"Jesus Christ!"
"But you're a sneaky-pete type, so you'll probably be more impressed by night movement. Hang onto yourself, sonny."
A shotgun blast went off into the air halfway between the two men, and one of Tidwell's teammates sat up from where he had been lying prone in the calf-high undergrowth.
"Now then, little man." Tidwell's voice was hard. "Let's not hear any more crap about taking prisoners. I suggest you take your underpaid boy scouts and get the hell out of our jungle before we start playing rough."
Tidwell was in the blackout tent scanning the radio transcripts when Clancy burst through the double-flap entrance.
"Worked like a charm. They didn't stop until they got back to their camp. If they didn't wet their pants when that shotgun went off, it's only 'cause they haven't had anything to drink for twenty-four hours."
"Speaking of drinks, help yourself."
"Thanks," beamed Clancy, pouring himself a dollop of Irish. "What a crazy way to fight a war. I wonder who came up with this idea?"
"'The object of war is not to destroy the enemy, but rather to destroy his will to resist.' Von Clausewitz, On War. The idea goes way back, Clancy. We're just carrying it out to the nth degree. Have you seen the latest?"
"What? The bit about our robot planes dropping sacks of flour on the steps of the White House?"
"No, the release about the high-altitude reconnaissance planes."
"What's the gist of it?"
"Basically the corporations sent a memo to the governments and the press citing the exact times high-altitude reconnaissance planes had flown over the zone in the last week. They pointed out that we were tracking them easily while our own troops were protected from the infrared snoop by jamming screens, and would they kindly refrain from sending them out or we would be forced to start downing them to eliminate the nuisance."
"Can we do it?"
"I don't think our force has anything that could, but that doesn't mean someone on the corporate team doesn't have a gimmick. Remember last month when the governments called a corporate bluff and we blew up one of their destroyers offshore?"
"Yeah. You know, that kind of gets me down, though-all the gimmick warfare. It takes the personal touch out of things."
"How about the 'gunsight' photos? You can't get much more personal than that. I bet a lot of governmental big mouths changed their tune when they saw themselves in the cross hairs."
"Tell me honestly, Steve-do you think we're going to win?"
"I don't see how it can go any other way. There's no way they can catch us short of saturation bombing or nukes, and public opinion is too much against them. Hell, they're having a hard time with the pressures folks are putting on over this united effort. A third of the governments have already had to pull their troops. It's only a matter of time before the rest of them have to bail out."
"What then?"
"What do you mean?"
"Just that. Okay, the governments pull their troops out, effectively admitting they don't have the military power to police the corporations. What then?"
22
The crowds of curiosity seekers threatened to choke off the street and probably would have if not physically restrained by the lines of armed government troops holding them at bay in the shadow of the poshest hotel in Rio de Janeiro. Even so, a sizeable crowd gathered around the limousines as they drew to a halt at the curb and had to be cleared back by the bodyguards who emerged from the autos first.
This smaller mob were members of the press who passed unhindered through the lines of troops with a wave of a media card. The troops were under strict orders not to affront the press, who had been adding volume to the already thunderous chorus of public protest against the governments' actions. Even the papers who had earlier supported the governments were now scathingly critical of the armed forces' ineffectiveness and inability to deal with the corporations. The governments did not need any more bad press.
Three men emerged from the limousines and headed for the door of the hotel. At their appearance, the reporters surged forward again and the men stopped, apparently consenting to giving a brief statement.
Several stories up, in a window of the hotel across the street from the activity, a machine was tracking the movements of the three men. Deeper in the room, well out of sight of the window, a small group of uniformed technicians were feverishly processing the data being collected by the combination closed-circuit television-shotgun mike. Their work was being closely supervised by a nervous officer.
"Are you sure, Corporal?"
"Positive, sir. Identification is confirmed on all three targets. A/V tapes and voice prints all match."
The officer squinted at the three figures in the monitor screen.
"Becker for Communications, Wilson for Oil, and Yamada for the Zaibatsu. They actually took the bait." He nudged the corporal.
"Look at them, soldier. Those three fat cats are responsible for the drubbing we've been taking for the last six months. They don't look like much, do they?"
"Some of the men are saying it doesn't take much, sir," replied the corporal flatly, not looking at the screen.
"Is that a fact? Well now it's our turn. Get Command on the phone and tell them the three little pigs are in the briar patch."
"Can I speak to you a moment, Captain?"
"Certainly, Lieutenant, but it'll have to be quick."
The lieutenant stepped into his CO's office and stood before the desk, fidgeting slightly.
"Well, sir, I think we've got a morale problem on our hands."
"We've had a morale problem for months, Larry. Why should today be any different?"
"It's the executions, sir. There's a lot of bad talk going around the men."
"Were they informed the men executed were infiltrators? Spies for the corporations who've been selling us all out for months?"
"Yes, sir. But...well...it's the suddenness of it all. This morning they had breakfast with those guys. Then all of a sudden...well, a lot of the men think they should have gotten a trial is all."
"Lieutenant, it's been explained-the corporation men have communication devices like we've never seen. They could have had something built into their boots or woven in their uniforms. If we took the time to observe formalities, they could have gotten word out. We couldn't take that chance."
"Well, the men think that without a trial it could have been any one of them. Now they've got the feeling that at any moment they could be pulled out of line and shot without any chance to defend themselves against the charges."
"Damn it, Larry, we know those men were spies. We ran everybody through the computers. Their finances, their families' finances-everybody got checked. You, me, everybody. Those men were on the corporations' payroll, either directly or through a front. We haven't been able to move without those guys tipping the enemy. I don't like it either, but that's the way we had to do it."
"Okay, Captain, I'll try to tell them..."
"Wait a minute, Lieutenant Booth. There's more. I just got the call from HQ. Alert the men to be ready to move out in fifteen minutes. We're mounting an offensive."
"An off...but sir, what about the cease-fire?"