"You said something about conquering the world, Toby. I don't suppose
by any chance you meant that literally?"
Mallon stood up, his closed fists working like a man crumpling unpaid
bills. "They all want what I've got! They're all waiting." He walked
across the room, back. "I'm ready to move against them now! I can put
four thousand trained men in the field--"
"Let's get a couple of things straight, Mallon," I cut in. "You've got
the natives fooled with this Baron routine. But don't try it on me.
Maybe it was even necessary once; maybe there's an excuse for some of
the stories I've heard. That's over now. I'm not interested in tribal
warfare or gang rumbles. I need--"
"Better remember who's running things here, Jackson!" Mallon snapped.
"It's not what you need that counts." He took another turn up and down
the room, then stopped, facing me.
* * * * *
"Look, Jackson. I know how to get around in this jungle; you don't. If
I hadn't spotted you and given some orders, you'd have been gunned down
before you'd gone ten feet past the ballroom door."
"Why'd you let me in? I might've been gunning for you."
"You wanted to see the Baron alone. That suited me, too. If word
got out--" He broke off, cleared his throat. "Let's stop wrangling,
Jackson. We can't move until the Bolo guarding the site has been
neutralized. There's only one way to do that: knock it out! And the
only thing that can knock out a Bolo is another Bolo."
"So?"
"I've got another Bolo, Jackson. It's been covered, maintained. It can
go up against the Troll--" he broke off, laughed shortly. "That's what
the mob called it."
"You could have done that years ago. Where do I come in?"
"You're checked out on a Bolo, Jackson. You know something about this
kind of equipment."
"Sure. So do you."
"I never learned," he said shortly.
"Who's kidding who, Mallon? We all took the same orientation course
less than a month ago--"
"For me it's been a long month. Let's just say I've forgotten."
"You parked that Bolo at your front gate and then forgot how you did
it, eh?"
"Nonsense. It's always been there."