“I’m not saying he would have suppressed anything. What I’m telling you is that this information didn’t come to him through any of his official pipelines, and it wasn’t part of any ongoing investigation. He wouldn’t have had to actually ‘suppress’ it, because passing what started out as little more than unsubstantiated rumors along to me was a pure judgment call on his part. He was very careful to make sure that there was substance to those rumors first—which he did without opening any official investigation—but there was absolutely no reason why he had to go out of his way to pursue those rumors on his own discretion in order to be able to tell me about something I hadn’t even asked about. He made that decision entirely on his own, and he did it because he judged that I wouldn’t abuse the information, the system, or his trust in me. And, I think, because he agrees with me that Arnold Giancola and the people who agree with him are the single greatest danger we face at this moment.”

“Internally,” Theisman agreed. “Externally?” He shook his head once more. “I still think the Manties, and particularly that jackass Janacek, are more immediate and much more dangerous threats.”

“Tom, Tom.” Pritchart sighed and rubbed both eyes with the palms of her hands, then grimaced at him. “I don’t question your estimate of the degree of stupidity Janacek, High Ridge, or any of the rest of them are capable of. The problem is that we can’t control what they do, however hard we try. The only situation we can even hope to control is our domestic one. The interstellar one is just going to have to take care of itself this time. And if Janacek and his boss do decide to do something stupid, then it’s going to be up to you and the Navy to protect us from its consequences.”

Theisman gazed at her for several unspeaking seconds, and she could almost feel the intensity of the thoughts flickering through the brain behind his eyes.

“You’re absolutely certain this is the way you want to handle it?” he asked finally.

“It’s not the way I ‘want’ to do anything,” she half-snapped. “It’s only the least bad of the half-dozen or so miserable options I see. Kevin may not know specifically what immediate objective Arnold thinks he’s going to accomplish, but I’ll guarantee you that I know at least two of the directions he’s headed in. One is to force my hand—and yours, I suppose—where our negotiating stance with the Manties is concerned. And the second is to position himself to make his own run for President at the next election. If he waits that long.”

“What do you mean, ‘if he waits that long’?” Theisman sat up very straight. “Do you actually think he’s contemplating something along those lines?”

“No. No, I don’t.” He regarded her out of narrowed eyes, and she sighed again. “All right, maybe I do,” she conceded, manifestly unwillingly. “And I wish to Hell that I hadn’t let the possibility slip in front of you, Tom Theisman! Because all I have for certain at this particular moment is the fact that I don’t trust him, I don’t like him, and I know he’s ambitious, opinionated, and pigheaded. None of which is grounds for any sort of ‘direct action.’ ”