“No, it isn’t. Odds are, nothing’s going to get sent in the time it would take you to pull it off—and even less likely, in the time it would take Raines . . . but what if something did get transmitted? Then I’ll tell you what would happen: the person up there falls to this roof or maybe to that one down there, and that’s it, Ashwan. They’re a pancake. How much did you bet over this? I didn’t make out the number.”

“Uh, fifty dollars, sir.”

“Your friend’s life for fifty dollars.”

“I didn’t know. I wouldn’t have done it if I’d known.”

“Here’s the thing about you, Ashwan.” And Tom could see one shimmering form draw back as the other moved closer. “I’ve got this hunch you have a decent brain. I think there’s a voice of reason somewhere in that skull, and I’d be willing to make a bet of my own: that you suspected there was some sort of risk here. That must’ve made it all the more exciting, getting some vicarious thrill out of a friend doing something phenomenally dangerous that you are too smart to do yourself.”

Tom felt a surge of outrage, and it was all he could do not to tear forward and tell Blackburn he was wrong about Vik. Vik must’ve felt angry, too, because he protested, “It’s not like that at all, sir.”

“Uh-huh. Do you know how many times I’ve seen this same thing with you two? Back in the war games, I remember Raines raring to pounce, ready to give me a problem whether I outranked him or not. Let’s face it, that kid screws up over and over and over again, I’m surprised when he doesn’t at this point. But you? You don’t. You snapped to attention and said ‘sir, yes, sir’ to me like an obedient little drone, because that’s what you’re supposed to do, and you know it. You don’t step a toe out of line, and I know why: because someone, at some point, taught you better than that.”

“But it’s not like . . . You’re wrong. Sir, you’re wrong. That’s my best friend. I wouldn’t set him up.”

Tom hung back, feeling strange. He had this sense it would embarrass Vik a lot knowing he’d heard all this.

“Then God save Tom Raines from his well-wishers,” Blackburn said. “You have to know you aren’t doing him any favors.”