Games of State - Tom Clancy [15]
Jean-Michel did not speak.
"Then there's just one other matter we have to discuss," Richter said. "How deeply I bite the lamb."
Richter angled the knife so it was point-up. Jean-Michel tried to back away again, but the man behind him grabbed a fistful of hair and held him steady. Richter moved the blade higher until the tip was under the upper eyelid. He continued to move it up slowly, along the contour of the eye, as he spoke.
"Did you know that I studied medicine before I founded the 21st Century party?" Richter asked. "Answer."
"Yes." Hating himself for it, Jean-Michel added, "Please, Herr Richter. Please--"
"I was a doctor," Richter said, "and I would have made a good one had I decided to practice. But I elected not to, and do you know why? Because I realized I couldn't give care to genetic inferiors. I mention this because, as you can see, I found another use for my training. I use it to influence. To control the body and thus the mind. For example, if I continue to push the knife upwards, I know I'll encounter the lateral rectus muscle. If I cut that muscle, you will find it extremely difficult to look up or down. It will be necessary for you to wear an eyepatch after that, or you'll be disoriented as your eyes work independently, and"-- he laughed-- "you will look rather freakish, with one eye staring straight ahead, the other one moving normally."
Jean-Michel was panting, his legs wobbling violently. If the big man weren't holding him by the hair he'd have fallen. The knife was out of focus as the Frenchman looked at Richter's red-tinted face. He felt a prick above the eyeball.
"Please, no," he sobbed. "Mon Dieu, Herr Richter--"
Tears smeared his vision, and the trembling of his jaw caused the eye to shake. Each move caused a fresh and painful nick.
Slowly, the German brought his left hand toward the knife. His fingers were facing down. He placed his palm against the bottom of the hilt, as though he were going to jam it up.
"Did you also know," Richter asked calmly, "that what we're doing is part of the process of brainwashing? I've studied the techniques of the KGB, who worked miracles with them. What an individual is told in a state of pain and fear registers on the brain as truth. Of course, it has to be done over and over to be truly effective. Systematic and thorough."
He pushed the knife gently upwards. The prick became a shooting pain that punched against the back of Jean-Michel's forehead.
Jean-Michel screamed and then began to whine. Despite the shame he felt, he couldn't stop himself.
"What do you think now about equality, my little lamb?" Richter asked.
"I think," said Jean-Michel, swallowing hard again, "that you have made your point."
"My point?" Richter said. "That's the first clever thing you've said, and I doubt it was intentional."
Richter twisted the knife again, drawing a scream from the Frenchman.
"My point, actually, is this. In the very near future, Dominique will need me far more than I need him. His New Jacobin soldiers are a small force, suited for local work. I, on the other hand, have the ability to become international. And I will. His new computer programs will be downloaded in American cities, but they can persuade only over time. I and my lieutenants can go to America, meet with and inspire American Nazis. We are people of the Fatherland, the home of the movement. You are a people who were conquered and learned to serve. The world will follow me and they will do so now, not five or ten or twenty years from now. Equally as important, they will give us money. And that, M. Horne, makes Dominique and myself more than just peers.