Shadow of the giant

body is
laughable. Only little countries like Benelux or Denmark or Slovenia are eager
to join. It's like communes—people with nothing are always willing to share.
Even though Europe now speaks a version of English as its native tongue (except
a few diehard enclaves) we are as far from unity as ever.
     
    Which is not to say that under the right pressure, at the
right time, each proud nation of Europe might not trade sovereignty for safety.
     
     
    Tom
     
     
    It would have to be Fortress Rwanda, of course. The
Switzerland of Africa, they called it sometimes—but it only maintained its
independence and neutrality because meter for meter, it was probably the most
fortified nation on Earth.
    They could never have fought their way into Rwandan airspace.
But a chatty phone call from Peter to Felix Starman, the prime minister, won
them a safe passage for two Hegemony jet choppers and twenty soldiers—along
with uploads of detailed maps of the medical center where Volescu was
operating.
    Under another name, of course. For Rwanda had been one of
the places where Achilles maintained safe houses and spy cells. What Volescu
could not have known was that Peter's computer experts had been able to enter
Achilles's clandestine computer network through Suriyawong's computer, and cell
by cell, Achilles's organization had either been coopted, subverted, or
destroyed.
    Volescu was depending on a Rwandan cell that had been
reported to the Rwandan government. Felix Starman had chosen to continue to
operate the cell through intermediaries, so the members of the cell did not
realize that they were actually working for the Rwandan government.
    So it was no small thing for Starman—who insisted that his
self-chosen name should be translated, so that everyone was aware of the rather
odd image he wished to convey—to give up this asset. While Bean and Petra took
Volescu, the Rwandan police would be arresting all the other members of
Achilles's organization. They even promised that Hegemony experts could monitor
the Rwandan deconstruction of the Achillean computers.
    The beat-beat-beat of chopper blades was as good as a police
siren when it came to announcing their approach, so they set down a kilometer
away from the medical center. Four soldiers on each chopper were equipped with
slimline motorcycles, and they took off to secure all the vehicle exit points.
The rest advanced through the yards and parking lots of houses, apartment
buildings, and small businesses.
    Since the entire population of Rwanda was trained as
soldiers, they knew enough to stay indoors as they watched the dark-green-clad
soldiers of the Hegemony jog cross-lots, from cover to cover. They might try to
telephone the government to find out what was happening, but cellphones were
getting a "we're making your service better, please have patience"
message and landlines were hearing that "all circuits are busy."
    Petra was pregnant enough now that she didn't jog along with
the troops. And Bean was so distinctively large that he, too, remained in the
choppers with the pilots. But Bean had trained these men and had no doubt of
their ability. Besides, Suriyawong, still trying to rehabilitate himself even
though Bean had assured him that he had his full trust, was eager to show that
he could fulfill the mission perfectly without Bean's direct supervision.
    So it was only fifteen minutes before Suriyawong texted them
"fa," which either meant fait accompli or the fourth note of the
musical scale, depending on what mood Bean was in. This time when he saw the
message he sang it out, and the choppers rose into the air.
    They came down in the parking lot of the medical complex. As
befitted a rich country like Rwanda, it was state of the art; but the
architecture was designed to make the place feel homelike to its patients. So
it looked for all the world like a village, with every room that did not need a
controlled environment open to whatever breezes blew.
    Volescu was being held in the climate-controlled lab where
he was arrested. He nodded gravely to Bean and Petra when they came inside.
"How nice to see you again," he said.
    "Was anything you told us true?" asked Petra. Her
voice was calm, but she wasn't going to pretend that pleasantries were in
order.
    Volescu gave a little smile and shrug. "Doing what the
boy wanted seemed to be a good idea at the time. He promised me ... this."
    "A place to conduct illegal research?" asked Bean.
    "Oddly enough," said Volescu, "in our