QUOTE : Andre stood and walked across the large map of Africa that hung on the office wall.<br />“May I ask what you are thinking?” questioned Colonel Hoffman.<br /><br />“I’m thinking Khartoum” Andre responded quietly, tapping the map in the northern half of Sudan and both Hoffman and Nicci nodded in agreement. “If the cargo aboard the ship was artillery systems and if the trucks that met the ship head for Juba, then we should expect – at the very least - a resumption of the civil war in Sudan.” Hoffman nodded again and then spoke himself.<br /><br />“And if the buyers in Juba have also accessed nuclear ammunition, then the government of Sudan is going to change soon. Anyone with weapons like that could easily consolidate control of all those oilfields. That means that the balance of power in the Horn of Africa is going to be very different from what it is now.”<br /><br />“What’s the population of Khartoum?” asked Nicci. Hoffman consulted his desktop computer.<br /><br />“The city itself, around two and a half million. The conurbation of greater Khartoum is more than ten million.”<br /><br />“Five minutes?” Nicci queried and Hoffman nodded.<br /><br />Nicci looked stunned. They all sat for a moment and considered the awesome destruction that would be unleashed.