“But if the operation is losing money
” I began, but he cut me off with a gesture.
“So far … but not for long. You see, I’ve figured out for myself what’s going wrong here.”
“You have? How? I mean, this is your first visit here since the project started.”
I was starting to sweat a bit. Don Bruce was regarding me with an oily reptilian smile I didn’t like at all.
“I saw it in the reports,” he declared. “Clear as the nose on your face. That’s why I know Shai-ster’s an idiot. The problem was right here in front of him and he couldn’t see it. That problem is you.”
My sweat turned cold. At the edge of my vision I saw Tananda run her fingers through her hair, palming one of her poison darts in the process, and Massha was starting to play with her rings. Chumly and Gus exchanged glances, then shifted in their chairs slightly. Of our entire team, only Aahz seemed unconcerned.
“You’ll have to be a little clearer for the benefit of us slow folks,” he drawled. “Just how do you figure that Skeeve here is a problem?”
“Look at the facts,” Don Bruce said, holding up his fingers to tick off the count.
“He’s been here the whole time my boys were having trouble; he knows the Bazaar better than my boys; he knows magik enough to do things my boys can’t handle; and now I find out he’s got a bunch of friends and contacts here.”
“So?” my mentor said softly.
“So? Isn’t it obvious? The problem with the operation is that he should have been working for us all along.”
By now I had recovered enough to have my defense ready.