THE LAZARUS VENDETTA

THE LAZARUS VENDETTA 

Lazarus' Private Office

The man called Lazarus sat calmly behind a solid teak desk in his private office. The room was quiet, cool, and dimly lit.

Much of the desk was taken up with a large computer-driven display. With the gentle flick of a finger on his keyboard, Lazarus switched rapidly between views relayed from cameras across the globe. One, apparently mounted aboard an aircraft, showed the winding trace of a river unrolling two or three thousand feet below. Villages, roads, bridges, and tracts of forest came into view and then slid off-camera. Another camera showed a dingy street crowded with stripped and vandalized automobiles. The street was lined with drab concrete-block buildings. Their windows and doors were heavily barricaded with steel bars.

Below the images on his display, three digital readouts showed the local time, the time in Paris, and the time along the eastern seaboard of the United States.

A secure satellite phone system sat next to the computer. Two blinking green lights indicated pending connections to two of his special action teams.

Lazarus smiled, reveling in the exquisite sensation of watching a complex, intricately crafted plan unfolding with absolutely perfect timing. 

With one command, he had set in motion the last of his needed field experiments - the tests so necessary to refine his chosen instruments of the planet's salvation. With another, he would begin the series of actions intended to throw the CIA, the FBI, and the British Secret Intelligence Service into self-destructive chaos.

Soon, he thought coldly, very soon. As the sun rose higher today, a horrified world would start to see its worst fears about the United States confirmed. Alliances would shatter. Old wounds would reopen. Long-held rivalries would burst again into open conflict. And by the time the full magnitude of what was really happening became clear, it would be impossible for anyone to stop him.

His internal phone chimed once. Lazarus tapped the speaker button. "Yes?"

"Our drones are within fifty kilometers of the target," reported the voice of his senior technician. "Both are operating within the expected norms."

"Very good. Continue as planned," Lazarus ordered. He tapped the button, cutting the circuit.

Another gentle flick of his finger completed the satellite connection to one of his action teams.

"The Paris operation is under way," he told the man waiting patiently on the other end. "Be ready to carry out your instructions on my next signal."

(p. 241-242)

*

Early November 

The White House 

Castilla [U.S. President Samuel Adams Castilla] felt himself beginning to relax for the first time in weeks. America and the whole world had had an incredibly narrow escape. He sighed and saw Fred Klein looking at him.

"It's over, Sam," the other man told him quietly.

Castilla nodded. "I know." He raised his glass. "To Colonel Smith and the others."

"To them all," Klein echoed, raising his own glass.

(p. 406)

- Robert Ludlum and Patrick Larkin: THE LAZARUS VENDETTA (A Covert-One Novel, Series created by Robert Ludlum, Written by Patrick Larkin), Orion Books, Orion House, 5 Upper St Martin's Lane, London WC2H 9EA, Copyright © Myn Pun LLC 2004, ISBN 0 75286 556 0, An Orion paperback, 409 pages.

Robert Ludlum is a terrific thriller writer who uses vivid language in his top notch grand thrillers.

Kishalay Sinha [G] October 26, 2020 IST