Waste Land, page 5
"More than a good chance --a flaming certainty. But suppose that when he does that, I'm there, too. I'll be asked to attend, because Frank Lazenby worked for me. And suppose that when Markin points you out as the ex-cop who couldn't do a thing right, you pipe up. You say that you and I just had a meeting, and we put things together. That wouldn't be a lie, because we _did _put things together. Without what we both did, we wouldn't have a means for committing murder. Without what we both did, we wouldn't have a motive. And then you tell them the whole story, with me there to back you up. What do you think?"
"I think Tom Markin will shit in his boots. He won't say anything at the time, but he'll do everything he can to have me fired."
"More than he's been doing already? But it will be harder for him, because you will have cracked the most important security problem the lab ever had. _And _you'll have someone --me --with friends in high places, to protect you if Markin tries something. Well?"
"I'm not too good at lying, Dr. Kane."
"Lassandra, please --we're off base and we're off duty. It's not really lying, just a brief delay in reporting. We'll rehearse you tonight, over a twenty-ounce steak and a pitcher or two of beer. What do you say?" When there was no immediate reply, she dug him in the ribs with a sharp elbow. "Come on, Jeff. I know you hate that son of a bitch. Live dangerously for a change. Say you'll do it." Jeff thought, _A twenty-ounce steak and two pitchers of beer? That sounds wonderful, but it's more than my weekly ration of red meat and alcohol. How much more dangerously do you want me to live? _But he could feel a glow of possible future satisfaction. To see the look on Tom Markin's face.... He leaned back in his seat. In spite of a day when he had done everything he had been told not to do, his heart felt fine. No speeding up, no missing beats.
He knew she was looking at him and waiting. At last he said, "Lassandra, I like my job here. I'd hate to be fired and have to go back east. So I won't say yes. But get a little food and drink inside me, and I just might be ready to be persuaded."
Charles Sheffield, Waste Land
