wouldn’t be free for ten seconds. The FLAG agents would sweep down on you, carry you off, and turn you over to the Bad Guys. When we lock you up in that cell, I want you to know that we’re doing it for your own good. Believe me, I know those Bad Guys. They’d haul you off and lock you up in a cell somewhere. What kind of life would that be for a fun-loving robot?”
“Why can’t I just be me!” Fred groaned.
“Because you have a duty to Mankind!” Max said. “Why do you think Blossom created you?” To Blossom, he said, “Tell Fred why you created him.”
“I’m a single girl,” Blossom explained to Fred. “Actually, I had Rock Hudson in mind.”
“The other reason!” Max snapped.
“Oh. Well, you see, I bought this set for my nephew for his birthday, and I wanted to see-”
“Never mind!” Max broke in. To Fred, he said, “I’ll tell you why she created you. Because… because…” He scowled. “Because she’s a butterfingers, that’s why!” he finally said disgustedly.
“Rorff!” Fang barked.
Max whipped around. “Where? Where?”
“Rorff!”
Max peered back along the street in the direction from which they had come. He squinted, then said, “You’re right, Fang! Good boy!”
“What is it?” Blossom said fearfully.
“Fang has the eyes of an eagle,” Max said.
“But what is it?”
Max pointed. “See that little delicatessen back there… we passed it only a moment ago.”
“Yes… yes…”
“See that man standing there leaning against the window?”
“Yes…”
“And just to the right of him, see that sign?”
“Yes, yes, yes… what is it?”
“It says they’re having a sale on liverwurst,” Max said. “Liverwurst is Fang’s favorite.” He patted Fang’s head. “As soon as this case is closed, we’ll drop back and pick up a pound or two,” he said.
Blossom stared at Max. Then she stared at Fang. Then she turned and walked on ahead alone.
“It’s the pressure of living in constant danger,” Max explained to Fred. “It’s beginning to tell on her. Some people just aren’t cut out for it.”
When Max, Fred and Fang finally reached Max’s automobile, Blossom was in the front seat, on the glove compartment side, peering icily straight ahead.
“Relax,” Max said to her as he and the others got into the car. “Ten minutes from now this will all be a distant memory. At least, that’s the way it is with me. The second a case ends, I forget all about it. I remember in the summer of ’61-”
“Drive!” Blossom growled.
Max switched on the ignition. There was a sound like a backfire.
“Oops!” Max said. He got out and looked at the car that was parked behind his. Then, returning and getting behind the wheel again, he said, “I’ve always claimed these new models didn’t have enough ventilation in front, anyway. The guy who owns that Buick will probably thank me for it.”
He started the engine and turned the car out into traffic.
They had gone no more than a block when Blossom suddenly turned in the seat and looked out the rear window. “That car back there!” she said. “It’s trying to overtake us. It’s darting in and out of traffic!”
Max consulted his rear-view mirror. “You’re jumping to a conclusion,” he said. “That looks like normal New York driving to me.”
There was the zing of a bullet. The rear-view mirror shattered.
“Is that normal!” Blossom shrieked, ducking down, hiding below the seat.
“Nooooooo,” Max said reflectively, “I wouldn’t say that it’s entirely normal. But… sometimes there are extenuating circumstances. Let’s wait it out and see what happens.”
Another bullet whined by the car.
“Do something!” Blossom cried.
“The one thing I’m not going to do is assume the obvious,” Max said. “The traffic is heavy… it’s easy to lose your sense of perspective in heavy traffic. That may be the explanation.”
The car drew up alongside. A bullet whizzed in the front window, which was open, and missed Max’s eyebrows by less than a quarter of an inch.
“Hmmmm,” he mused, “in this instance, the obvious seems to be correct. Well… live and learn.”
Max stepped hard on the accelerator and the car shot forward.
He glanced back. The pursuing automobile was right behind him! Bullets filled the air!
“Fortunately,” Max said, “I’m prepared for such a situation.” Calmly, he turned his attention to the car’s control panel. “Now, let’s see… which is the button for that smoke screen? It was here when I left the garage this morning…”
Bullets splattered against the car!
“Dooooooooo Somethiiiiiiing!” Blossom pleaded.
“Can I help it if I’ve misplaced my smoke screen button? It could happen to anybody. Let’s see… I had the car washed… could it be that… ah, ah… here it is!”
“Push it! Push it!”
“It isn’t the type button you push,” Max said. “It’s a pull button.”
“Then pulllllllit!
“You really ought to come up here and watch this,” Max said. “It’s something to see. I’ll pull this button, a jet of thick, black smoke will shoot out the exhaust pipe, and the car behind us will be completely enveloped.”
“Don’t talk!” Blossom begged. “Show me!”
“Well, all right… if you want to miss a good show.”
Grimly-but not without a flicker of smug expectation in his eye-Max pulled the button.
From the rear of the car came an explosion. “That’s it!” Max cried exultantly.
It was.
A thick cover of black smoke began to enclose and then-through the open window-infiltrate Max’s car.
“It’s coming in here!” Blossom screamed.
Max tried to scatter the smoke from in front of his eyes. “There appears to be a malfunction,” he said. “The smoke is supposed to go backwards, not forward. Apparently the wind is in the wrong direction.”
The fog inside the car thickened. Blossom began coughing. Fang began howling.
“Stop the car!” Blossom wailed.
“That might not be a bad idea-since the street seems to have disappeared,” Max said.
He jammed on the brakes. The car screeched to a halt.
“All out-women and dogs first!” Max cried.
The car doors flew open. Max, Blossom and Fang ran from the car-then stopped at the edge of the cloud of smoke that completely obscured it.
“No harm done,” Max said confidently. “The smoke will settle in a few minutes, then we can get back into the car and go on.”
“Fred!” Blossom said. “He’s still in there!”
“Fang will get him!” Max said. “Go to it, boy!”
Fang dashed off-in the opposite direction. He holed up in a doorway.
“All right for you!” Max called after him. “It will be a hot day in January before you get any liverwurst out of me-sale or no sale.” To Blossom, he said. “Don’t worry! I’ll get Fred out of there!”
Max ran to the car. He disappeared into the cloud of smoke.
“Hurry!” Blossom wept.
From the denseness of the smoke came Max’s voice. “I’ve got him! I’m coming out!”
Max reappeared. He staggered from the smoke, carrying an armload of mechanism. Wires hung from it. A lever dangled loose.
