ask for the store, I see no problem. I've budgeted for security, and
there's always contingency money."
"I'll see what I can do." He had glanced up and ascertained that the
sun had passed the yardarm. But even if it had not, what the hell. He
saw the prospects for a fat commission looming. "How about a Heineken?"
He was reaching into the cooler in the well.
"You read my mind."
"By the way, want to tell me the location of the site? You've managed
to keep that out of the papers so far. I'd guess it's probably an
uninhabited island, right?"
"Good guess. It's north of Crete, about twenty square kilometers. It's
privately owned, but I've just signed a long- term lease."
Vance tried to envision the place. Most of the Greek islands tended to
be granite, with nothing growing on them but scrub cedar. "What's the
terrain like?"
"That's actually what makes it so attractive. Cliffs all around the
shoreline--you couldn't put in with so much as a dinghy--and then one
really marvelous deepwater inlet. But the best part is, the interior is
mostly level and perfect for what we need. And there's a granite
mountain at one end that's ideal for our telemetry."
"A protected docking location and a natural telemetry base."
"Right. All the electronics will be set up high above the launch
facility, and we can use the inlet for bringing in materials. We should
only have to dredge it a bit and sink some pilings. It's well along.
I've already signed off on a lot of the prime contracts." He stared at
the blue horizon and adjusted the wheel again. "And I'll let you in on
another secret, Michael. I've bet the ranch on this one. The stock
offering wasn't nearly enough to capitalize the enterprise. I've had to
raise money from everybody in town--junk bonds, the fucking banks, you
name it. Just the hardware ran close to three hundred million. I've
even put up my stock in all my other companies. If this project doesn't
fly"--he laughed--"literally, I'm going to be joining America's homeless.
I even put up my house in Arlington. Worth two million, and I owned the
goddamn thing free and clear. I'll just have to hand over the keys.
Dorothy'll kill me."
"Then we'll make sure nobody snoops." He popped open an ice-cold beer
for Bates, then one for himself. "From land or sea."
"Land or sea." Bates hoisted his icy green bottle.
"Which actually raises an interesting question." He took a sip, cold
and bracing. "How about security from the air? Flyovers, that kind of
action?"
"Let them come. There'll be nothing to see. Except for the launch pad
and telemetry, everything's going to be underground. There're a lot of
caves on the island--like that famous one on Antiparos. We're going to
use those for the computers and assembly areas. And what we can't find
in place, we'll just excavate."
It's beginning to sound a little too pat, Vance found himself thinking.
But that's what security experts were for. They were the guys who got
paid to find holes in a project like this. . . .
The thing that kept gnawing at his mind, however, was the phrase "by
land or sea." All along he'd worried about penetration from the air.
Had he been right after all?