The Second Circle, the inner ruling council of the SA, is reported to have a more intellectualized racist vision that doesn’t insist on a belief in Jesus’ Aryan heritage. Jesus, for the Second Circle, is simply an arbitrary symbol chosen to represent genetic purity. The DNA molecule itself, twisted into a circle, is the Lord’s halo…
Politically, the SA’s private credo was, simply and bluntly: fascism.
And we are not talking fascist here as a left-wing dilettante calls a war-hawk “a fascist,” as an insulting term, a mere pejorative. We are talking about definitive fascism. Predinger and Crandall were both, privately, admirers of classic fascist and racist demagogues, including Mussolini and Hitler himself. They were anti-Semitic and anti-black…
“Anti-black?” Hard-Eyes interrupted. “You said they recruited partly from third-world countries.”
Dreamily, almost offhandedly, Smoke said, “Actually, they deceived certain black African military dictatorships into providing money and other forms of support. But they kept them in the dark about the real SA political goals. And they didn’t recruit soldiers from black countries.”
Jenkins looked at Smoke in amazement, hearing Smoke’s pedantic side emerge. A scholar hidden in rags and grime.
“The third-world recruits—” Steinfeld began. Then he broke off, listening. Looking at the ceiling.
They all heard it. The rumble and drone of a jumpjet nearby. The Armies—searching for the NR, maybe…
Smoke felt a thrill of fear and thought, I’m scared of dying. How long has it been since I felt that way? What’s happening to me?
The sound of the jumpjet, the rumble, the drone… died away.
Steinfeld looked at his hands. He took a deep breath, and went on. “The third world recruits were obtained mostly from right-wing dictators in Central and South America. And then certain factions of Indians, anti-Semitic Pakistanis, Eastern Europeans—there are a good many Nazi Serbs around… But the real core of the SA, its initiate administration, were American right-wing extremists—including sympathizers in the CIA—British, Dutch, and a great many Afrikaners. There are thousands of them… They’re a separate division of the Alliance, elite troops. The division has a German name which translates as ‘Men Chosen to Die First.’ The SA’s administration is uniformly white. Bravado, you see. Fanaticism. White South Africans from the elite are in charge of the lesser divisions. And the lesser divisions are made up of Spaniards, Italians, Guatemalans, anti-Communist Cuban nationalists…”
“Perhaps this is the wedge,” Yukio said. Said it succinctly and at just the right moment, a fine and definitive brushstroke. So like him, Smoke thought.
Voortoven nodded and said, “We have men within the—”
Steinfeld cut him off with a glare—Hard-Eyes and Jenkins weren’t yet trusted.
Hard-Eyes and Jenkins glanced at one another.
Suddenly everyone in the room knew that if Steinfeld decided he could not trust Hard-Eyes and Jenkins, he would have them killed. And this would not have been the case before Voortoven had said, in that particular context, We have men within…
Men in place, moles in the Second Alliance, who hope to drive a wedge between the “colored” divisions and their white administrators. It wasn’t necessary to say it aloud now.
Steinfeld looked at Hard-Eyes a touch apologetically.
Smoke could see Hard-Eyes’ knuckles whitening on the big rifle.
Jenkins had picked up on the tension. He watched Hard-Eyes for a cue.
Voortoven and Willow and Yukio looked to Steinfeld.
Smoke prepared to throw himself aside. His preparation showed only in his reaching, almost languidly, to lay a hand on the crow, so it wouldn’t fly away if he had to throw himself down when the shooting started.
Steinfeld opted to go on as if nothing had happened. Continuing the lecture was a way to reassure them. A way to say, Wait and see.
“Predinger is said to have died recently, though there are conflicting rumors about that. At any rate, Crandall and his sister have been elevated to supreme command of the SA—”
“His sister?” Hard-Eyes’ surprise drew tension out of the air. There was soft laughter from Voortoven and Willow.
“His sister,” Smoke confirmed. “Ellen Mae Crandall. Apparently she’s been a driving organizational force. She did all the dickering when he was first syndicated.”
Steinfeld nodded. “They come from a strict Southern Baptist family. Crandall’s the spiritual leader of the SA, but for the most part he no longer makes public appearances as a minister—outside the SA. Crandall is the SA’s Commander in Chief, though his main military strategist is a man named Watson. A former colonel who worked for the neo-racist underground trying to undermine post-Mandela South Africa… The SAISC had its first field-military testing in rural parts of South Africa. They didn’t prove out, there, but they learned from it. They’ve proven themselves militarily putting down insurrections in Pakistan, Ethiopia, Guatemala…”
Hard-Eyes showed a touch of impatience, interrupting, “And NATO plans to turn most of Western Europe over to these people? This… this cover organization for neo-Nazis? Just like that?”
“They’re calling the SA a ‘non-Allied security force.’ They’re maintaining that—and some of them believe it—they’re simply hiring a large international security corporation to keep the peace until full political order is restored. They’re desperate for order… which is roughly why the National Socialists were able to come to power in Germany in the 1930s. People were desperate for stability. Hitler promised everyone economic growth. He promised an end to the political chaos of the Weimar Republic. He promised to reunite Germany.”
“Oh, you can’t really believe it’s… like that.”
“Not entirely. It’s a little cleverer than that. The men in European and American government—especially the Americans and the British—who support ‘the SA arrangement,’ are part of the new crop of anti-Semites and racists. It’s been a growing resurgence for decades. Apologists for fascism like the French New Right, the British National Front. In America, the Council of Conservative Citizens and the US Labor Party… the Unification Church… others. The SA has been using its media contacts—bought with Predinger’s money—for eight years to create an impression of a Jewish conspiracy on which to blame the world’s misfortunes… And they blame domestic crime on immigrants…”
Hard-Eyes nodded slowly. “I saw some of that on American TV… None of it real obvious stuff, but… almost subliminal sometimes.”
Willow said, “Bloody SA’s ‘police force’ is in Italy, Germany, Britain, Belgium, Spain. France soon enough. And ’ere, mate. ’Ere.”
“And you think,” Hard-Eyes said, looking at Steinfeld closely, “that they and the NATO people who put them in place are setting up some kind of coup?”
Steinfeld nodded. “A military coup for the whole of Western Europe.”
There was silence, except for the creak of bodies shifting on chairs. Then, Jenkins asked, “Just how closely in Hitler’s footsteps you think these people are gonna follow?”