More and more definitely, as he weighed the pros and cons, the belief was borne in upon him that in this case he must appeal to nobody but himself, count on nobody, trust in nobody save Gabriel Armstrong.
"I must play a lone hand game, for a while at least," he concluded, as he finished his casting and took another.

"Later, perhaps, I can enlist my comrades.

But for now, I must watch, wait, work, all alone.

Perhaps, armed with this knowledge--invaluable knowledge shared by no one--I can meet their moves, checkmate their plans and defeat their ends.

Perhaps! It will be a battle between one man, obscure and without means, and two men who hold billions of dollars and unlimited resources in their grasp.
A battle unequal in every sense; a battle to the death.