Devil's Ransom
an excerpt

Every so often, Heller would slam his hand down on the table at a meeting and make some bluntly-revealing statement that rankled the egos and cowed the loyalists and just amused the handful of people who did not fall into either category, but today was not one of those days. Today he had only contempt for the whole process, and dismay at the thought of repeating it again a week from now.

===
More excerpts can be found at: http://emperial.livejournal.com/19235.html