I wish I were teasing you, Potentate. High-altitude photographs ten minutes
after the offensive show the same crowd outside Petra, and yet-"
"None of our troops, yes, you said that. And our armaments? One of the largest
conglomerations of fire-power ever assembled, you told me, split into three
divisions. Invincible, you said."
"Disappeared."
"Can those photographs be transmitted here?"
"They're waiting in your office, sir. But people I trust verify what we're
going to see ... or not see, I should say."
Carpathia's voice sounded constricted, as if he'd rather explode than speak.
"I want the potentate of each of the world regions on his way to New Babylon
within the hour. Any who are not en route sixty minutes from now will be
replaced. See to that immediately, and when you determine when the one from
the farthest distance will arrive, set a meeting for the senior cabinet and me
with the ten of them for an hour later. And these Jews," he said slowly, "we
expect them all to be in Petra as soon as they can be transported there?"
"Actually, they will not all fit. We expect Petra itself to be full and the
rest to camp nearby."
"What is required to level Petra and the surrounding area?"
"Two planes, two crews, two annihilation devices. We could launch a subsequent
missile to ensure thorough devastation, though that might be overkill."
"Ah, Suhail. You will one day come to realize that there is no such thing as
overkill. Let the
Jews and the Judah-ites think they have had their little victory. And keep the
failed operation quiet. We never launched it. Our missing troops and vehicles
and armaments never existed."
"And what of the questions from their families?"
"The questions should go to the families. We demand to know where these
soldiers are and what they have done with our equipment."
"Tens of thousands AWOL? That's what we will contend?"
"No, Suhail. Rather, I suggest you go on international television and tell the
GCNN audience that the greatest military effort ever carried out was met by
half a million unarmed Jews who made it disappear! Perhaps you could use a
flip chart! Now you see us; now you do not!"
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