Vixen 03

She felt her stomach tingle as her nostrils detected his strong male scent, and she took his face in her hands. "I suppose I jumped from Hiram's bed into yours merely to prove that if he didn't need me, I could just as easily do without him."

"A perfectly human reaction"

She kissed him on the chin. "Forgive me, Frederick. In a sense, Hiram and I both used you: he to gain your goodwill for congressional support, and I in an adolescent game to make him jealous."

He smiled. "This is one time in my life that I can honestly say I'm happy I was taken advantage of."

She took him by the hand and led him into the bedroom and expertly undressed him. "This time," she said 3 her voice low, "I'm going to show you the real Felicia Collins."

It was well past eight o'clock when they finally released each other. She was far stronger than Daggat had believed possible.

There was no plumbing the depths of her passion. He lay in bed for several minutes, listening to her humming in the shower. Then he wearily rose and pulled on a short kimono, sat down at a desk littered with imp ortant-lo o king documents, and began sorting through them.

Felicia padded from the bathroom and slipped on a belted wrap dress in a red and white zebra print. She approved of what she saw reflected in the full-length mirror. Her figure was slim and solid; the vitality that flowed through her lithe muscles overshadowed the soreness that was there from the vigorous exertions of early evening. Thirtytwo years old and still damned provocative, she decided. There were still a few good years left before she could allow her agent to accept matronly roles for her, unless, of course, a producer offered a blockbuster script and a hefty percentage of the net.

"Do you think he can win?" Daggat asked, interrupting her reverie.

"I beg your pardon."

"I asked you if Lusana can defeat the South African Defence Forces."

"I'm hardly one to offer a valid prediction on the outcome of the revolution," Felicia said. "My part in the AAR was simply that of a fund raiser."

He gri

"A fringe benefit," she said, and laughed.

"You haven't answered the question."

She shook her head. "Even with an army 0 one million men, Hiram could never hope to defeat the whites in a knockdown, drag-out conflict. The French and the Americans lost in Vietnam for the same reason the majority government fell in Rhodesia: guerrillas fighting under the cover of heavy jungle have all the advantages. Unfortunately for the black cause, eighty percent of South Africa is arid, open country, better suited for armored and air warfare."

"Then, what's his angle?"

"Hiram is counting on worldwide popular support and economic sanctions to strangle the white ruling class into submission."

Daggat rested his chin on his huge hands. "Is he a communist?"

Felicia tilted her head back and laughed. "Hell, Hiram made his fortune as a capitalist. He's too ingrained with making money to embrace the Reds."

"Then how do you explain his Vietnamese advisers and the free supplies from China?"

"The old P. T. Barnum sucker routine. The Vietnamese are so revolution happy they'd air-freight guerrilla-warfare specialists into the Florida swamps if someone sent them an invitation. As for Chinese generosity, after getting booted out of eight different African nations in as many years. they'll kiss anybody's ass to keep a toehold on the continent "

"He could be miring himself in quicksand without realizing it."

"You underestimate Hiram," said Felicia. "He'll send the Asians packing the minute they've outlived their usefulness to the AAR."

"Easier said than done."

"He knows what he's doing. Take my word for it. Hiram Lusana will be sitting in the Prime Minister's office in Cape Town nine months from now."

"He has a schedule?" Daggat asked incredulously.

"To the day."

Slowly Daggat picked up the papers on the desk and shuffled them neatly into a stack.

"Pack your things."

Felicia's neatly plucked brows raised. "We're leaving Nairobi?"

"We're flying to Washington."

She was taken aback by his sudden air of authority. "Why should I return stateside with you?"

"You have nothing better to do. Besides, arriving home on the arm of a respected congressman after shacking for a year with a known radical revolutionary might go a long way in restoring your image in the eyes of your fans."

Outwardly Felicia pouted. But Daggat's logic made sense. Her record sales had fallen off and calls from producers had taken a noticeable downward turn. It was time, she quickly deduced, to put her career back on its track.

"I'll be ready in half an hour," she said.

Daggat nodded and smiled. An edge of excitement began to form inside him. If, as Felicia indicated, Lusana was the odds-on favorite to become South Africa's first black leader, Daggat, by championing a wi

24

Lusana brought his hand up to eye level and then snapped the rod forward with a deft wrist action. The small wad of cheese clung to the hook, plopped daintily into the river, and then sank out of sight. The fish were there. Lusana's instincts began to vibrate in anticipation. He stood thigh deep amid the shadows of the trees leaning over the bank and slowly reeled in the line.

On his eighth cast he had a strike, a hard, splashing strike that nearly tore the rod from his relaxed grip. He had hooked a tiger fish, an Old World relative of the ferocious piranha of the South American Amazon. He gave the fish its head and eased out more line. He had little choice; the rod was nearly bent double. Then, abruptly, before the battle had a chance to warm up, the tiger fish circled a sunken tree stump, broke the line, and escaped.

'I did not think it possible that anyone could entice a tiger fish with a bit of cheese," said Colonel Jumana. He was sitting on the ground, his back resting against a tree. He held the envelope containing the brief outline of Operation Wild Rose in his hand.

"The bait is irrelevant if the prey is hungry," said Lusana. He waded back to shore and began tying a new leader to his line.

Jumana rolled on his side and sca

Lusana turned to resume his casting. "What do you make of it?" he asked.

Jumana stared at the envelope and twisted his face in a skeptical expression.

"A rip-off. A two-million-dollar rip-off."

"You don't buy it, then?"

"No, sir. Frankly. I do not." jumana rose to his feet and brushed off his combat uniform. "I think this Emma has fed Major Machita cheap bits and pieces as a buildup for the big score." He shook his head. "This report tells us nothing. It only indicates that the whites are going to launch a major terrorist strike somewhere in the world with a group of blacks posing as AAR followers.