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diplomacy before, remember? Get somebody younger, General. This trooper’s learned that the US doesn’t need that shit—and the world sure as hell doesn’t need it!”
    The civilian thrust himself back in his chair, glaring angrily at both officers. To Kelly’s surprise, the Naval Attaché was nodding morose agreement.
    “As a matter of fact, Mr. Kelly,” General Pedler said, “I had a very similar reaction when the project was first broached to me. Like you, I’ve spent a great deal of my working life outside the US proper . . . and I learned very early that you don’t work very well with foreigners if you think they’re all wogs. What changed my mind about the mission is the information I’m about to give you.”
    “Ah, Wally,” said the captain, “do you think it’s a good idea to. . . .”
    Pedler looked at the other officer. “Why yes, Mark,” he said with a trace of mockery, “I do think it’s a good idea to carry out this mission. That’s why I’m going to give Mr. Kelly enough background to convince him of the same thing.”
    The Defense Attaché stood up and strolled to his window. “The counterintelligence boys check out everybody who rents a room over there that faces the embassy,” Pedler said, waving an index finger toward the Boissy d’Anglais. “They still want me to put up opaque drapes, I say screw’em. Didn’t join the Air Force to spend my life in a coffin. But a lot of things I say with my back to the glass.” He turned toward the civilian.
    “Very simply,” Pedler continued, “a Russian scientist had found a way to destroy all US strategic weapons within seconds of launch. He had a particle beam device, you’ve probably heard mention of it before. The concept is simple, but a way to turn the concept into a weapon is something else again. It appears that the Russians have it. Fortunately, the hardware—the electronic nuts and bolts of the device—isn’t simple either . . . and that, the Russians haven’t got.” He paused.
    Kelly stroked his jaw. “Okay,” he said. “They don’t have the gadget and we don’t have the gadget. I haven’t heard any reason to panic yet.”
    “The reason,” said the general, and the intensity of his voice underscored his words more vividly than a mere increase in volume could have done, “is that the Russians will have the necessary manufacturing technology very shortly. If they can’t develop it themselves, they’ll get it from the West. Some nation, some private company or group of companies, will find it expedient to provide that technology. We live in a world, Mr. Kelly, in which nations as diverse as Libya and Israel find it expedient to send arms to the Iranians in their war with Iraq. The Russians will get their hardware. Within five years. There will be a nuclear exchange; and Mr. Kelly, only the Russian weapons will reach their targets.”
    Pedler took a deep breath. “That is what will happen,” he concluded, “unless the Russian physicist who developed the weapon defects to the West, as he wants to do. As we want you to make possible.”
    Kelly eyed the two officers as if they were in a police line-up. “You could be lying through your teeth, General,” he said flatly.
    “No, Mr. Kelly,” General Pedler replied, “I don’t think I could—not to your face, not and expect to be believed. But if you want to think that somebody sold me a bill of goods . . . well, I can’t stop you from thinking that. All I can say is that I am convinced, or I wouldn’t be talking to you now.”
    “Jesus,” Kelly said, rubbing his temples with his eyes closed. “Jesus.” Then looking at Pedler with none of the hostility of a moment before, “Look then, do I have . . . have full control of handling the thing if I take it on?”
    “Well, if you want carte blanche ,”said Captain Laidlaw, consciously trying to smooth the frown from his forehead, “that might depend on your definition of the term.”
    “You’ve got my