Kurt stared intently at the screen over which the space plane was flying. That was President Myers' plane. He clenched his hands into fists behind his back at the thought.

For a moment, anger welled up inside him, the soldier's discipline vanished and a man with a grudge emerged. Even though he would never have admitted it openly, he had to realise that he was nervous.

One shot was all he got. If this attack went wrong, then exactly what you warned him about would happen. If Myers survived, it meant civil war.

It had to look like an accident, everything had to be perfectly covered up. Best case was that no one realised.

And yet he had no doubts. If he had to bomb a president out of the sky to save your life, he would.

Only he wasn't sure what would become of So Mi. She was more cunning than she let on, he was convinced of that. And it was better to be safe than sorry. He didn't want to take any unnecessary risks, especially if it meant that Cynosure could be stolen.

The muscle in his jaw twitched. His white eyes briefly flicked to the report of the air defence missile.

One of his Barghest people had altered the manufacturing code, made it unrecognisable where the thing had come from, where it had been bought.

Besides, he had hired a merc to fly a few rounds over Night City and the surrounding area before the actual target was attacked. This blurred the tracks.

Everything had been planned down to the smallest detail. There was only one thing he hadn't thought through: he hadn't told you. Even though he knew that you had no other option, he didn't want to involve you any further than was necessary.

So if in doubt, you could simply deny everything if his plan turned out to be a mistake. Although that would be a death sentence for both of you and the whole of Dogtown.

"Report.", he turned to the soldier next to him.

It was one of his few trustworthy men, even if not unconditionally. Jago Szabó was the unofficial treasurer of the Barghest. If there was anyone who knew about Eddies and numbers, it was him.

Besides, his perfectionism made him perfect for making sure the numbers were always in the green. Kurt found the man a little too fussy, but that could be forgiven - after all, he was doing a good job. Just like now.

Without a word, Jago held a tablet under his nose. Odds and probabilities were listed on screen, fed by an algorithm that rarely made mistakes. At least when it came to the Black Sapphire Casino winning.

"Thirty per cent.", Kurt said to himself.

A third. He had a third of a chance that everything would fall as it should. But in the end, that wasn't a bad thing. Sometimes one had to be lucky.

"Twenty-six point five.", Jago corrected with his eyebrows drawn together.

Scepticism gleamed in the brown of his eyes. With a gesture, Kurt dismissed him without answering.

He knew that some of his men were beginning to wonder if he wasn't flying a little too close to the sun. They thought he was too power-hungry, too uncontrolled. Like a dog with rabies. Disobedience spread among the Barghest.

Something like this would never have happened in the past. If only he had had his Lady Sapphire by his side, no one would have dared to form such thoughts. You would have tamed them all with your ability to instil fear and they would have remained well-behaved pets.

But things were changing. And he felt more and more the urge to have you back at his side, in the public eye. It was high time he got his Lady Sapphire back. And then he could consolidate his position again.

"Prepare the air strike.", he ordered and took a deep breath.

His hands found the leather harness on his chest. A small bag made of the same brown leather hung from it. With one movement he opened the button and fished out a cigarette with two fingers.

Although from the outside everything looked as if he was calm, the colonel couldn't help but smoke to calm his nerves.

Everything depended on this moment. His future and your life. He wanted both. Needed both.

Together.

Soft orange glowed as he took a deep breath from the cigarette and felt the familiar scratching in his lungs.

"Missile is ready.", announced Jago.

Warnings appeared on the screen.

With a hum, Kurt gave the command to fire.

A live image of the presidential flight appeared. The aircraft flew quietly while a timer steadily diminished. It would take a few minutes for the rocket to reach its target. Until then, he had no choice but to wait.

His gaze jumped over his shoulder. So far, nothing had moved, nobody had come into the room. Somehow that worried him. He had reckoned that you would see through his plan and try to change his mind until the possibilities were better. After all, he knew how clever you were.

Even if many actions seemed moody and spontaneous, they were always well planned, with brutal efficiency. If the odds were bad, then you wouldn't carry out the plan. Or create better prospects for yourself.

All Kurt did at that moment was took a gamble. The odds were against him in all ways, so all that was left was luck. And nobody knew how much of it was left after he had created the whole of Dogtown.

Yuri stepped to his side, his eyes lowered.

"We can wipe out the others.", he assured the colonel in a hushed voice. "But Myers... her background in the Marines makes the men nervous."

Eyebrows drawn together, Kurt put on his best ruler face.

"Nobody has to worry about Myers.", he assured, watching on the screen as the missile slammed into the plane full broadside. "Catch the netrunner, So Mi. songbird. Whatever. Myers is mine."

With these words, he turned round and disappeared so quickly that it felt as if he had crumbled to dust.