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Tetsami turned toward Dom. GA&A’s security was his area of expertise. “The safe is a custom job from Kaivaku Security. It was shipped from Kanaka five years ago and incorporated in the foundation of the building. Solid bedrock on four sides. The foundation of the building sits on top of it.”

“You have to go through the front.”

Dom nodded. “Two doors that are interlocked. Not supposed to open at the same time.”

“Doors the same construction?”

“No, the outer door is simply a delaying measure. The real problem is the inner door. It’s a meter thick. The exterior is covered with twenty centimeters of microalloyed steel. Inside the door, behind a casing of woven diamondwire monofilament, is an Emerson field generator with its own power supply. The door’s locked in place electromagnetically and is held up by a hydraulic system—”

Levy held up his hand. “I am getting a picture here, and I don’t think I can help you.”

Tetsami shook her head. “I saw you nodding, Johann. You know you can crack that safe.”

“Perhaps I can— but I’d need to be there. This isn’t a recipe job. You need an expert in the field when you try to pull this off.”

“We know,” said Tetsami.

There was an extended silence. Levy looked at Tetsami, then at Dom. The gray cast to his skin had gotten worse.

After a while Levy started shaking his head. “No.”

Tetsami tried to interrupt, but Levy kept talking. “You know I don’t get involved in the jobs. I can make plans for you. I can build an explosive to nearly any specification. Given enough time I can train you to get into any hardened— No. I don’t go into the field. I’m too old to get my hands dirty.”

Dom felt the corner of his mouth twitch. He tried to suppress it. “Do you know where this safe is, Mr. Levy?”

“That doesn’t matter—”

“Yes, it does,” Dom said. “The safe belongs to Godwin Arms.”

Levy was staring at him now. Dom allowed himself a smile. His cheek stopped wanting to twitch. “GA&A, the company the Confederacy took over.”

Realization seemed to dawn slowly on Levy. “The TEC ... I’m going to need serial numbers and exact specifications on that safe—”

Dom felt the dimple of the bio-interface on his neck. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Tetsami notice his hand move. Her eyebrow arched. She still didn’t know how much of him was hardware. Didn’t matter. “I can give you all the specs you need, all I need is a terminal interface.”

Levy wiped his forehead. “I am still not going to commit to anything until I know how you plan to move in and out without two companies of Confederacy marines erasing the team.”

Tetsami looked at Dom. Dom motioned to her to go ahead. It was still her show. “We know, Johann. Everyone is going to share the risk and the profit. No one goes in who isn’t sure about the plan.”

“Who else?”

“You’re the first we’ve contacted. We had to be sure we can crack the safe when we get there.”

“How many?”

“Two software jocks, two muscle, an electronics whiz, a driver, someone who knows Paralian ship design, and you.”

Levy looked at Dom and asked, “Is he electronics or software?”

Dom answered, “Muscle.”

“As well as our expert on the pre-Confederacy security setup at GA&A,” Tetsami said.

Levy seemed to be calming down. He had stopped sweating and the color was back in his face. “I gathered that from his description of die safe. You’d better have an expert on the inside setup. I’d feel a lot better if he were still inside.”

Dom shrugged. “If I were still inside, this job wouldn’t even be under consideration.”

“I suppose not.” Levy had an expression as though he knew something Dom didn’t. “Have you picked out the other team members?”

Tetsami shook her head. “Not all. I wanted to know if you have any ideas. You’re wired into the community. You’d know who’s available and who’d be interested.”

Levy sighed. “I should charge you for die info.”

Dom pulled out a kilogram note from the IBASC and placed it on top of one of the stacks of paper. “Consider that a retainer.”

“You don’t believe in half-measures, do you?” The kilogram note disappeared. “Off the top of my head, for your electronics and software, talk to Tjaele Mosasa. He’s two of the best free agents on this rock.”

“Two?” Dom asked.

“Talk to him.”

“Where?” Tetsami asked.

“Mosasa works out of Proudhon. He has a surplus place off the spaceport. He’ll be interested. It’ll appeal to his general misanthropy.”

Dom stood up and held out his hand. Levy didn’t take it. “Let’s wait until we have a deal.”

Dom shrugged. “You’ll hear from us.”

Levy nodded. “I’ll find that ship expert for you.”

* * * *

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

War Crimes

“Ethics only become a problem when taken seriously.”

—The Cynic’s Book of Wisdom