"Do you know who they were?"
"I never saw them before. They were dressed in black uniforms." He looked at Ryan for encouragement, then went on. "It's crazy, but when we got there-"
"We?" Ryan said, "Josh Green, my next in command, went along with
Ben. Don't be afraid to tell Mr. Austin everything you saw, no mat- ter how wild it seems."
Nighthawk shrugged. "Okay, then. When we first got there, we didn't see anything but forest, except for where they were clearing. Then this huge building suddenly appeared out of nowhere." He paused, waiting for Austin to reply with disbelieving laughter.
Austin kept his blue-green eyes leveled. "Go on," he said, his face impassive.
"That's it. Instead of trees, we were looking at a giant dome. Josh and I thought it looked like an Eskimo igloo, only hundreds of times bigger. While we were watching, the top of the thing opened like this." He cupped his hands to form an open clamshell. "Turned out it was a hangar for a blimp."
Austin said, "Something like the Goodyear blimp?" Nighthawk screwed up his mouth in thought. "Naw. Bigger and longer. More like a rocket ship. It even had a name on the fin. Niet- zsche. )
"Like the German philosopher?"
"I guess so," Ben said. "We saw the thing land in the hangar, and the roof closed again, and then a bunch of guys came out the front door. My cousin was in a work gang, and he tried to run for it, and one of those bastards killed him." Nighthawk's voice became choked with emotion.
Ryan put his hand on Nighthawk's shoulder. "That's enough for now, Ben."
Austin said, "I'd like to help. But I'm going to need more details."
Ryan said, "We'll be glad to fill you in, but the information comes with a price."
Austin raised an eyebrow. "I'm a little short of change today, Marcus."
"We're not interested in money. We want SOS and NUMA to work together to bring Oceanus down. We share the information. You include us in any mission."
Austin showed his teeth in a wide grin. "You'd be better off call- ing in the marines, Ryan. NUMA is a scientific organization dedi- cated to gathering knowledge. It's not a military organization."
"C'mon, Kurt, you're being disingenuous," Ryan said, with a knowing smile. "We researched your job at NUMA. This Special As- signments Team you run has come up against some pretty hard cases. You didn't stop the bad guys by whacking them over the head with a scientific treatise."
"You flatter me, Marcus. I don't have the power to authorize a joint mission. I'd have to run it by higher-ups."
Ryan took the answer as a qualified yes. "I new you'd come around," he said triumphantly. "Thank you so much."
"Save your thanks. I have no intention of going to the head hon- chos."
"Why not?" "NUMA would be putting its reputation on the line if it worked with a fringe organization like SOS. On the other hand, you'd gain public support for the Sentinels by putting them under NUMA's um- brella of legitimacy. Sorry. It's a one-sided deal."
Ryan brushed back his hair. "We haven't told you everything, Kurt. I have a personal stake in this, as well. It wasn't just Ben's cousin-Josh Green was killed."
"It was my fault," Ben said. "I ran into the open, and he tried to stop me. They shot him."
"You did what anyone would have done in your place," Ryan said.
Josh was a brave man." "You're talking about two murders now," Austin said. "Have you reported them to the police?"
"No. We want to deal with this ourselves. And there's something olse that may persuade you to change your mind. We tracked down Ae new owner of the land around Ben's lake. It was a real estate straw corporation… set up by Oceanus."
"You're sure of that?" "Positive. Are you with us now?"
Austin shook his head. "Before you buckle on your six-shooters and ride off, let me remind you what you're up against. Oceanus has money, and worldwide connections, and as you've seen, they don't hesitate to commit cold-blooded murder. They'd swat you and any- one you brought in from SOS like a fly. I'm sorry about Ben's cousin and your friend getting killed, but it only proves what I've been say- ing. You'll be putting your people in similar danger." He glanced pointedly at Therri.
"They're willing to take any risk for the environment," Ryan said. "Apparently, NUMA doesn't give a damn about it."
"Hold on, Marcus," Therri said. She had seen Austin's jaw harden. "Kurt has a point. Maybe we could offer a compromise. SOS could work behind the scenes with NUMA."