“You better believe it.” Stevens said.
The newcomer walked over to where Steiger sat, firmly tied down to a stout chair. He took him by the hair and pulled his head back so that he could look down into his eyes. Steiger squinted up at him. The man’s face was expressionless.
“He’d really take us out, wouldn’t he’?” the man said.
“In a minute.”
“I suppose that would make it self-defense, then.”
Stevens grinned. “Yeah, I guess it would.”
“Five million dollars is a lot of money,” said the man in front of Steiger. “And I suppose if a temporal disruption did go down, we could always clock back further, where we wouldn’t have to worry about it. Go underground. kick back and take it easy… “
“Now you’re talkin’.” Stevens said.
“I mean, between the rest of us in this section, we’ve already got a tidy sum salted away. Then there’re the goods in the warehouses in Boston, Philadelphia, and Charleston, we could easily liquidate those at a fat profit. wouldn’t have to cut that pie as thin, either… “
“Now you’re getting the idea.” Stevens said.
“You know, when you look at it that way. I suppose it does make a lot of sense-the man said, still looking down at Steiger with no expression on his face. He let his head drop and turned around to face Stevens. “Personally, I never cared much for Carruthers anyway.”
“Well, you don’t have to worry about Carruthers now,” said Stevens.
“So tell me. what are we still doing here? We’ve got Steiger, why don’t we just blow? Why take chances?”
“Because we don’t know if Carruthers talked. Cash wants to make sure. He thinks they’re onto us and he wants to cover our tracks before we risk moving the stuff. And there’s still that shipment coming in.”
“That’s stupid. Why worry about that? If Steiger’s worth five million dead…
“Cash said-”
“Yeah, well, I never cared much for Cash, either.” The man turned around and walked over to the window. He pulled open the drapes and looked out. “If you ask mc. Cash is too damn greedy. So what if Carruthers talked? Who cares about the shipment’? The way things arc, hanging around here’s way too risky.”
“We stand to lose a lot if we leave now.” said Stevens. “Cash says long as we’ve got Steiger-
“Long as we’ve got Steiger, who needs Cash?” the other man said, still looking out the window. “Who needs any of them? We’ve got five million sitting right there in that chair. Split two ways… I mean, we could always tell the cell commander that the commandos got Cash and the others, couldn’t we?”
“Yeah… said Stevens. slowly. “Yeah, I suppose we could at that.”
The man at the window turned around. There was a small stinger pistol in his hand. He fired and the needle dart struck Stevens in the chest. Stevens stared at him with astonishment, then collapsed to the floor.
“You stupid asshole.” the man said, looking down at Stevens with contempt. “You’d kill your own mother for a buck.”
He walked over to where Steiger sat. “So you’re worth five million dollars. huh?” he said, still holding the pistol.
Steiger said nothing.
He put away the pistol. “I just saved your life, Colonel. I sure hope you’re the grateful sort.” He walked around behind the chair, took out a knife, and sliced through Steiger’s bonds. He came around in front of him again.
“Can you stand?”
Steiger stared up at him uncertainly. “I’ll manage.” he said thickly. His lips were cut and swollen and several teeth had been loosened. He lurched to his feet unsteadily. “I don’t get it. How come you’re doing this?”
“Cause I want out.” the man said. “I’ve had it. I draw the line at murder.”
“What do you call that’!” said Steiger, nodding toward the man on the floor.
“That wasn’t a lethal dart, he’ll only be out for about an hour. Name’s Murphy. by the way. Tom Murphy.”