“So do we abort?” Clayne Robertson’s voice was angry.

Eric shook his head and drummed his fingers against his leg. “How long ago do you think Joe left us?”

“We’re not sure,” Nicole answered. “No one actually saw him go. We thought he had gone with Kooska’s team, but Stan said he assumed he had stayed with us. He must have gone not long after we left the van.”

“Was he with us when we split into two teams?”

Rod Loopes shook his head. “No, I’m sure of that.” The former head of computer services for the Guardians was deeply upset, for he had recommended that Joe Jensen be brought into the movement. “Maybe he just got behind and got lost.”

“We have to assume the worst,” Clayne broke in, impatient with their unwillingness to grapple with the real question. “Joe’s gone, and nine men are waiting at the back door. We’ve been blown—there’s no question about that. So the question is, do we abort or do we go ahead anyway?”

“If Joe is the Major’s man,” Rod Loopes broke in, “then Shirley Ferguson is probably with him.”

Dick Andreason, the radioman, nodded. “Which puts the camp in danger.”

“These radios,” Eric said, touching the walkie-talkie at his belt, “there’s no way they can reach the camp?”

Dick shook his head. “No, but we’ve got the big radio in the van. I can be there in two minutes. We told the camp to keep a watch on the radio all night.”

“All right,” Eric said. “Go call them. Tell them to pack it up and move out fast. Tell them also to watch Shirley.”

“Right.” Andreason turned and hurried back up the hill.

“Okay,” Eric said, turning back to face the others. “We’ve got two things in our favor. We didn’t tell you any of the details of how we were going to get into Central Control, not because we didn’t trust you, but because we didn’t dare risk your knowing too much if you got caught. So that means Joe doesn’t know the details either. He left before we split into teams. He knows we’re going out the side door, but he doesn’t know Stan is there and has spotted the ambush. And the Guardians there don’t know they’ve been spotted either. That gives us another advantage. Also, we didn’t tell any of you about putting the knock-out liquid in the air conditioning until we arrived here at the building. Only Don and I knew anything about that, so that’s another surprise in our favor.”