For a moment Steele said nothing. His mind seethed, yet he understood.
"Very well, lieutenant. You will stand by for a second bulletin."
The young officer's face faded from the screen, and Steele tried to think. Obvious, of course, but he wondered how much Zukow could be blamed. A frightened man. A coward, perhaps, doing what he thought was right.
But it was not right!
And they must now act swiftly. For if the enemy were warned in sufficient time....
Infinity to zero, Zukow had said, were his odds. Perhaps.
But there would be nineteen J-88s, armed to the fins....
They had kept Zukow waiting three hours after he landed. He had immediately been placed under guard upon setting the unarmed Lancer down at National Spaceport, and they had not believed him until his shouts of protest had been overheard by one of their officers. It had almost been for nothing—
But now they were taking him to the Pentagon; into Taylor's own suite of offices.