"Of course. The question is, what can he do about it? He's got you
outgunned two to one, but if he's thinking of jumping you before
Lancion gets here, he stands to lose more men than he can afford to
without endangering the entire operation for himself."
[Illustration]
Cooms was silent a few seconds. "There's an unpleasant possibility
which didn't occur to me until a short while ago," he said then. "The
fact is that Velladon actually may have us outgunned here by something
like four to one. If that's the case, he can afford to lose quite a
few men. In fact, he'd prefer to."