Phantom Prospect - Alex Archer [85]
“Not unless they have to. I’d much rather you anticipate the countdown in the opposite way I will be.”
“Why have you got such a grudge against me?”
Henderson shook his head. “My dear, I don’t have a grudge against you or your friend. This is simply business. You two wandered into an area where you shouldn’t have and regrettably, you must pay the price for that curiosity.”
Annja frowned. “You could always let us go.”
“And have you tell the world what I’ve done here?”
“As soon as that bomb goes off, the rest of the world is going to know what you did. How else will you explain your sudden appearance on the scene to tap into the oil reserves hidden here?”
Henderson smiled. “By the time the officials of the United States and Canada get their act together, I will already have sucked this particular reservoir dry and moved it to another site in international waters where I can claim that I struck the reserve myself using my money. And then I’ll simply start selling it at such a bargain price that the OPEC countries will find themselves teetering on economic collapse. I’ll have a line of countries wanting to do business with me for my low prices, and before anyone realizes what’s happening, it will be too late. The oil will be gone, I’ll be rich and no one will be the wiser.”
“You’ve made that sound far too easy. There’s no way that will ever work and you know it,” Annja said.
“I’m not hearing any convincing arguments from you, Annja. If you’ve got a point to make, I’ll entertain it, but if you’re just stalling for time, I’m afraid you’re working on the wrong man.”
Annja shook her head. “They’ll take you out. You won’t have a safe haven anywhere in the world. You’ll be hunted down like a dog.”
Henderson laughed. “You do have a very simplistic view of the world’s politics, don’t you? In reality, no one will care. The elected officials will be happy that they suddenly have access to oil at remarkably low prices. They can bulk up their strategic reserves and have enough for at least a half century without buying anything from the Middle East.”
“And you expect those countries to collapse?”
“Why wouldn’t they? Nothing but a bunch of sand dwellers who happened upon the world’s bulk of oil. Not very equitable, is it?”
“I don’t know,” Annja said. “Considering a lot of their real estate isn’t arable, I’d say it’s almost a fair trade.”
“They’re barbarians,” Henderson said. “And they should be treated as such. When I release the oil and they have no customers, they’ll wither away and die. There will be a rush to try to sustain themselves in some other economic fashion, but it will be far too late for most of them.” Henderson rubbed his chin. “Although the United Arab Emirates might do all right. Ingenious bastards, that lot. Those folks in Dubai are wizards.”
“That’s acceptable to you?”
“Oh, I believe we can have a Dubai in the world and not lose much sleep over it.”
“Your actions will simply spawn a new era of panglobal terrorism. Tons of innocent people will die. And it will all be because of you.”
Henderson shrugged. “Perhaps.”
“And you can sleep at night with that hanging over your head?”
Henderson laughed. “Actually, I sleep very well indeed. But I thank you for your deep concern. It’s almost touching.”
“You’re a maniac.”
“Undoubtedly.”
Annja stopped. “It’s not too late to stop this.”
Henderson shook his head. “I’m getting tired of this conversation, Annja. I’d hoped you might be rather more amusing than this. But instead of giving me any original thought, you simply tell me not to do it. Disappointing.”
“Well, jeez…”
“I’m not one to abandon a project after I’ve already committed almost fifty million dollars to it. Fifty million, Annja. Do you have that kind of cash available? Would you like to pay me off so you can save your precious lives and this area of the ocean?”
“I don’t have that kind of money and you know it.”
He shrugged. “Well, you never know. There was a fantastic article in one of the magazines I read about the