a triple suite at the Kenigshof Hotel, one with a VCR that has duplicating equipment."
"Jawohl, mein Herr!" said the colonel, smiling appreciatively in the erratic darkness of the moonlight.
"You sound like a real commander, chlopak."
"But how?" cried Karin de Vries suddenly, her pained face appealing to the rushing night clouds in the sky.
"How could one man become such another?"
"We'll find out," said Drew, holding her.
The words, alternately muted and roared in German, took on a strange cadence of their own, an erratic flow of sound, both numbing and electrifying, a mixture of sermon and threat. The images on the screen were equally hypnotic despite the constant movement of the small camcorder that could not be held steady, or the frequent intrusions of a drape that kept blocking the lens. The blond priest spoke to an all-male audience of thirty-six men, a number, by the looks of their clothes, non-German, but each was expensively dressed, some less formal than others, yachting outfits and Dior jogging gear juxtaposed with business suits. They sat in mostly rapt attention, a few eyes straying in conceivable embarrassment when the fiery priest's harangue became too violent, yet all rose as one during the frequent Sieg Heils. And the intense priest with the bright blond hair and piercing eyes was, indeed, mesmerizing.
Before placing the tape in the VCR, Lieutenant Anthony had stood in front of the unit in the large suite at the K6nigshof Hotel and made an announcement.
"The camera has a zoom lens and a high-impedance microphone, so you'll hear everything, and I tried to get close ups of everyone in the place for identification purposes.
Since Mr. Latham doesn't speak German, Chris and I ordered up an English typewriter and did our best to translate what this Gunter JAger said-the text isn't word perfect, but it's clear enough."
"That was very thoughtful of you, Gerry," said Drew, sitting between Witkowski and Karin.
"It was more than that. It was very damned important," interrupted Captain Dietz, kneeling in front of the television set and inserting the tape.
"I'm still shook up," he added enigmatically.
"Okay, it's magic time." The screen was suddenly filled with sound and images, or, perhaps, sound and fury, as the poet wrote.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Latham followed the English text.
"My friends, my soldiers, you true heroes Qf the Fourth Reich!"
began the man who called himself Gunter Jdger.
"I bring you magnificent news! A tidal wave of destruction is about to descend on the capitals of our enemies. Zero hour has been determined, and it is now precisely fifty-three hours away. Everything we have worked for,
strived for, sacrificed for, has come to fruition. The end is not yet in sight, but the end of the beginning is upon us! It will be the omega, the final solution, of an international paralysis! As you who have come here tonight from across the borders and the seas are well aware, our enemies are in a state of chaos, so many accusing so many others of being part of our great cause. They curse us on the surface, but millions silently applaud us, for they want what we can provide! Rid the halls of power of the conniving Jews, who want everything for themselves and the loathsome Israel, deport the screeching inferior blacks, squash the Socialists who would tax us into productive oblivion and use our taxes to promulgate the unproductive-in a word, restructure! The world must take a lesson from the Romans before they grew indolent and let the blood of slaves infect their veins. We must be strong and completely intolerant of inferiority! One kills a deformed dog, why not the product of inferior parents? .. . Now to our tidal wave -most of you know its name, some of you do not. Its code name is Water Lightning, and that's precisely what it is. As lightning strikes and kills, so will be the water struck by it. In fifty-three hours the water reserves of London, Paris, and Washington will be polluted with such extraordinary toxicity that hundreds of thousands will die. The governments will be paralyzed, for it will take days, perhaps weeks, before the toxins are analyzed, and weeks after that before countermeasures are in place. By that time-"
"I've heard enough!" said Latham.
"Shut the goddamned thing off and make immediate duplicates. I don't know how you do it, but wire that tape to London, Paris, and Washington! Also, fax this transcript to the number I give you. I'll get on the phone to everyone I can think of. Christ, all