The Green Ripper tem. It will pick right up to a thousand meters a second, which is somewhere around two thousand miles an hour. It has a four-mile range and it’ll hit the hottest thing it can find, which will be a jet en- gine, and it’s got enough muscle to blow off a wing or a tail, whatever. They come six in a case, labeled kitchen equipment, and we’ve got ten cases. It’s a low-risk operation. The best way is a telephone company truck. You always see them off on back roads, and you never think twice about it.”
“Commercial airports?”
“We certainly couldn’t get close enough to military ones even if we wanted to.”
“Where are they made7”
“It doesn’t say. The instructions come in six languages.”
I hoped I did not look as shaken as I felt. If only one out of every six ignited and hit a target, it would be the worst airline disaster of all time. “Ladies and gentlemen, we are on our final approach to San Francisco International Airport. Please put out all cigarettes and make sure your seat belts are fastened and your tray tables are in an upright position. It has been our pleasure serving you, and we hope you will fly…” team.
He picked it up gently and, holding it so as not to smear his paint job, carried it off toward the warehouse. I went back into the mess hall. It was my turn on the food detail. I stared at the supplies and couldn’t decide what to have. I felt queasy.
I jumped a foot in the air when somebody “lapped me on the behind. It was Stella, back from her morning wars, grinning, showing a lot of uneven teeth. And smelling faintly of cordite.
‘Frey, you got bad nerves, Brother Tom.”
‘books that way.”
‘I should come on by tonight and relax you. But, come to think of it, well have to make it another time. I’m on the gate midnight to dawn. What’s the matter with you? You act down. Is anything wrong?”
“No. Everything is just peachy. Help me figure out what to cook up.”
“Get out of the way. Let me see what we’ve got. Boy, there isn’t much. But there’s two less for lunch, and Brother Persival and Brother Alvor will be back later on with fresh supplies.”
“Who’s down on the gate??’
“Brother Sammy, I think.”
“Should somebody take something down to him?”
“He can eat after he’s relieved.”
‘I don’t even know who runs the duty roster.”
“Brother Chuck? mostly. Unless Brother Persival wants something done different. Have you been studying your book?”
“The Loving Heart? It sure isn’t easy reading.”
“You can say that again. You know, there are parts I have to skip every time.”
Vhat I was thinking, if I could read some of it
The Green Ripper into a tape recorder, one of those little ones I saw, I could learn it faster.”
“Oh, I can get you one of those. We’ve got two in our trailer. And lots of empty tape. Want it right now?”
“Why not7”
She gave me a warm look and a loving smile and went trotting off, leaving her pack, weapon, and belt in the corner of the kitchen area. I moved close enough to it to see that the Uzi clip was full up. They get used to having you around. Good old McGraw. He’s getting plenty of exercise, enough food. We’ve got his money and we’re supposed to be hunting for his daughter. Keep an eye on him, of course, but nobody is exactly worried about him.
I had tried to give myself another advantage too. During the field exercises I had tried to keep going when it called for endurance, but I had dogged it when it was something calling for quick. I had blundered around when the order was for silent approach. When we ran the improvised obstacle course, I arranged to finish almost last every time. In unarmed combat, I let the men drop me with a certain amount of fuss and trouble. I was rounding off into top shape, putting on a nice edge. As I clumsied along, I studied each of them to see their flaws. Barry was muscle-bound from too much body building. Haris was very quick but without adequate physical strength. Sammy was too wildly energetic. He didn’t plant himself for leverage, and he tried to move in too many directions at onch Ahman was quick and strong and crafty, once he had made up his mind, but he was prone to fatal hesitations. Chuck was the best of them, without a weakness except perhaps a tendency to exhibit more grace than was required, to turn his best profile toward an imaginary camera, to leap a little higher, spin more quickly than the exercise required.