Peacekeepers (1988) Read Online Free PDF Page A

say to you that unless you have the greatness of soul to see a higher loyalty, a loyalty to planet Earth, to the human race in its greatness and entirety, this civilization will soon perish. And there will be none to follow. None! The human race will die."
    The three men glanced uneasily at one another.
    "A small war has utterly destroyed four of the ancient cities of the Middle East. Seventeen million men, women, and children perished in less than a week. What will the next war bring?"
    Zachary, his voice trembling slightly, said, "Nobody wants another war."
    "Then support the Peacekeepers who will make wars impossible."
    "But how do we know it'll work?" General Madison asked.
    "You must make it work."
    The general shook his head.
    "I understand. There are many, many unknowns. We are striking out into uncharted territory. There is much to fear." Then Red Eagle added, "Including the fact that the pressure to drastically reduce the defense budget will become enormous."
    For once in his life, Foxworth let his self-control slip. He threw his head back and guflfawed.
    General Madison made a sour face, let out a pained sigh and loosened the tie of his blue uniform.
I should point out several things at this
    point. (Two uses of the same word too close
    together, I know. Necessary, though.)
    First, these events led—rather indirectly,
    I admit—to the cataclysm at Valledupar.
    Second, we in IPF intelligence were getting
    faint but constant hints that a cabal was
    being formed among some of the line
    officers. Our warnings to the political
    appointee who headed the Force went
    unheeded, alas. Third, the nations of the
    world had not the slightest intention of
    giving up war as a means to achieve their
    goals. Not the slightest.

OTTAWA,"
Year 2

    SHE was a tiny figure, skating alone in the darkness. Dow's Lake was firmly frozen this late in December.
    Earlier in the evening the ice had been covered with skaters in their holiday finery, the pavilion crammed with couples dancing to the heavy beat of rock music.
    But this close to midnight, Kelly skated alone, bundled against the cold with a thickly quilted jacket that made her look almost like one of those ragamuffin toy dolls the stores were selling that year.
    The wind keened through the empty night. The only light on the ice came from the nearly full Moon grinning lopsidedly at Kelly as she spun and spiraled in time to the music in her head.
    Swan Lake was playing in her stereo earplugs, the same music she had skated to when she failed to make the Olympic team. The music's dark passion, its sense of foreboding, fitted Kelly's mood exactly. She skated alone, without audience, without judges. Without anyone. Her mother had died six months ago, leaving her alone except for a father who had not even bothered to give her his name.
    I don't care, she told herself. It's better alone. I don't need any of them.
    She was just starting a double axel when the beep from the communicator interrupted the music, startling her so badly that she faltered and went sprawling on her backside.
    Sitting spraddle-legged on the ice, Kelly thumbed the communicator at her belt and heard:
    "Angel Star, this is Robbie. We've got a crisis. All hands to their stations. Reply at once."
    Kelly hated the nickname. Her mother had christened her Stella Angela, but she had grown up to be a feisty, snub-nosed, freckled little redhead, more the neighborhood's tomboy roughneck than an angelic little star. At ten she could beat up any boy in school; at thirteen she had earned a karate black belt. But she could not gain a place on the national skating team. And she could not make friends.
    She was stubby, quick with her reflexes and her wits. Her figure was nonexistent, a nearly straight drop from her shoulders to her hips.
    And she could not make friends, even after three months of being stationed here in Ottawa.
    Picking herself up from the ice, Kelly pulled off her right mitten and yanked the pinhead mike from the