Hostaged Vatican Read online

  On more than one occasion, Encizo was recruited by the CIA in Central America, although he distrusted the Company after the Bay of Pigs fiasco. He was more willing to assist the Drug Enforcement Agency in its war against cocaine smuggling. But Encizo refused to join either government agency.

  Phoenix Force was different. It was an opportunity to strike at the enemies of freedom throughout the world without being shackled by a group of meaningless bureaucrats who might sell you out if it seemed politically advantageous to do so.

  A physical fitness buff, Encizo appeared at least ten years younger than his true age. Only a few strands of gray in his jet-black hair hinted that he might be over forty. Women found him very attractive and charming, although he was careful never to get too involved with any one lady. Love, he had learned, was often the gateway to hell.

  "We're all glad to have you back, Rafael," Brognola stated. Every man in the room knew the Fed meant what he said. Brognola had immediately flown to Europe to personally make certain Encizo had received the best medical care possible. The Stony Man boss had made several other trips to check on the Cuban's progress after the operation. Hal Brognola was more than just the guy who gave them orders and cut through the red tape on each mission. He had dedicated his life to Stony Man and all that it stood for, and he would back his people to the bitter end.

  "Good to be back," Encizo replied. "I'm only sorry I missed some missions while I was having my head put back together. But I understand Karl Hahn proved to be a pretty good substitute. Now, tell us what our new assignment is, Hal. I'm eager to get back in the field."

  "Would it concern the incident at the Vatican?" Yakov Katzenelenbogen inquired as he took a pack of Camel cigarettes from his shirt pocket.

  The soft-spoken, middle-aged Israeli with the gentle blue eyes and slightly paunchy middle did not look like a commando. Katz was also an amputee; he had lost his right arm on a battlefield of the Six Day War.

  Katz held the Camels in his left hand and tapped the pack against the steel hooks of the prosthesis attached to the stump of his right arm. A cigarette slid from the pack. Katz deftly caught it between the hooks and raised the cigarette to his lips. He reached in another pocket for his battered old Ronson lighter.

  "You've heard about the Vatican already?" Brognola inquired, his eyebrows raised slightly.

  Katzenelenbogen had his own sources of information that included certain connections even Stony Man did not have access to. The Israeli's background in intelligence and espionage had begun when he was a teenager fighting the Nazis in Europe. Hitler's minions had wiped out most of young Yakov's family. The youth had joined the resistance movement in France and had been later recruited by the American OSS to infiltrate enemy lines. His ability to speak four languages fluently had made this incredibly easy.

  After the war, Katz had moved to Palestine and had fought for the independence of the Jewish State of Israel. More wars had followed. Katz had joined Mossad, Israel's primary intelligence network. When the governments of the West had begun to lose ground to the Soviet spy machine during the cold war, Mossad had agreed to loan out Katz. Colonel Katzenelenbogen had worked with the American CIA, the British SIS, the West German BND and the French Sûreté. He was probably the most experienced and most professional intel operative in the free world.

  Katz had been the perfect choice to serve as unit commander of Phoenix Force. He was a superb fighting man, a master strategist and a highly skilled linguist.

  "We heard a news bulletin on the radio," Katz said with a smile, well aware of what Brognola was thinking. "Honest."

  "That's the truth, Hal," Gary Manning assured Brognola.

  The muscular Canadian was a quiet man. Manning was a doer, not a talker. He tackled every task with bulldog determination. Manning was a perfectionist and a workaholic. The Canadian was also one of the best explosives and demolitions experts in the world. He had used these skills for construction companies, mining operations and in the most ruthless forms of combat.

  He had been a "special observer" during the Vietnam war. Manning had been attached to the American Fifth Special Forces and had participated in numerous missions behind enemy lines. He had always been an excellent rifle marksman and hunter in the Canadian woods, and he had found practical application for these abilities in the jungles of Southeast Asia. Manning had survived his baptism of fire in Nam and had emerged as a first-class fighting man.

  The Royal Canadian Mounted Police had become concerned about the rise of terrorism in the early seventies, especially with the Front de Liberation du Quebec, the FLQ. When Manning had returned from Vietnam, the RCMP had recruited him to help form a new Canadian antiterrorist unit. To be certain that Manning was fully trained for the task, he had been "loaned" to West Germany's newly formed GSG-9. Manning had worked with the elite unit in the Federal Republic of Germany and had received firsthand experience in combating urban terrorism during the height of Baader-Meinhof and Second June Movement activities.

  Manning's skills and experience had made him an ideal choice for Phoenix Force. His fierce dedication and phenomenal endurance were superbly balanced by his disciplined and orderly mind. The Canadian was a professional's professional.

  "So the media has already gotten hold of the story," Brognola sighed. "Well, the situation at the Vatican is red-hot, and there's no way to keep a lid on it."

  The Fed believed in the freedom of the press, but newshounds presented serious problems for any Stony Man operation. Whether carrying out covert infiltration or a bold and ruthless raid, the commandos' job would be jeopardized by the presence of reporters and TV cameras.

  "All we heard was that gunshots had been reported at the Vatican and the place had been closed off to the public," David McCarter commented with a shrug. "Didn't have any other details, but the reporter speculated that it might involve terrorists."

  McCarter was a tall fox-faced Briton, a product of the tough East End of London. He was a veteran of the famous Special Air Service and had participated in SAS operations in Oman, Northern Ireland and England. McCarter had been among the SAS commandos at the stunning raid on the Iranian embassy in London in 1980. Like Manning, McCarter had been an "observer" in Vietnam. He had even participated in a covert "police action" in Hong Kong.

  The British warrior was an ace pilot, qualified to fly just about anything from a glider to a commercial airliner. He was experienced in every form of urban, jungle and mountain warfare. McCarter was an Olympic-level pistol shooter and an expert in small arms. He had been made for Phoenix Force and had eagerly accepted the opportunity to join the greatest fighting unit ever assembled.

  "Terrorists is right," Brognola confirmed. "Fact is, a large pack of well-organized, well-armed professional assholes have seized control of the Vatican. Apparently they've got the place sealed up tight as a drum."

  "The Vatican?" Calvin James whistled softly. "Now that's what I call ambitious."

  James was the most recent recruit to the ranks of Phoenix Force. A tall athletic black man, James was the only native-born American, although both Encizo and Katz were now naturalized U.S. citizens. He had been born and raised on Chicago's south side, where survival training begins in the cradle. He had learned about a different kind of jungle combat when he had joined the navy and become a member of the SEALs. James was trained for sea, air and land combat, and he had received plenty of firsthand experience in all three in Vietnam.

  After Nam, James had returned to the States and had moved to California to pursue his studies in medicine and chemistry. He had been a medic in the navy and had planned to use the GI bill to finance his education at UCLA. But tragedy had altered the young man's path. His mother and sister had both become victims of the growing American crime wave, fatalities of a brutal world that seemed determined to become steadily worse.

  James had decided the only way to fight this deadly tide was to join the forces opposed to it. He had become a cop in San Francisco and had eventually joined the Special Weapon
s and Tactics team. His skills and personality had been better suited for SWAT than standard police operations, yet the job had failed to satisfy his need to strike out at the savages who threatened to turn civilization into a pile of smoldering rubble.

  Then Phoenix Force had recruited him to help take on the deadly terrorist network known as the Black Alchemists. Keio Ohara, one of the original five members of Phoenix Force, was killed in action during the mission. James had remained with the elite fighting unit ever since. He had finally found a home.

  "The terrorists are very ambitious," Brognola agreed. "The Vatican is a sovereign nation. It's the smallest country on the face of the earth — less than 110 acres — but a separate nation, nonetheless. I'd say that if a gang of terrorists take over an entire country it's pretty serious. Not just to the Vatican or to Catholics, but to the entire civilized world."

  "The terrorists will regard this as a major victory," Katz said with a solemn nod. "If they get away with it."

  "That's why we have to make sure they don't," Brognola declared, taking a thick black cigar from his shirt pocket. "If they succeed, it'll be a green light to every group of fanatics and crackpot extremists to try for bigger and better targets."

  "What have you got so far?" Manning inquired.

  "Not much," the Fed answered. He gathered up a computer printout sheet and consulted it as he licked down his cigar. "Apparently the terrorists were disguised as tourists. They entered through St. Peter's Square and through various Vatican museums. They smuggled in plenty of guns and probably explosives. There's a pretty good chance that they've had somebody inside the Vatican working for them for some time. They sure seem to know the layout, and they didn't have much trouble taking out the Swiss Guards and the security police."

  "Don't tell me you think a bishop or a cardinal helped a bunch of terrorists take over the Vatican," McCarter commented. "Why would he do it? Unless he hoped to be made head chaplain of the revolution?"

  "The insider probably wasn't a clergyman," Brognola explained. "A lot of people are employed by the Vatican. Carpenters, plumbers, cooks, cleaning personnel, shop-workers and every other profession you'd expect to find in a small city. Maybe even a few more. The Vatican has its own radio station, prints its own newspaper and has its own postal service and telephone company."

  "The Swiss Guards have a pretty good reputation," Encizo commented. "They've been protecting the Vatican for centuries, and nothing like this ever happened before."

  "Maybe that's why it succeeded," Manning suggested. "If a security force guards something for a long time and it never seems to be the target of any genuine threat, the guards are going to take their job lightly."

  "Well," Brognola began, "in the past terrorist incidents at or near the Vatican have always been aimed at the pope. After the attempted assassination on his Holiness, the Vatican beefed up the pope's personal security. Apparently, while the pope was away on tour, everybody figured the Vatican was safe. They were wrong."

  "Obviously," Katz commented as he tapped the ash from the end of his cigarette. "Have the terrorists made any demands or identified themselves yet?"

  "No group has taken credit for the... what do we call this?" the Fed wondered aloud. "Nation-napping? Anyway, the terrorists seem to be an assortment of Arab and European fanatics. A large number of so-called Lebanese Christians made a pilgrimage to the Vatican. The group was expected, so nobody was too suspicious. Of course the real Lebanese Christians never left their country. The impostors are probably Shiite Muslims of the Islamic Jihad school of terrorism."

  "They've graduated from hijacking planes and attacking embassies to the terrorist version of a coup d'etat," Gary Manning mused as he poured himself a cup of black coffee.

  "I hope the President doesn't want us to contact Amal and ask them to help negotiate terms," McCarter said with disgust.

  "Yeah," James agreed, his voice containing a trace of bitterness. "A bunch of Shiite creeps skyjack a 747, beat up the hostages, take the plane to Beirut and murder an American seaman. Then they hand the hostages over to Amal, which tries to use them to pressure the U.S. to convince Israel to release some Shiite prisoners. Then Amal expects us to thank them for the 'moderate' treatment of the hostages."

  "The President realizes you guys aren't diplomats or negotiators," Brognola assured the men of Phoenix Force. "If you go into the Vatican, it'll be to handle business in your usual style."

  "If we go in?" Encizo frowned. "You mean we might have to sit on our hands while a bunch of bureaucrats play word games with these bastards. How many people will be killed in the meantime? How many have been killed so far?"

  "We don't have a definite body count," Brognola answered. "But it doesn't matter if it's one or one thousand. There will still be attempts to create a line of communication with the terrorists and negotiations will be discussed. That's standard procedure in a hostage situation, Rafael. You know that as well as I do."

  "It can be useful to establish communications with the kidnappers," Manning added. "One can learn who one is dealing with, get some idea how rational the enemy is and how great the threat to the hostages might be. Often it allows you to get a better idea of how many terrorists you're up against."

  "It can also help stall for time while you're planning strategy," Katz declared.

  "Yeah," Encizo said with a sigh. "It can work that way, but all too often terrorists have gotten away with murder because governments yap back and forth instead of taking action. Teheran, Beirut, London, it happens again and again. Politicians say the outrage of terrorism can't be tolerated, but they've usually been better at rhetoric than action."

  "Sometimes a raid isn't practical," Katz reminded the Cuban warrior. "It can put the lives of hostages at an unnecessary risk. The Achille Lauro incident is a good example of when it's best to let terrorists think they've won. When the hijackers flew from the Italian cruise ship, F-14 fighters cut them off at the pass."

  "There really isn't much we can do about the negotiations between governments in this matter," Brognola stated.

  "The hostages are a combination of tourists, clergy and Vatican employees. The tourists are Americans, British, Japanese, German, French and Italian. The clergy and Vatican workers are either Italian or they have Vatican citizenship."

  "Vatican citizenship?" McCarter raised his eyebrows with surprise. "Seems a bit strange to me. What sort of government does the Vatican have?"

  "They call it an ecclesiastical state," Encizo replied. "Actually, the Vatican has officially been an independent nation since 1929, but people don't think of the Vatican in those terms. Actually, it's a monarchical state with the pope as top authority. There's no separation of church and state at the Vatican."

  "Then the decision on what action will be taken will be up to the pope, since he isn't among the hostages," Manning commented. "Hal, you mentioned that there are some European terrorists involved. Any idea what group? Italian Red Brigade? German Red Army Faction?"

  "We don't have enough details to be sure," the Fed answered. "But several of the European terrorists were disguised as shepherds. According to some of the wounded who have been already released, the shepherds aren't Italians. There's a pretty good chance they're Basques."

  "The Basque separatist movement has a number of militant Marxist cells," Katz commented. "The movement used to have a good reputation when it was devoted to fighting fascism, but some factions have become steadily more violent since Franco died."

  "Aren't the Basques basically concerned with getting an independent homeland in the Pyrenees, somewhere between France and Spain?" Calvin James inquired.

  "The Spanish granted them limited autonomy four or five years ago in that region," Encizo recalled. "But a lot of Basque fanatics have become involved in international terrorism in Spain, France and other parts of Western Europe. They've been known to cooperate with the Baader-Meinhof Gang, the IRA and the Italian Red Brigade and its French counterpart. And by the way, don't underestimate the shephe
rd's staffs they're supposedly carrying. They aren't just props. Those staffs were traditionally used as weapons to protect their flocks from wolves and bandits. The sticks can be lethal in the hands of a Basque who knows how to use one."

  "We never underestimate the other side," Katz remarked as he crushed out his cigarette in an onyx ashtray. "Shiite Moslems and Basque Marxists make strange bedfellows. Of course, some odd combinations have occurred in the past."

  "One thing I can't stand is a dull opponent," McCarter said cheerfully. "Ought to be an interesting mission."

  "If you feel that way, David, you're going to love this," Brognola began as he opened a file folder and leafed through a number of black-and-white photographs. "These photos are computer reproductions transmitted by an NSA team stationed in Rome. Most of the Vatican is surrounded by walls. Naturally the terrorists have sentries posted along the top and at each of the entrances. Take a look at them. Photo number four is particularly interesting."

  "Although the Vatican is a separate nation, it's still located in Rome," Katz began, passing the photos to James. There would be time to examine them later, and the Israeli was more interested in getting further information from Brognola at the moment. "Does that mean we'll be working with the Italian authorities?"

  "Yes," the Fed confirmed. "They'll be expecting you. A military flight will be arranged so you'll be able to transport weapons and equipment without having to go through customs. The Italians will handle things for your arrival."

  "Holy shit!" Calvin James exclaimed as he stared at the fourth photograph. "Is this for real?"

  "What is it?" McCarter asked eagerly, hurrying to James's side to see what had caused his colleague's reaction.

  A white circle had been drawn around a figure in the right-hand corner of the photo. The gray spiderlike shape clung to the wall of a building. It blended into the dark marble, but it was obvious that a hood and mask covered most of the thing's face. A sword with a black hilt was sheathed in a gray scabbard strapped to its back. "Bloody hell," McCarter whispered, "it's a ninja."