Babel looked down at the fearful face of the technician and back at Lanier. He could threaten the techie, try to use him as a hostage, but he knew that would be hopeless. If Lanier was any match for his reputation, he wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice one man to hold onto Babel, and then Babel would have nothing to bargain with. Lanier was corporate, and Babel knew how little the megacorporate big noises cared for their employees when push came to shove. He slowly got to his feet and stepped away from the prone technician, the carbon-fiber blade silently retracting into his forearm as he did so.