Galway: "Take it easy—we're not that stupid, you know. Can you tell me anything about the route Lathe plans to take to Athena?"
Postern: "Not really, but I know the final approach to the fence will be along New Hampden Avenue. Look, I've got to go."
Galway: "First tell me what numbers we're talking about. How many blackcollars does Lathe have with him?"
Postern: "I've only seen four: Skyler, Mordecai, Hawking, and Jensen. But hell, he could have a whole combat force lurking around somewhere for all I know."
Galway: "Yeah, well, I doubt that—he only had a pair of drop pods to work with. You said two vans?"
Postern: "Right—one's red and brown, the other's dark yellow. And for God's sake take it easy if you try anything—I'll be driving one of the damn things."
Galway: "Don't worry, we'll be trying to take all of you alive. One last thing—any idea yet of what your actual mission is?"
Postern: "Caine's been hinting that it involves getting into Aegis Mountain, but I don't know whether to believe him. Jensen's just come out of the store—I gotta go."
The tape ended. Quinn drew a long breath, all his earlier annoyance gone. "Damn," he said, very softly. "Damn. Well... did you do an analysis on it?"
Galway nodded. "A quick one—the lab's running it more thoroughly now. He was calling from a booth in northwestern Denver. I opted not to send men there, and it's probably a good thing I didn't.
Jensen would've spotted them for sure, and I don't think taking him alone would've been worth losing Postern's ear into the rest of the group."
Quinn shrugged in agreement or acceptance; Galway wasn't sure which. "Stress analysis?"
"He's worried and nervous—that much is obvious even without the analysis. He also lied about not knowing where they were holed up. Aside from that, everything else seems to be true."
"Or at least he thinks it is." Quinn frowned at the phone. "Ridiculous. Completely ridiculous. Lathe can't possibly get in here."
"He got out of the Rialto Street trap," Galway reminded him softly, aware of the thin line he was treading. If he pushed Quinn too hard, the general might very well get his back up and refuse to take action just to spite him, and they'd be forced to find out the hard way just what Lathe had in mind. "I presume you've read my reports of the Plinry and Argent actions, too—"
"All right, you don't need to hammer it to death," Quinn snapped. "Besides, if we let them crash the fence and get vaporized we'll never find out what the hell they think they're going to find in Aegis Mountain—if Postern wasn't lying about that too. Unless you think the Ryqril would rather just let them commit suicide?"
"As a matter of fact," Galway said, ignoring the other's sarcastic tone, "the Ryqril have already sent authorization for us to try and capture them. I think they must have a tap into your communications systems."
Quinn glowered; and despite his dislike for the man Galway felt a twinge of sympathy for him.
Security work was difficult enough without the alien overlords continually watching over your shoulder. "Well, good," the general growled. "At last they're giving up on this stupid Postern game.
I'll get some units in position along New Hampden right away, set up a pincer and see if the idiots can hang on to them this time. Come on—you might as well be there, too. Just in case we need a quick identification."
And in case you need someone else there to share the blame? Galway wondered as they headed back down the hallway toward the elevators. But it didn't really matter. This time the element of surprise would be on Security's side... and this time Lathe was going to lose.
Guaranteed.
—
"Well?" Lathe asked Skyler as the latter entered the room and closed the door quietly behind him.
"He's got one, all right," the other said. "A beautiful high-power laser that we can tie a modulator into and that'll punch a bell-clear signal all the way out to the scout ship. Assuming it's still at one of its specified positions, of course."
"It will be," Lathe assured him. "Great—that means we won't have to find the one that Security'll have tied into their Athena headquarters. One less item to worry about. I presume we won't have any trouble getting to the laser?"
"Depends entirely on how big a mess you're willing to leave of Reger's men," Skyler told him.
"Considering that the man's still our ally, I'm not sure we really want to antagonize him at this point."
"In other words, you think I should ask permission to use his laser," Lathe said dryly. "I suppose you're right. But it'll probably cost us."
"Why? Reger's not using the laser himself—oh. Right. If Security manages to track the pulses he risks losing it entirely to them."
"Not certain, but possible enough to make him queasy. Well, I'll go talk to him. I think I know how to swing the deal."
"And you don't want to talk about it, of course."
"Not right now. Bug stompers all over this house, but you know how I am."
"Don't I ever." Skyler hesitated. "Lathe... if we can use his laser, one of the major reasons for this Athena thing is suddenly gone. You sure you really want to go through with it? There are a hell of a lot of ways it can go wrong, you know, and I'm not sure the potential gain is worth it anymore."
"If you mean Anne Silcox, you're right," the comsquare agreed. "But there's no way we're going to convince Bernhard to help us find a way into Aegis without a lever of some kind, and this is our best chance to get that lever."
"And if he really can't get us in?"
Lathe shrugged. "Then we've lost it. Pure and simple. But I've got a very strong hunch that he can."
"I hope you're right. About that and everything else." Skyler scowled, an unusual expression for him.
"What with us skating along here and Haven and Greene running that damn fool Project Christmas back on Plinry, I've got just about my fill of marginal operations at the moment."
Lathe smiled. "Come on, Skyler. Have I ever let you down?"
"No—and that's what's worrying me. So far you've won everything but the damn war itself.
Eventually, you're going to have to lose one."
"Who says? Come on—I'll buy you a drink from Reger's private cellar. That'll cheer you up. And then you can go talk to Caine's team chock full of confidence while I brace Reger about his laser."
Chapter 24
The sun was low in the western sky as the two vans headed out from Reger's fortress home, driving north along the deceptively peaceful road to the eastward highway before turning south toward the heart of Denver proper. Seated on the floor in the back of the lead vehicle, Caine found himself fingering his nunchaku and slingshot restlessly, trying without any real success to project a confidence he didn't feel. It was a wasted effort: Colvin and Alamzad, seated across from him, were far too nervous themselves to pay any attention, while Mordecai, presumably privy to more of the details of Lathe's plan than Caine had been, didn't seem to need any reassurance. Though maybe that was just Mordecai.
Licking his lips for the half-millionth time, Caine slid off his flexarmor gloves and rubbed at his eyes. "Goggles down," Mordecai said quietly over his shoulder from the front seat. "And gloves back on. This is a combat zone."
"Right." Caine obeyed, wondering how the hell blackcollars developed such good back-of-the-head eyesight.
Behind the wheel, Pittman shifted in his seat. "This should be New Hampden coming up now," he told the blackcollar sitting beside him. "Do I turn onto it, or pull over and wait for the others?"
"Turn," Mordecai said. "There's at least a klick to go before we reach the fence—plenty of time for Lathe to close the gap."
"Okay." The van curved smoothly around the corner, and Caine craned his neck to get a look ahead through the windshield. There were few things more unnerving, he'd long ago decided, than heading into danger without even being able to see what was coming.