The QE2 Is Missing

“Well, the Sergeant with his legs in casts couldn’t have done this!” Josep shouted in wild fury. He grabbed the bag and poked inside it. “Cut open on the bottom. Then sewn up neatly. Beautiful stitches. A woman’s touch….”

“NO!”

Her screamed word was cut off by the blast of gunfire that tore into her, drove her over the gunwale of the boat into the sea and beneath the surface. Josep ran over and fired again at the corpse as it floated back out of sight and was gone. He spun about, gun quivering from side to side like a questioning dog’s nose, screeching now with madness.

“Who has them? One second to speak, then I fire. Diaz, you arranged it with her, a plot. Where are they? You’ll not win this way!”

“I didn’t, I swear!”

His words were drowned out by the burst of automatic fire and he shrank back instinctively. But the bullets were not aimed at him. But at General Stroessner.

The fat little man screamed like a girl, writhing as he rose, staring unbelievedly at the blood bursting from the bullet holes in his body.

“If Josep does not win, no one wins!” the Tupamaro shouted, saliva wet on his lips as he pushed the mortally wounded dictator out of the launch and into the sea. He raised his gun again, but it clicked on an empty chamber when he pulled the trigger.

As he struggled to release the clip and jam in a new one, Uzi stood and stepped forward.

“Search everyone, search this launch,” he said. “If the diamonds are aboard you will find them easily enough. But whether you do or not I have an offer for you. These Nazis are worth money to me. Don’t harm them. Deliver them alive to my people and we will pay you a hundred thousand dollars for Wielgus, fifty thousand for the other one. That is money you can have for your revolution even if you don’t find the diamonds.”

Uzi’s words calmed Josep, the thought of getting hard cash in exchange for the German prisoners certainly raised a new consideration. By reflex his trained fingers found the release and the empty clip clanged to the deck. He replaced it with another, scarcely aware of the action. “You could pay more than that,” he said.

“That will not be necessary,” Wielgus called out loudly, drawing their attention to him. “Those diamonds were in my trust. I have more where they came from. Release me, Josep, and you will have all the money you need. We will start with a million dollars. You would like a million dollars wouldn’t you…?”

“Be quiet!” Uzi ordered, clenching his fists and moving towards the Nazi. Josep waved him back to his seat with the barrel of his gun. Then smiled.

“Now the conversation is taking a more interesting turn. I am sorry, Uzi, but I think I will do business with the Doctor and his associates. With the diamonds gone, he is my only possible source of profit.”

“We had an agreement,” Uzi said. “The Germans are mine.”

“Not any more. The bullets in my gun make sure of that. I like the sound of their money.”

“Do you like the sound of their politics?” Diaz broke in, his voice cold as death. “I thought that we were fighting to get rid of this kind of vermin. Would you free them, align yourself with them?”

“Of course,” Josep said. “Politics make strange bed-mates. Uruguay will be liberated — that is all that matters.”

“But you have the means to do that. The agreements your government signed with these Nazis. That piece of paper will bring about world revulsion — and the revolution you so desperately desire. If you work with these Nazis you compromise everything you say that you stand for.”

“That is enough!” Josep swung up the gun. “We have had enough discussion. I have made my decision. I accept the German’s offer. He will supply the funds we need, the whereabouts of the other diamonds does not matter now. Anyone who as much as utters one word of protest now will taste some bullets. I mean that. Come over here, Doctor Wielgus, so we can free your hands.”

Wielgus stood and smiled at the silent men in the stern of the boat. “So the Jewish interests have lost in the end as they must always do. We will build our power again and the world will one day discover that the power of the Reich is not dead.”

“Well said, Doctor,” Josep agreed. “In addition to your money, perhaps we can use your aid in the new Uruguay…. “

A single shot sounded and Josep stood rigid, the final word Uruguay on his lips. Then, as though in slow motion, the submachine gun fell from his hands and he leaned forward, falling, faster and faster. Slumping dead on the deck of the launch.

Behind him Esteban sat, quietly, the pistol that had fired the shot was still in his hand. No one moved, the Tupamaros as rigid with shock as all the others.