He sweated nervously as he approached the office door. He tapped the 'call' button. After a five-second pause, a raspy voice answered, "Yes?"
"Sir, it's Cato. I have a report from Dr. van der Waals."
Another pause. "Enter." The doors opened.
The office was very dimly lit. The only light appeared to be from the small desk light on the desk and from the sleeping system below. Cato swallowed as Lazarus looked up. His face was invisible in the darkness. The light was pointed away from him. Lazarus' long hair obscured most of his face anyway. Something glowed red under the hair covering his right side. Lazarus frowned. "Yes?"
"Sir, we have received the results of Dr. van der Waals' tests of the nano-bombs. They performed better than expected," Cato informed him.
Lazarus said nothing at first. Then, "And where is the doctor?"
Cato swallowed. "Uh, he's dead. So are Kano and Colb."
Again, a pause before answering. Lazarus' voice took an edge. "And who did this?"
Cato swallowed again. "Uh, DaVinci, Quinn Rentack, the Flip Side Felons, the Exley brothers, Zilch and Niente Aught, and, uh, Lean Il Lupe." Lazarus gave a rattling hiss. He stood and swung his arm, knocking the light off his desk. His hair swept away from his face, and Lazarus' right eye glowed red as he glared at the anemic flunky. "The Wolf?! He destroyed van der Waals?!"
"Y-yes, sir."
Lazarus roared. "Tell Archer to proceed with Project Cleanse!" Cato nodded and fled through the doors, which slammed shut behind him. Lazarus leaned against the window and stared down at the system below. " 'And He shall smite all the wicked,' " Lazarus said to himself, smiling cruelly. He raised his head, staring at the system's sky. "Oh, yes, there shall be a reckoning."