“Oh yes.” Maxwell cast a glance at the oily Arcturus, prowling step by confident step toward them like an overfed cat. “I’m ever so much better armed than I was the last time I stood here.”
Adolphus reached them in time to hear the comment. He looked Maxwell up and down with disdain. “Have we met, then?”
“Not y—” Maxwell cut himself off. The course would be departed from. A box of gold-plated connectors, an army of foot soldiers, a successful field test, a submersible. For a moment, Katarina’s certainty caught him up as well; for a moment, he believed it could be done. He looked Adolphus up and down in his turn, and changed his response. “No, can’t say as we have.”
Katarina departed for home after an exhaustive planning session with Maude Briggs. “If she were not personally loyal to Bas
