"Hansen lied," Ramirez was saying as he took one last glance at the snowy TV monitor, which moments earlier had shown the chaos in Command. "The son of a bitch lied. He didn't call off the assault after all. It was just a stalling tactic." He turned to Peretz, anger deep in his eyes. "We've been double-crossed."
"What do you care what happens to those assholes?" Peretz remarked calmly, flashing his pale grin. "Good riddance. Let's just take the old guy, like we planned, and get the hell out of here. We've got the money, so who gives a shit."
"You have an inelegant but concise way of putting things," Ramirez concurred. "But there's a final phone call I need to make. I want Hansen to know what will happen if he tries to interdict us."
"Well, while you're doing that, I'll check out the chopper," Peretz went on. "When we split, I don't want any problems."
"Is that why you brought him?" Ramirez pointed at Bates.
"Might as well have someone with some aviation experience look it over." Peretz smiled again. "Besides, I think we may have just lost Salim in all that excitement over in Command. So we're going to need a pilot, right? What better than a war hero."
William Bates had been monitoring this exchange, not quite understanding the underlying dynamics. He did perceive, however, that Peretz was playing the scene as though he were in a game, and it looked like a contest with only a single winner. Number One, however, was not the kind of guy who struck you as a loser. But then Peretz didn't seem like the losing type either. The Israeli was one wily son of a bitch, and he had something up his sleeve. Was he intending to screw Number One somehow and get away with all the marbles? Just how he intended to do that was not yet clear, but there was no mistaking his faked attempt at calm. If Number One didn't catch it, he was dumber than he looked. And he didn't look dumb.
What, he wondered, had happened to Mike? Did the message LeFarge had passed along, "Ulysses has landed," mean he was on the island somewhere? And if he was here, had he called in ARM? Were they the ones who had just stormed Command, not the U.S.? Whoever did it, they hit the wrong place. The murdering bastard who called himself Number One was here, and he was about to get away scot-free.