SNOW CRASH

312

“Yeah,” Hiro says, feeling his face get hot. Nothing like making a total dickhead out of yourselL Nothing in the world like it, nosireebob.

Outside, the gun battle is just a dim roar. This dining room is insulated from noise, water, wind, and hot flying lead by a double layer of remarkably thick glass, and the space between the panes is full of something cool and gelatinous. The roar does not seem as steady as it used to be.

“Fucking machine guns,” the man says. “I hate ‘em. Maybe one out of a thousand rounds actually hits something worth hitting. And they kill my ears. You want some coffee or something?”

“That’d be great.”

‘We got a big buffet coming up soon. Bacon, eggs, fresh fruit you wouldn’t believe.”

The guy that Hiro saw earlier, up on the deck, pounding Binocular Man on the back, sticks his head into the room.

“Excuse me, boss, but we’re moving into, like, the third phase of our plan. Just thought you’d wanna know.”

“Thank you, Livio. Let me know when the Ivans make it to the pier.” The guy sips his coffee, notices Hiro looking confused. “See, we got a plan, and the plan is divided up into different phases.”

“Yeah, I got that.”

“The first phase was immobilization. Taking out their chopper. Then we had Phase Two, which was making them think we were trying to kill them in the hotel. I think that this phase succeeded wonderfully?’

“Me, too.”

“Thank you. Another important part of this phase was getting your ass in here, which is also done.”

“I’m part of this plan?”

The man with the glass eye smiles crisply. “If you were not part of this plan, you would be dead.”

“So you knew I was coming to Port Sherman?”

“You know that chick Y.T.? The Ofl you have been using to spy on us?”

“Yeah.” No point in denying it.

“Well, we have been using her to spy on you.”