Vortex

Then he remembered a car burning fiercely in the night the car that had been driven by Sam Knowles. And there was an entire government, murdered by a ruthless power-grabber. That same man had started a war and tortured thousands of people. Sam’s death was tragic, but certainly not the largest of Vorster’s crimes.

Somehow that put things back into focus. He’d already stepped across the line. Hell, he’d been shoved across it by the dawning realization of just what Karl Vorster had done to seize and maintain power. Thousands, maybe even tens of thousands, of innocent people had already died to satisfy that man’s ambition and private hatreds. And a nation struggling to shake off its unsavory past had been pulled back into a nightmare of state-mandated racism and tyranny.

Ian shook his head. Other journalists might be able simply to grit their teeth and carry on just “observing” events in this troubled country. He no longer could. What happened to South Africa and its divided peoples mattered to him now.

Ian gathered Emily into his arms and held her tightly for a moment before whispering, “Okay, I’m in. ” He’d help her distribute the documents that could ignite a bloody civil war.

He’d go back to being a dispassionate observer when Karl Vorster and his cronies were where they belonged-dead or behind bars.

OCTOBER 28-BBC WORLD SERVICE

The recorded chimes of Big Ben faded, replaced by the smooth, honeyed tones of the BBC’s leading radio announcer.

“Good evening. Here is the news.

“American television news broadcasts claiming that South Africa’s security services had advance warning of the plot to assassinate President Frederick

Haymans and other members of his cabinet continue to send shock waves around the world. Although the reports, which first aired yesterday, are as yet unconfirmed, they have prompted emergency meetings at a very senior level in London, the other European capitals, and in Washington.

“Relations between the world’s democracies and South Africa are already under tremendous strain owing to Pretoria’s invasion of Namibia and its brutal re imposition of total apartheid at home. Confirmation that the nation’s current president, Karl Vorster, knew beforehand of the ANC’s plans to attack his predecessor and did nothing to thwart them would surely call into question the very legitimacy of South Africa’s existing government.

“Official pokes men in Pretoria have so far maintained a tight-lipped silence, refusing all comment on what they label ‘communist-inspired propaganda.”

“

The announcer’s voice shifted down a notch. “in other news from Africa,

Cuba’s President Fidel Castro announced the dispatch of an additional motorized infantry division to Namibia. Castro made the announcement in the midst of a three-hour speech to Cuba’s Communist Party Youth Congress, claiming that the additional soldiers would enable his forces there to crush South Africa’s invasion army in a ‘final battle of liberation.”

“Western military sources confirm that Cuba’s expeditionary force does appear to be preparing for a renewed offensive against South African troops holding positions along the southern edge of the Auas

Mountains-barely forty kilometers from the Namibian capital of Windhoek. .”

CHAPTER

Tailspin

OCTOBER 31CNN HEADLINE NEWS

Four days after it first aired, the furor generated by Ian Sheffield’s story showed no sign of fading away. Events in south em Africa continued to dominate newspaper front pages and TV nightly newscasts. CNN’s half-hourly news recap was no exception.

As the computer-generated graphics signaling the start of the broadcast disappeared, the screen split, its upper right hand corner showing a stylized map of South Africa, while the rest showed CNN’s glittering, hightech

Atlanta studio and the familiar, grave face of its daytime anchor.

“In the news at the top of the hour, the German government has just announced that its ambassador to South Africa is being recalled ‘for consultation s’-bringing to eight the number of major powers that have withdrawn their senior diplomatic representatives from Pretoria. Several more European nations, including France and the Netherlands, have actually broken all ties with the Vorster government and are closing their embassies completely.

“Western governments may hope this latest round of diplomatic saber Tattling will encourage their citizens living and working inside South

Africa to leave before the situation grows any more violent. If that’s the case, it may already be too late.”

The map of South Africa expanded to fill the entire screen.

“Despite a total foreign-press blackout, there are persistent reports of rioting in

Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Durban, and several other cities. An accurate casualty count seems impossible to obtain, but key members of the country’s fragmented political opposition claim that hundreds have been killed by police and security units in just the past three or four days.”

Red stars sprouted on the map, highlighting each mentioned location.