"Hansen lied," Ramirez was saying as he took one last glance at the
snowy TV monitor, which moments earlier had shown the chaos in Command.
"The son of a bitch lied. He didn't call off the assault after all. It
was just a stalling tactic." He turned to Peretz, anger deep in his
eyes. "We've been double-crossed."
"What do you care what happens to those assholes?" Peretz remarked
calmly, flashing his pale grin. "Good riddance. Let's just take the old
guy, like we planned, and get the hell out of here. We've got the
money, so who gives a shit."
"You have an inelegant but concise way of putting things," Ramirez
concurred. "But there's a final phone call I need to make. I want
Hansen to know what will happen if he tries to interdict us."
"Well, while you're doing that, I'll check out the chopper," Peretz
went on. "When we split, I don't want any problems."
"Is that why you brought him?" Ramirez pointed at Bates.
"Might as well have someone with some aviation experience look it
over." Peretz smiled again. "Besides, I think we may have just lost
Salim in all that excitement over in Command. So we're going to need a
pilot, right? What better than a war hero."
William Bates had been monitoring this exchange, not quite
understanding the underlying dynamics. He did perceive, however, that
Peretz was playing the scene as though he were in a game, and it looked
like a contest with only a single winner. Number One, however, was not
the kind of guy who struck you as a loser. But then Peretz didn't seem
like the losing type either. The Israeli was one wily son of a bitch,
and he had something up his sleeve. Was he intending to screw Number
One somehow and get away with all the marbles? Just how he intended to
do that was not yet clear, but there was no mistaking his faked attempt
at calm. If Number One didn't catch it, he was dumber than he looked.
And he didn't look dumb.
What, he wondered, had happened to Mike? Did the message LeFarge had
passed along, "Ulysses has landed," mean he was on the island
somewhere? And if he was here, had he called in ARM? Were they the ones
who had just stormed Command, not the U.S.? Whoever did it, they hit
the wrong place. The murdering bastard who called himself Number One
was here, and he was about to get away scot-free.