The double doors opened at the entrance to the conference room and Mandala entered. His Chinese giant closed the doors behind them.
“Good morning, madam,” Mandala said, his bright smile glistening.
“Is that how you greeted Van Dam, Kresovlosky, and Werenmauser?” Audra St. Clair snapped.
Mandala feigned shock. “Old woman, I’m surprised at you. I have come here to strike an honest bargain and you accost me. That’s hardly befitting someone of your manners.”
“I do not bargain with murderers.”
“But, old woman, I am the only one you have left to bargain with. All the others are dead or soon will be. I require the names of all those the Committee controls.”
“You expect me to simply hand them over? What, may I ask, do you offer in return?” She had to keep him talking. Her finger stayed poised near the button.
Mandala moved forward with Shang shadowing him until he stood directly opposite Audra St. Clair at the other end of the long table. “Your life, old woman.”
“At my age, I’m afraid you’ll have to do better than that. I would have thought some token would have been more fitting. Allowing me to keep my chair of the Committee, for instance.”
“You would never have believed such a promise, so I didn’t bother to make it. I will spare your life, though, because you’ll be in no position to harm me. I’ve cut you off, old woman. All your major contacts have been eliminated. Your time is done.”
“You ask for much but offer little in return.”
“Didn’t I mention the life of your daughter?”
Audra St. Clair felt the blood rush to her cheeks. Her lips trembled.
“Come now, old woman,” Mandala said, “did you really think you could keep it a secret from me? In any case, her life is in your hands now. She rescued Locke from my people in England. Sooner or later she will bring him here. I only have to wait with you as my hostage.” His eyes swung back toward the Chinese giant. “Shang has a way of making things most painful for people. I’m sure you don’t want to subject your daughter to that.”
St. Clair felt the anger swelling within her. Blood bubbled within her ears. “We might be able to come to some arrangement,” she said with forced calm. “But why is all this necessary? Why has all the killing been done?”
“To catch you totally unaware, I could say, old woman, but that would be only a portion of the truth.” Mandala leaned forward over the huge table. “This operation has never been yours, it has been mine from the beginning. I have changed it to my liking.”
“Changed it how?”
“I must compliment you, old woman, on the basic brilliance of this undertaking. Where dozens of countries and other organizations had failed, you succeeded in developing a means to neutralize America. I couldn’t agree more with the necessity of that. But then you would have set yourself up in that country’s place, utilizing genetic crops grown on the South American acres you’ve purchased. Also brilliant, but lacking because you would only be replacing one order with another.”
“But our order would be motivated toward our own ends. The South American harvests we would profit greatly from would allow us to build the Committee’s position in governments everywhere, developing our people into ultimate leaders — planting the seeds, if you will, to reap a far greater harvest in the future.”
“It is still order, old woman,” Mandala said. “And order is what I stand against. The balance of the world needs to be overturned, not just its leadership. We need a global revolution to utterly change the face of civilization. Tantalus provided the means.”
Audra St. Clair began to understand, and the shock so numbed her that she was unaware that her finger had slipped from the button which would release the gas.
“Food is truly the ultimate weapon,” Mandala continued. “With their stomachs empty, people everywhere will revolt. Economic and political systems will collapse. No one will be able to keep the order you so desperately want for yourself. We will be looking at a world of utter chaos with room for only a few gifted men to unite the masses.”
“But how—”
“Isn’t it obvious, old woman? Tantalus will not just be released in the United States and Canada. We will unleash it across South and Central America as well. And when the panic begins to peak in that hemisphere, we will turn our attention across the Atlantic and then to Asia.”
“My God,” St. Clair managed, suddenly short of breath. “Millions of people will die of starvation.”
“Billions probably, old woman. A new world will emerge. Lines of nation and culture will no longer exist. People will turn to whoever can feed them.”
“But all the land, you’re going to destroy it all.” She found the button again and resolved to use it without grabbing her gas mask. She had to be sure Mandala would be dead, even if that meant she would follow him. She could take no chances now.
“Not all of it, old woman, just enough. And, you forget, all the genetically advanced seeds destined for South America are now in my hands to use as I see fit.”
“Why do you need the list of the Committee’s rank and file then?”
Mandala moved out from behind the table and walked down its left side, eyes gazing out the window. He stopped halfway up and looked back at St. Clair.
“Because, old woman, any man able to plan for the coming famine would be in a tremendous position of advantage. A chain of individuals with a similar awareness stretched across the globe would assure total control. People will flock to men with the answers … and the food.”
“You want control of the entire world,” St. Clair muttered.
“Just as you did, old woman.” Mandala moved closer, smiling wildly. “Aspirations to anything less would be foolish. But it would not be a world bearing any resemblance to the one we know now or even what you and your Committee envisioned. It would be the kind of world I was born to live in … and rule over. A world totally without order.”
“Except yours,” St. Clair shot at him. If she used the gas now, they would both die, it being inconceivable she could reach her mask and have it in place before the gas found her. But it didn’t matter. Mandala had to die and so did Tantalus. For all the operation’s brilliance, she had allowed it to be subverted. The Committee would go on, though. There would be someone to pick up the pieces.
Mandala ignored her with a faint smile. “My time grows short, old woman. My operation in South America will begin twenty-four hours after the American one begins on Sunday afternoon. I have much traveling to do, so please hand over the list. Call it up on one of your computer consoles.”
“Go to hell,” St. Clair spat out, and pressed the button, steeling herself against her own certain death. Mercifully, it would come fast.
Mandala started laughing. In the back of the room, Shang too broke into a smile.
Audra St. Clair hit the button again but by then she knew it was pointless. No gas would be escaping.
“Come now, old woman,” Mandala teased, “did you think me a fool? I know all of your little tricks. I disarmed the gas canister mechanism before entering the room.”
St. Clair leaned back, trying to look defeated. She still had an ace up her sleeve. Her eyes strayed toward a set of double doors just inside the entrance to the conference room. Any second now …
“It is over, old woman. With the life of your daughter at stake, I ask you one last time to hand over that list.”