Omega

The Crusaders were not interested in legal niceties; they were out in force in search of Lughnasadh coven meetings and were unconcerned whether or not these exceeded the permitted number of six. How many curtained windows, up and down the country, which might conceal candlelight the Crusaders smashed that night, not even they bothered to count; and if quite a few of the curtains merely hid i

The figure of twenty-eight was low in relation to the number known to have been treated in hospital as a result of Lughnasadh incidents; this was eighty-five, of whom nineteen had been admitted; the condition of four of them was serious. The contrast was due to the fact that almost all the casualties occurred in Crusader attacks on Sabbats before the police arrived – if they arrived. In general, police and Crusaders had not pounced on the same targets; or (so the witches believed) on finding the others already there, had turned back. Another reason for the few arrests for violence was that only a small minority of witches resisted the police, so it was simpler – and publicly more effective -to arrest them for defying the Order in Council.

'Nobody actually dead,' Sir Walter Je

'I understand Ben Stoddart has pointed out the danger to his people,' Harley said. 'Their discipline is remarkable considering the recruitment explosion the Crusade has undergone in the past five weeks. We must thank Stoddart's charisma for that – he sees to it that all the, er, storm-troopers have met him personally at least once, and his local leaders are hand-picked. Barring accidents, they will not go so far as to kill anyone.'

'For the present.'

'I am talking of the present, naturally.'

Je

To your first question – yes, of course other occultists are involved; but most of them are either more academic than the witches or more private. I can assure you that my – that is, the Intelligence arm is keeping a close watch on them. Remember, the Order relates to "religious", meetings. It's up to us to decide whether a fraternity is "religious" -the Home Secretary has that power. If we need to move against one of them, he has merely to define it as religious in an instruction to the police and it becomes subject to the Order in Council. But at this stage, I would remind you, we are concerned with creating an identifiable scapegoat, with a single, simple label. And that label is "the witches".’

'Fair enough. And my second question – the Crusaders?'

'So far, yes, eighty or ninety per cent of the actual aggression against the witches has been by the Crusaders, or at least under their on-the-spot leadership. But more and more the public are, so to speak, cheering them from the sidelines. And the amount of non-violent pressure on the witches – ostracism, deprival of business, redundancy dismissals and so on – that is gathering momentum.'

'There's still one aspect that needs strengthening,' Je

'That is obviously our aim.'

'But are we achieving it? The witches are being set up as Public Enemy No 1 – with some success, I'll grant you. But what about the associative link "witches/earthquake"? How's that coming along?'

. 'I'm glad you asked,' Harley replied with a touch of smugness. 'When you leave here, take a look at your evening paper. And this evening, at the television news commentaries.'

Je

'I have arranged for an accidental lapse of security. One of Professor Arklow's daily seismological reports has been leaked to the press.'

'For Christ's sake! Not the real one?'

'The real one.'

'But, Harley, what the hell… There aren't two hundred people in Britain who know what we're really sitting on – perhaps a thousand more who could make an educated guess. Let the public know what's building up before we're safely into Beehive Red, and you're asking for panic and worse!'

'I said one of Arklow's reports. To know what's building up, one has to study them in sequence. A single day's report is frightening enough, but it could represent a peak in activity – perhaps the worst day since Midsummer. We shall see to it that it is so interpreted on the media, by well-briefed experts. Tonight, the Government will refuse to comment on the leak. Tomorrow, it will reluctantly admit that the report was genuine. What will not be revealed is that it is typical of the whole period since Midsummer – merely a single point on a steadily rising graph.' Harley smiled. 'The leaked report is the one for the twenty-four hours ending 0600 hours this morning. In other words, for the period during which thousands of witches, legally or illegally, were celebrating the Lughnasadh Sabbat. And to underline the message, tomorrow's papers will carry extensive coverage of the charges against the 137 who were arrested for celebrating it illegally. Most of the sentences, too – over half of them have been in front of magistrates' courts today. With the point made that hundreds more must have broken the law and not been caught – not to mention the thousands who just kept within it, with the legal maximum gathering of six. Do you begin to get the picture?'

Je

'And a subliminal injection of uncase for the rest… Are you happier now about your association link?'

Tonia Lynd looked up from the morning papers spread on her desk and said: 'Gene, there's something phoney about this whole business.' ‘You mean the leak?'

'Yes. I can smell a deliberate "leak" when it's under my nose and so can you. And this one's tou damn convenient.'

'Oh, God, Tonia – are you on to that witch-hunt thing again?… Look, if by sheer coincidence a bad night on the seismographs happens to coincide with the broomstick jamboree, it's a bonus for the Government's propaganda. Do you blame them for cashing in?'

'Short answer – yes, but let's not go into that. I just don't believe it's coincidence… Gene, what do you and I know about these seismo reports?'