‘This must have something to do with it,’ said Ubogu. ‘So the MMM will be held responsible for a catastrophe, then after a crackdown our guys launch a major attack.’
The two reached the conclusion together.
‘A coup!’ they said simultaneously.
Zak had a moment of respect for them. They weren’t as dumb as he had assumed.
‘So the Red King has concocted a master plan,’ said Ubogu with admiration.
‘That’s an amazing plan. You’d have to get the MMM out of the way first,’ said Brigard.
‘Did you hear about that row on the news recently,’ said Ubogu, ‘people were complaining that if Mars suffered a crisis, it would take a long time for the authorities on Earth to deal with it.’
‘So if we took over, we’d have time to build some kind of defence. The Red King would be in control of an entire planet,’ said Brigard, astonished at his own conclusion.
Ubogu started to laugh, but was interrupted.
‘Careless talk!’ said Krushkov, speaking from the Security office. ‘What do they say?’
‘Yes boss,’ muttered both of them nervously.
‘I’ve been listening to all that. I can hear the cogs whirring in your little minds,’ said Krushkov. ‘Yes we will be leaving a bomb. You don’t need to know any more about that, as neither of you are required for that part of the operation. As for the idea of a coup, I’ve never heard such a load of rubbish in my life. We’re here to do a robbery. Suffice to say the bomb is to cover our tracks.’
Zak could see that Brigard was dissatisfied with this explanation.
‘I don’t want to hear you spouting this nonsense to anyone else. Understood!’ said Krushkov.
It wasn’t a question.
‘Yes boss,’ they both answered.
But Zak was listening, and was determined to spout it to someone else. A minute later, he had played back the conversation to Geremi and Herbet, using the audio from his personal video record.
