"That's how you count your gains," Ricci explained. "It's what I learned in the service and had reinforced when I was working the streets as a cop, and maybe almost forgot till recently. When it seems like there are ten lousy situations you can't do anything about, for every one where you can make a difference, it's all about putting your right foot forward, and just taking those small steps."

About having confidence that just being here, and alive, gives you the chance to see better times ahead, Gordian thought.

"You did a hell of a job in Kazakhstan, Tom," he said at length. "I'm glad to have you aboard."

Megan nodded, looked at him.

"Ditto," she said.

Ricci met her gaze.

"You see what I mean," he said.

The KSC staff commissary, Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Pete Nimec regarded the plate in front of him and frowned.

"Tell me if I sound crazy," he said, "but this Western omelette looks like it's made out of powdered eggs."

Annie smiled thinly from across the cafeteria table.

"What else would you expect here but astronaut food?"

"That the reason you're only having coffee?"

She looked at him.

"Do you want to know a secret?"

He nodded.

"I prefer facing the press on an empty stomach," she said. "Hunger approximating their perpetual state of being, it helps remind me what I have to deal with every day."

It was Nimec's turn to smile a little.

"Makes sense," he said.

He raised his knife and fork, took a single bite of the omelette, decided he'd had enough, and pushed the plate aside. This would, at least, be his last meal at the commissary. In about an hour, Annie was to hold an early press conference and make the official announcement that sabotage of the SSME had been judged the cause of the Orion fire. From that point on, the investigation would fall into the hands of law-enforcement agencies ... and, quietly, into Sword's hands as well. Although Nimec had promised Annie he would do everything humanly possible to find out who had done the deed, and had also promised to keep her abreast of developments as they came up, his presence at the KSC was no longer needed, and he would be flying back to San Jose the next morning. She, too, would soon be leaving Florida, for that matter, returning home to Houston.

Nimec found himself thinking--as he had more than once over the past few days--that the air travel time between the two cities was fairly short.

He took a deep breath.

"Annie," he said, "how about dinner this evening? At a real restaurant. With real food. Where we can relax. Get to be friends as well as colleagues." He paused. "It'd be fine with me if you want to bring the kids."

She sipped her coffee, lowered the cup onto its saucer, stared thoughtfully down into it.

"Friends," she said.

He nodded.

They looked at each other silently for a while.