"But what about the formulae?" he asked anxiously. "Are you not coming to get them from me?"
"We would like to have them, of course," I replied. "But it is not worth the risk for them alone since there will not be time now for our people to set up production facilities."
"You ask a lot of me," he said heatedly. "I could easily betray you and stay in the factory. You could not remain here indefinitely."
I threw a trump card. "What makes you think the factory is going to stay here indefinitely?"
His face seemed to sicken as I watched. "This means atomic warfare," he said, "and the end of the world."
"If we have to die, you are going to die too. You have about two weeks." I was exaggerating, actually it was two months. "If we don't report success to our headquarters by that time, an atomic submarine, armed with a Polaris missile with atom bomb warhead, has orders to obliterate this whole area."
"No," he shook his head. "No—this is too much. I have had enough of this killing. I will not betray you."
"I didn't think you would," I said drily.
"But I must come with you," he said. "I am afraid the Commissar is becoming suspicious. Yesterday we were warned by intelligence to expect parachuting American raiders and the political commissar was asking me about my botanical excursions. He doesn't like me anyway because I am a Pole, and he may have put someone to watch me and report on my movements." I looked at Blackie and he raised his eyebrows. Was this a shrewd guess on the part of the Russian G-2 people or had some of our rangers been picked up?
"Poor devils," I thought. "They're probably being brainwashed right now. Time is running out on us, for sure. We must get moving right away."