"But you waited until it moved over the explosive before you blew it. I
saw the whole thing. How could you be so crazy!" Her anger was boiling.
"That wasn't what we agreed to."
"Like I said, things---"
"Please, give me a break. If you worked for me, I'd fire you on the
spot." It was clear she meant every word. "So after you screwed that
up, what was I supposed to do? I had no choice but to get on the radio.
Now look at the mess we're in. What happened?"
"To tell you the truth," Vance answered, "I'm not even quite sure
myself."
"Great. Just great."
"It's a jungle out there."
"No kidding."
"Later. I'll tell all," he said lamely, wanting desperately to change
the subject. "Right now, though, there's the matter of Ramirez. And by
the way, it is him. We had a one-on-one."
"What did he tell you?" Armont asked, his interest suddenly alive. "Did
he say what he wanted out of all this? Ransom or what?"
"We didn't make it that far. A personality conflict got in the way."
"No hint? Nothing?"
"Just that he knows exactly what he's doing. They're going to launch an
atomic bomb. Kill a lot of people somewhere. And I don't think the
payment of ransom is going to make them call it off. They're going to
take the money, then go ahead and do it anyway." He rubbed a hand
across his face, trying to feel a cut, then drew it away and examined
the blood in the half-light, not quite sure what he was seeing. "But I
still think that if we take him out, the rest of them will fold." He
looked at Cally, trying to meet the outraged glare she was bestowing on
him. "Any idea where he is now?"
'The last I knew, he was in Launch," she said, still visibly fuming.
"Then I guess that's the first objective."
"Jesus, do you want to go in shooting?" She looked around at the motley
men of ARM. "Those are my people in there, you know, my friends. It
could be a bloodbath."
"Doesn't have to be." Spiros had pulled back his balaclava and was
shaking Vance's hand with an air of genuine contrition. Maybe trying to
cheer him up after Cally Andros's blast. "Michael, I'm damned sorry
about all this. The whole thing is my fault, really."
"Spilt milk," Vance replied. "Now we have to look ahead."
"Well, it's my spilt milk, as you say," Spiros declared, "and I want to
clean it up myself. If all we need to do is take down Ramirez, I think
I can get in there and maybe do it without too much in the way of
pyrotechnics."
"What do you mean?" Armont asked.
"Let me go in by myself, alone. I've got a uniform, so I'll just be
another Greek mechanic. At least we should try that first. See what I
can do."
"Dimitri, that's a heroic offer," Armont said, "but--"
"No, it's not heroic, it's realistic. It's a chance, but one I think we
should take."
"We don't stay in business by taking chances," Armont declared, vetoing
him on the spot. "We go in as a team."
"All or nobody," Hans said. "It may not always be best, but those are
the rules."
"Exactly." Armont closed out the subject. "All or nothing. So let's get
out the blueprints and start assigning the entry-points."