'I'm not interested in whose fault it was,' Steiger said sharply. 'I want to know what happened.'
' I was hit with a stun dart. I didn't see what happened after that, but Dick must have shot him, only he survived long enough to throw Dick through the window before he collapsed trying to get to me. When I came to, the police were there. Inspector Grayson had me taken down to the Yard. The police took charge of the bodies. I guess they must have taken them to the crime lab, because while Grayson was questioning me, Dr. Holcombe came in. He told him the hair samples Conan Doyle took from one of the werewolf's victims matched the man who had attacked us.'
'What did you tell Grayson'!'
'I stuck to my cover story,' she said. 'I kept insisting I was a member of an academic research group from America, but he didn't buy any of it. He's thorough. He had checked everything out. He wired Boston and found out the foundation doesn't exist. He also checked with the American embassy and found out they didn't know anything about us, either. He established that our passports were forged or at least that mine was and he made the connection between our British cover identities and our American ones.'
'What tipped him off?'
'He questioned the hotel staff and they identified Dick as one of the researchers, but he already knew him as a reporter. He followed it up and established that Tom and Scott were with the research group, as well, so now he knows the whole setup was a fake. He put me through a pretty good grilling, but I said I didn't know anything about it. I said I'd been hired through the mail and if my passport was a fake, I had nothing to do with it, because you had gotten it for me. He was already convinced the research group was a front for something, so I tried to convince him I was just part of that front, a victim who'd been conned.'
'Did he buy it'?'
She shook her head. 'He let me go. but he had me followed. I ditched the tail and reported in. I'm sorry, sir, I-'
'Never mind that,' Steiger said. 'You're certain you weren't followed?'
'Yes, sir. I made sure.'
“'There's a chance Grayson might find out about what happened from those two policemen who were here and make the connection,' said Forrester.
'I don't think that's likely,' said Steiger. 'It's a real long shot. -
'I agree.' Delaney said. 'He'd have no reason to see their report and they'd have no reason to attach any significance to it.'
'Neilson, how about the crime lab at Scotland Yard?' said Steiger. 'It's closed now and there won't be anyone around, right?'
'I can give you the transition coordinates,' said Neilson. 'I computed them just in case…”
'Well done,” said Steiger. 'All right, Neilson and Craven, you come with me. The rest of you stay here and touch base with Andre when she reports back in.'
They quickly programmed the transition coordinates for the crime lab into their warp discs. Steiger gave Linda one of the two discs he had taken off Ransome and Rizzo, to replace the one Grayson had taken from her. Moments later, they were standing in the darkened laboratory at Scotland Yard.
'You're certain no one comes in here at night?' said Steiger.
'Yes, sir,' said Neilson, speaking softly. 'Dr. Holcombe always locks up when he leaves. He had me do all the cleaning up before we shut down for the night. He doesn't like to have people poking around his equipment when he's not here.'
'Where would the bodies be kept if they were brought here?' said Steiger.
'They'd be stored in the next room, right through that door there,' Neilson said.
Steiger handed him a disruptor pistol. 'Go find them and get rid of them, right now.'
'Yes, sir.'
Steiger turned back to Linda. 'Grayson has both warp discs, yours and Larson's?'
'Yes, but he tripped the failsafes and fused them.' she said. 'He also has the dart gun that was used on me.'
'Where did you see them?'
'In his office, where he questioned me.'
Neilson returned. 'I found them.' he said. 'I destroyed both bodies.'
'Good ' said Steiger. 'Now-shhh!'
Nobody spoke or moved as someone walked past the lab in the corridor outside. They waited until the footsteps faded away.
'All right,' said Steiger. 'Neilson. I don't suppose you happened to compute the transition coordinates of Grayson's office when you went through his files before?'
'Yes, sir, I did,' said Neilson. 'I thought you might want me to break in there again, so I figured it would be a whole lot easier if I could just clock in there.'
Steiger grinned. 'I'm putting you in for a promotion,' he said. 'Let's hope Grayson's not burning the midnight oil in his office. See if you can find those two warp discs and the dart gun Drakov's creature used. Destroy them and get right back here.'
'Yes, sir.' He clocked out.
They waited tensely until Neilson returned.
'I took care of it,' he said.
Steiger took a deep breath. 'Okay, that leaves us with the question of what to do for our next move. Andre's still out there, tailing Conan Doyle. He may still be with Stoker, in which case she's got them both covered. I want to get back and see if she's touched base. If not. Darkness can home in on her symbiotracer and we can give her some back-up. Assuming her tracer's not gone out like mine has.'
He sighed and shook his head. 'Damn it! We still have no leads on Hesketh and we have no idea how many other people Drakov's creatures may have infected. Judging by what he did to Ransome and Rizzo, we can assume he's not only able to create more of them, but to control them, as well, undoubtedly through implant programming. We're down on manpower and we still have no idea where Drakov's new base is in this time period. And there's still Moreau.'
'Moreau may be our best chance,' said Neilson. 'If what Wells told me is true, Moreau can provide us with additional manpower through Lin Tao.'
“I'll believe it when I see it,” Steiger said. 'I'm not taking anything on faith. Who is this Lin Tao?'
'The head of a secret organization known as the Green Dragon tong,' said Neilson. 'According to Wells, they're practically in control of Limehouse.'
'I'm glad someone's in control of something,' said Steiger wryly. 'I think we'd better clock back and have a long talk with our friend Wells.'
12
Andre came to with a jerk. her body spasming as she regained consciousness. Whatever it was the Chinese man had done to her, he had reversed the effects with a sharp stab of his forefinger on a pressure point in her neck and she reacted as if electrically shocked. He stared expressionlessly into her eyes for a moment, then nodded once and moved back from her to sit on the opposite side of the coach.
Andre took quick stock of her surroundings. The windows of the coach were curtained off, so she could not tell where she was. The coach was not moving. She was not restrained in any way, but two young Chinese men sat on either side of her, both dressed all in black and wearing green headbands. The man who had rendered her unconscious and then revived her sat opposite her in the coach, dressed the same way as, the two on either side of her. Next to him sat a withered old man, also Chinese, with long white hair and a long, wispy white beard. He, too, was dressed in black pajamas, but unlike the others, he was not wearing a green headband. Instead, he wore a small black skullcap.
