"Just who is responsible for this report?" he demanded.
The aide looked aside. "It came in from Riandar Headquarters, your honor," he said. "Colonel Konir signed it himself."
"I can read," snapped Stern. "But who's responsible? What idiot let this thing fall apart?" He shook the papers angrily.
"Look at this thing," he ordered. "Simple instructions were issued. With the organization they have up there, any fool could have carried them out. So long as they kept it simple, even an idiot could have eliminated that Waern nuisance. But no! Someone had to be subtle. Someone had to make a big project out of it. And, of course, something went wrong." He snorted angrily and slapped the papers down on his desk.
"Rayson was responsible in part, I suppose?"
The aide nodded unhappily and Stern let out an explosive breath.
"Your man! Well, at least, where he is, he can do no more harm. Tell me, are they going to get a confession out of that man, Masterson?"
"I doubt it, your honor. He claims to know nothing of the accident. And there isn't a scrap of evidence that——"
"Evidence! There's very little doubt is there? With those notes of Rayson's? And who else could have caused the crash?"
"Well, there certainly is no other——"