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.”

96 VIXEN 03p>

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 tp 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 winning cause on Capitol Hill, could assure himself of immense congressional stature and voter respect. It was worth the gamble. And if he was careful, and chose his words and programs cleverly, he might … just might… stand a shot at the vice-presidency, the major stepping-stone to his ultimate goal.

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.