“Counterstrike.” said Lucas. “Got it. Who are your people on the inside in the Hellfire Club?”
“That’s not going to help’ you,” said Carruthers. “Everyone’ll be disguised, so you won’t be able to spot them in any case and they won’t be able to spot you. However, just in case anything goes wrong and you have to shoot your way out of there or something, they’ll use the same password to identify themselves. Just remember that if you’re going to the meeting, you’ll be badly outnumbered and on their home ground. They also keep guards posted outside. Their number varies and they move around. It’s not a good place to start anything.”
“We’ll keep that in mind, thanks.” Delaney said. “Just to keep the record straight, what orders do you have concerning Hunter?”
“We’re to keep him under close surveillance: said Carruthers, if he makes contact with anybody and we can’t absolutely verify who it is, we’re to take him into immediate custody and await further instructions from Col. Steiger. He doesn’t want to take any chances that Hunter might be contacting a C.I.S. team if there’s one in the vicinity.”
“All right: said Lucas “but you are not to clock out anywhere with Hunter unless you’ve had specific instructions from me, is that clear? Regardless of what Col. Steiger says.”
Carruthers gave him an appraising look. You mind explaining that?”
“Col. Steiger is not in charge of this mission. I am,” Lucas said. “I just don’t want anybody doing anything unless I know about it. Any questions’?”
Carruthers shook his head. “No, sir, but suppose the situation should come up and Col. Steiger decides to take custody of the prisoner personally. I have no authority to prevent him, and with all due respect. I’m not going to put my ass in a wringer just because two senior officers might disagree on how to conduct a mission. I just want to make sure you understand that. I don’t want to get caught in the middle of anything.”
“Noted,” said Lucas. “In that case, you are to report directly to me and inform me immediately of Col. Steiger’s action.”
“Yes, sir,” Carruthers said. “Is there anything else?”
“Just make sure your people understand that I don’t want anyone taking any direct action whatsoever unless they’ve been cleared by one of us to do so,” Lucas said. “And if Col. Steiger issues any orders to the contrary, I am to be informed of it at once. Understood?”
“Understood,” Carruthers said. “Colonel, you mind telling me what this is all about? Is something going on between you two that I should know about?”
“Like you said, Carruthers, you don’t want to get caught in the middle,” Lucas said. “If you’ve got a problem with any of my orders, I want to know about it now.”
“No. sir, no problem.” said Carruthers.
“Good. That’s all, then.”
Carruthers came to attention and saluted. “Yes, sir.” he said, a touch stiffly. “I’ll be in touch.”
“He didn’t seem very happy about that.” Andre said when he had left.
“Well. I’m not either.” Lucas replied. He sighed. “We’ve got enough to worry about without having Steiger running his own operation in the middle of all this. We’re all supposed to be on the same team, for God’s sake.”
“Steiger’s never been much of a team player.” Andre said. “Maybe we’d better have a talk with him.”
“Won’t do much good.” Delaney said. “For one thing, we don’t know where the hell he is right now and for another, if he feels strongly enough about it. he’ll just go ahead and do it his way. You’re not going to convince him that he’s wrong.”
“We could have Forrester order him off the mission,” Andre said.
“No. that’s not the way to handle it,” said Lucas. “There’s already too much friction between the I.S.D. and the regular personnel. I’m not going to exacerbate the situation just because of Hunter. We’ll handle Creed ourselves.”
“Can I make a suggestion?” Delaney said. “Why not just clock Hunter out of here right now? Let’s take him to the confluence point we brought him through and send him home ourselves before he becomes a problem.
“We’ve been over that already.” Andre said. “You know how he’s going to respond to that suggestion.”
“I don’t think we can afford the luxury of giving him a choice. Andre.” said Finn. “The situation’s changed. There are simply too many ways it could go wrong. Carruthers is Steiger’s man. I’d rather risk annoying Steiger now then get into it with him when it’s already hit the fan. Frankly, Hunter simply isn’t worth it.”
“I agree,” said Lucas. “We don’t really need him anymore and if we allow him to remain here, he’s going to be a liability. We’ve given him more than a fair shake already. I say we send him back.”
Andre nodded. “Okay. I guess he’s got no right to expect any more than that.”
“Right.” said Lucas. “Let’s get it over with.”
“Right now?” said Andre.
“Right now Let’s clock over there and do it before Carruthers decides he doesn’t like his orders.”