Granger reached toward his controls, hit a switch to fire the Bell’s APU, and then settled back to let it warm. The auxiliary power unit would start his hydraulics, and it was important to be certain their line fluids were clear and circulating before he cranked the main turbines.

It occurred to Granger now that UpLink’s closed-door, closed-mouth policy after the sabotage of their water-treatment facility had been what turned him onto his own drastic course. Nimec’s reasons for wanting to go ahead with the Dry Valley overflight plainly weren’t the same as they had been a little more than seventy-two hours ago. Couldn’t be. At that stage there had been no apparent space between the hero’s real and stated aims—he had wanted to begin looking for Alan Scarborough and the two beakers, who’d been thought to be victims of some kind of accident. But after the dome attack, the whole thrust of his search would have shifted. Breen and Nimec had learned they had enemies on the continent with a serious desire to shut down their operation, and would be figuring the lost S&R team had either fallen or been drawn into their hands. They would also figure those enemies were hidden somewhere in the rocks of Bull Pass. Yet Nimec had given Granger no tip-off that anything was different from before.

In asking himself why, Granger had decided it didn’t mean he was under immediate suspicion, but was just further evidence of how UpLink would huddle up in secrecy when they were under fire. And when they were preparing to move. Even if he managed to steer Nimec away from the notch this time around, Granger knew the princely hero would return to investigate, probably with a Cold Corners pilot at the sticks, maybe going in with a whole damn squad of his own men.

No, he thought, Nimec wouldn’t stop coming at it. Not unless he was stopped in his tracks. And that would itself barely postpone the inevitable.

UpLink, goddamn them . . .

UpLink International wouldn’t stop coming.

Granger could read the writing on the wall, and intended to remove himself from the scene before his connection to Albedo was exposed. But he wanted to gain a lead, deal UpLink a blow that would send a major shock through its system, and convince Burkhart to provide him with money and an avenue of escape. But with or without those arrangements, he’d still do what he had to, and couldn’t say that he had any scruples about it.

Aware of the Beretta’s encouraging pressure against his side, Granger listened as the whir of the spinning APU filled his cabin. He was only a little anxious, and not in a particular hurry.

Nimec could take his time at Cold Corners One, squeeze in a final ounce of the redhead’s exclusive hospitality.

His warm and cozy stay there was about to get cut short.