“If you don’t mind my asking, Captain, why not just push for the assignment flat out? I’m not in much of a position to argue with you.”
“That’s a fair question, Governor,” the commander said. “You see, I’m trying to build my company’s confidence in itself. If they can earn that contract in a fair competition with the Regular Army, or even make a decent showing for themselves, their confidence should increase. Buying the contract, or pressuring you into giving it to them, would tend to have the opposite effect. It would give every indication that I believed the only way they could get the job is if I bought it for them. The truth is, I have every confidence in my troops that in an open, fair competition, they can perform as well or better than anything the Regular Army can offer.”
“Interesting,” the governor murmured thoughtfully. He stared out the window, then shook his head.
“Nope. I can’t do it. Since you’ve got a gun to my head, Captain, I might as well be honest with you. Normally I’d take your money, then get back to you with a message that I had been outmaneuvered. The way things are, though, you’d probably take it as a double cross and shit all over my loan application. The actual situation is that I can’t help your boys, even enough to give them a chance. I’ve already signed the contract with the Regular Army for the job, and I can’t get out of it if I wanted to.”
“Oh, I expected that, Governor,” Phule said easily. “I believe there is one loophole that you could wiggle out of … if you were so inclined, that is.”