“What for? What are you, crazy? Don’t you know what’s going on? Don’t you know who this guy is?”
“Do you?”
“You’d damn well better believe I do.” the gloved man said. “He’s Col. Creed Steiger, head of the goddamned I.S.D.”
“You didn’t have to do this.” said the newcomer, his mouth tight. “There was no call for this.”
“No call for it? Are you nuts? The son of a bitch is lucky he’s alive! There’s a contract out on him, in case you didn’t know. You know what he’s worth dead?”
“Is that what it’s come, to, Stevens?” said the newcomer.
“We’re taking contracts now? We’re hitting our own people’?”
“Shut up, you stupid bastard! Don’t use my name in front of him!”
“What difference does it make? Do you intend to let him live?”
“Only as long as necessary.” Stevens said grimly. “They got Carruthers. They took out Stiers and Aaronson, as well. Left no trace of them, not even a wet spot on the floor. This bastard’s our security. They come after us, we got a hostage.”
“How much is he worth dead?” asked the newcomer.
“A smooth five mil.” said Stevens. “Five million fucking dollars.”
“And you’d kill one of our own people for it,” said the newcomer.
“He’s not one of our people, you damn fool! He’s I.S.D.!”
“And what the hell is the I.S.D.?” the newcomer snapped.
“It’s the internal security division of the goddamn agency, you moron!’
“Don’t talk to me that way!”-Do you even realize what you’re doing?” the newcomer said. “It’s one thing to run a few illegal operations to make some money, but what you’re talking about now is murder!”
“They took out Carruthers and the others,” Stevens said harshly. “What do you call that?”
“Carruthers must’ve forced their hand. He went too far. When I heard what he was planning, I thought he had gone crazy. We’re supposed to be helping these people, for God’s sake! There’s a temporal disruption going down! We’re supposed to be on the same damn side!”
“Is that so?” said Stevens. He jerked his head toward Steiger. “Is that why this son of a bitch is trying to nail us? Because we’re on the same side? Don’t make me laugh. He sold out, the bastard. He was a field agent, just like us, and he sold out!”
“To whom?”
“To the goddamned bureaucrats and politicians, that’s to whom! Jesus, will you wake the hell up? This isn’t some game we’re playing here! This isn’t the goddamned Boy Scouts! Forester sent this guy to take us out. He’s out to bust the whole damn Network! We’ve gotta take them out before they get us first!”
“Them?” said the newcomer. “Wait a minute, let me get this straight. Are we talking about assassinating the director of the T.I. A.?”
“You’re damn straight!” said Stevens. “And the bounty on the old man’s been set at ten million! Where the hell you been? Me. I’m not crazy enough to try for Forrester. but Steiger here fell right into our laps. You don’t want a share, just say so. You can go back to Virginia and plant tobacco for all I fucking care. Go anywhere the hell you want, but I’m telling you right now, you get in
my way. I’m gonna roll right over you.”
“That’s the way it is. huh?”
“That’s the way it is.”
“And what about the disruption?”
“Who gives a fuck about the damn disruption? We send this jerk to the cell commander in a bag and we can all retire. Especially now that Carruthers and the others have been taken out. We don’t have to cut the pie as thin.”
“I see, I guess that does make for an incentive.”