The Project 02 - The Lance

than moderate damage to the fields. If the Jews use nukes they'll aim for the cities, not the oil. Mecca, Tehran, Damascus, perhaps Cairo, perhaps Islamabad. Most of their nuclear arsenal is tactical, but their missiles are capable of long range accuracy. They will simply aid us in ridding the world of more non-Aryans."
    The Grand Master turned to a man on his left.
    "What is the status of our naval operation?"
    The man cleared his throat. "Everything is ready. Elements of the Fifth Fleet will be attacked in the Gulf of Hormuz by what appear to be Iranian gunships. There will be American casualties."
    "And Rice?"
    "Rice will be in Chicago addressing a convention when he receives the news. When he leaves the building, he will be assassinated."
    The speaker nodded at another man sitting at the table.
    "Our new President will engage the Iranians. After the air and missile strikes, the follow up invasion will leave our military overextended. It will take time to bring back the draft and increase war production, but it is so easy to manipulate public opinion. Within two years we will have the armies we need, with weapons and resources our forefathers only dreamed of."
    Dysart spoke. "We have an ongoing problem, minor, but it needs to be handled. The woman, Harker. She knows too much. She needs to be eliminated, along with her unit."
    "Why hasn't it been done?" The Grand Master gave Dysart a cold stare.
    "They've been lucky. They escaped us in Argentina and until today I didn't know where they were. That location has been determined. I intend to take care of it personally."
    "See that you do." The Grand Master looked around the circle. "Are there any other issues we need to address?"
    No one spoke. Almost as one, the men stood. They raised their arms high in the Nazi salute. "Seig, Heil!"
    Hail, Victory!

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

    Elizabeth pulled into the garage at the safe house. She'd made a run with Steph and Selena for supplies while Ronnie kept watch on the security monitors. They began unloading the car. Lamont's mother had needed emergency surgery and he'd gone to the hospital in the Capitol. Nick was meeting with Rice's principal aide at a discreet restaurant in Washington.
    Elizabeth, Selena and Stephanie walked into the kitchen, their arms full of groceries. Ronnie sat with his hands on the table before him. His expression was rigid.
    " Hey, Ronnie, we're back." Stephanie looked at him. "What's wrong?"
    General Dysart stepped into the kitchen from the living room. With him were six men holding Ingram Mac-10s with noise suppressors. Nicknamed "whispering death" in Vietnam, the Macs put out over a thousand 9mm rounds a minute. Obsolete technology. Very, very lethal. Elizabeth froze in place.
    " You've caused me a lot of trouble, Harker." Dysart clenched and unclenched his hands. "Put those sacks down. Slowly."
    They set the bags on the floor.
    "Take your weapons out and lay them on the floor. Put your hands in back of you. One mistake, my men fire. Don't tempt me."
    Elizabeth saw Stephanie think about going for her pistol.
    "Don't, Steph. Do as he says." They laid the guns down on the floor. One of Dysart's men kicked them aside.
    " Get down on your knees, all of you. You, too." Dysart pulled Ronnie's chair out from under him.
    One of the men handed his weapon to Dysart and took plastic ties from his pocket. It took only a minute to truss everyone's hands together behind their backs.
    " You can't get away with this," said Elizabeth.
    Dysart laughed. There was no mirth in it. "Of course I can."
    " How did you find us?"
    " Your computer hacking. Difficult to trace, but here we are. You're not as clever as you thought. You shouldn't go looking at other people's emails." He sat down by the table. "Why don't you tell me what you've learned?"
    " I've learned you're a traitor." Elizabeth said. "But you already know that."
    Dysart stood up, walked over and punched Elizabeth hard in the face. She fell to her side, dazed. Blood poured from her nose. Ronnie made a movement toward Dysart. One of the men hit him in the back of his head with a gun, knocking him to the floor. Dysart turned to Selena and Stephanie where they knelt on the kitchen tiles.
    " You won't make any trouble, will you? No, I didn't think so."
    Dysart smiled at Selena, an unpleasant, frightening smile. "We have something special planned for you."
    He reached down and grabbed Elizabeth's hair, jerked her to her knees. "I enjoyed that." His eyes glittered. "Tie