第19节

'I understand, sir."

'Okay, let's get down to the real business - setting up this attack by

the M'Call Mutes on Red River. I've got approval for the idea from the

Oval Office. It could be a good way of finishing off the M'Calls but

what we have to do is figure out how to get our two remaining targets

on board a wagon-train and safely under lock and key without-losing the

whole shebang."

'Sir, I'm not saying it can't be done, but do we have to bring these

other two in? asked Malone. 'You've got Clearwater. Why don't we

just close down the file by putting three triples through their

heads?"

Wallis nodded in agreement.

Karlstrom responded with a thin-lipped smile. 'That might take care of

Cadillac but from what I've heard about Mr Snow, you could find the

bullets coming back at you."

'Sir - with respect - nobody's that fireproof."

'Don't count on it. I know it's tempting, Matt, but there are other

factors to be taken into consideration.

High-level strategic objectives that I'm not at liberty to disclose at

this moment but which I'll bring you in on as soon as I'm given

clearance to do so. Brickman's idea seems unnecessarily complex but it

could give us the set-piece engagement we're looking for."

'Ahh . . . I didn't know that.

'And there's something else,' continued Karlstrom.

'I'm not prepared to jeopardize the relationship you've built up with

the Mutes in your sector. From past experience, we know that some

mutes are able to communicate over long distances. As wordsmiths, Mr.

Snow and Cadillac may have that capability.

'Yeah. Don't ask me how. It just does."

'Exactly. As we speak, the M'Calls may be organizing a Welcome Home

party. Could make things very awkward if we suddenly lost him

overboard. If you followed that up by the on-site removal of their

wordsmith - hell! That would really shake the shit loose."

Malone grimaced ruefully. 'You're right, sir. I hadn't figured it

that way. Guess I was just tryin' to cut a few corners. ' 'Nothing

wrong with that. Just for the record, I sent Brickman out with a

dead-or-alive option on these two.

But since then I've acquired a better overview. Believe me. Icing

Cadillac and Mr Snow at this point in the game would cause more

problems than it would solve.

Especially for you."

When Wallis and Malone had left for the airfield, Karlstrom remained in

the office he used for meetings with his operatives. Slumped in his

upholstered swivel chair, his left elbow resting on the padded arm, he

reflected on what he had heard, pulling slowly at his nose, lips and

chin with thumb and forefinger as he did so.

He had maintained an up-beat mood throughout their discussions but that

had been a front. Don Wallis' account of Roz Brickman's hallucinatory

powers filled him with alarm. Despite the soothing assurances he'd

laid on Wallis, this was mind control - of a pretty spectacular kind.

The kind that could plunge them all into deep shit.

Karlstrom didn't give a toss whether Roz had taken temporary control of

Wallis and his team; the only mind he was concerned about was his

own.

Was she only able to distort reality and thus induce total

disorientation or was she capable of something far more sinister? And

anyway, how the hell did you define reality in the first place? Could

she have manipulated him into putting her aboard that train? It had

been her suggestion, yes, but had she forced him to go along with the

idea?

No - that was impossible. The President-General had had the final

say.

In all matters concerning Steve and Roz Brickman, Karlstrom had been

careful to cover his ass.

Unfortunately that was not sufficient to remove him from the line of

fire. If OPERATION SQUARE-DANCE went down the tube, he would be the

one taking the flak, not G.W.J. the 31st. Yes, sir...

But was she planning to go over the side, or was that just something

that Brickman had pulled out of the air to lay on the lump-heads? It

had