"Do you know how to handle this?" Vance handed Cally the MP5 he was carrying. He had brought it up the hill to try to take out Ramirez, but after the fiasco with the flash grenades, he hadn't fired a shot.
"I've got a pretty good idea," she replied, some of the old pique coming back. "Somebody'd better use it. Besides, it doesn't exactly require postgraduate research."
"Sometimes it takes some thought to keep from getting killed." He sighed, then proceeded to show her how the safety worked. "Okay, what I need is for you to give me some cover when I make the move. Call it our last-ditch effort."
"What are you going to do?"
"What else? It's time I had a talk with Ramirez. If you can't lick them, join them."
"You're kidding." She laid down the automatic and glared. "You're going to just give up?"
"No, I'm going to offer him a deal. Maybe it'll work, and maybe not. But I don't know what else to do."
She stared at him incredulously. "What kind of deal?"
"I don't know yet. I'm making this up as I go along. But maybe if I can get in close to him, I can try to slow him down." What would happen, he was wondering, if Ramirez saw him again? Just shoot him on sight? It was possible, but then again maybe not. It was worth a try. "But you've got to help. Create a diversion that'll give me an opening."
"All right, then." She shrugged. "Just tell me what you want me to do."
Now he was fiddling with his Walther, checking how many rounds were left in the clip. There were two. He cocked it, then slipped it into the back of his belt, pulling down the shirt over it.
"See that window there?" He was pointing toward the glassed-in viewing station of Launch Control that overlooked the pad and the vehicles. "I want to get him there, where you can see us both. Then when I give a signal, a thumbs-up, I want you to open fire."
"On you both?" She looked incredulous.
"How about trying very hard not to hit either one of us. Just start firing and distract them. Then I'll try to take care of Ramirez. Somehow."
"You know, I don't know why you're doing this, but it seems awfully dangerous."
"Maybe I'm trying to make amends for being such a screw-up." He was half serious.
"That's very noble, but frankly I think we'd better wait for your friends from ARM." She picked up the automatic and examined it again, then looked him over. 'To be brutally honest, they've got a slightly better track record."
"Good point. Except now they've got a casualty to worry about, and we're running out of time. So this has to be solo." He kissed her, this time on the lips. "Wish me luck."
"You're really going to do it, aren't you?"
"I'm going to try." He finished tucking in his shirt.
"You're crazy. You won't listen to anybody."
"Sometimes that's a help." He kissed her again, more lightly than he wanted to. Was she still mad? It was hard to tell, but she was definitely distant. "Okay, get ready. And for God's sake, don't hit me. Fire wide."
"Wide?" She grinned.
"Extremely wide."