'Now that High Elder Brill knows where you are, he'll send someone else after you. He's got ten more like Bekman, and he won't give up.' He shrugged.
'Of course, you can always pack up and run again.' There was a knock at the door. Ogram spun
around, startled. The knock came again.
'Damn!' Ogram hissed. He glanced at the wardrobe, then moved to the open window and looked through it. The window overlooked a broad expanse of lawn. Paul knew it was at least a threemeter drop to the ground.
'Guess I can make that,' Ogram said doubtfully. Then, to Dorland: 'You won't change your mind and come along?'
Dorland stared at him without speaking.
'Doesn't surprise me,' Ogram said. He tucked the gun into a pocket of his coveralls and turned to grasp the windowsill. He pulled himself up and over and disappeared. Paul heard a single muted oof! before the knock came again at the door, louder and more insistent. He got up and crossed the room to unlock the door. As it sighed open, he heard Steph Hendrikson's voice raised in anger:
'—told you that Mr. Avery was not to be disturbed!' What now! Paul felt close to the end of his patience. He stepped back as a man in a uniform strode into the room, followed by a red-faced Hendrikson. Two burly guardsmen stood just outside the door.
'I'm Erich Frakes,' the officer said to Dorland, moving his eyes slightly to include Paul in the introduction. He was tall and broad-shouldered, with a full face that was scarred across one cheek by a badly healed sizzler bum. He wasn't a Guard officer—the gray-and-black uniform was of the Security Section. The emblem on his lapel identified him as a captain. 'I'm with Omega Security, on temporary assignment to the local—'
CLARION
27
'That doesn't mean you have the right to charge in here like you own the place,' Hendrikson snarled, his cheeks blazing.
'It's all right, Steph,' Paul said, touching the young man's arm to calm him down. Confrontations always upset Dorland's delicate nervous system, and his nerves had already been put through enough for one day. But Paul was curious about the captain's statement. 'A report has already been filed with the Guard. Why is Security involved?'
Frakes shrugged as if the matter didn't concern him. 'Sabre thinks the men who attacked Mr. Avery may be involved in an interstream matter.'
'Parke Sabre?' Paul said with surprise. Parke Sabre was Security Director for Omega Centauri Sector, and the highest ranking UNSA official in the Omega Sector. 'Why is he interested in this?' Frakes moved his shoulders slightly. 'Maybe you ought to ask him. He's waiting at the local Guard office.'
30 William Greenleaf
horizon when Frakes guided the Aire Vega down toward a connected group of modem, cubelike office buildings. Thick vegetation surrounded the complex, and farther out Paul could see residential clusters—large, rambling buildings in brown and beige.
Frakes landed in an open stall on the roof of one of the mid-level buildings and popped open the Aire Vega's gullwing doors. The whine of the engine keened downscale.
'How long will this take?' Paul asked as he ducked under the door and stepped onto the tiled roof. 'Mr. Avery has another show in two hours.'
'No problem,' Frakes said in a tone that revealed little concern. Not his problem, he means, Paul thought angrily.
Frakes led them in a diagonal line across the roof, picking his way easily through the parked flyers and streamcraft until he reached a section of the building that jutted above the parking level. He thumbed the lock of an unmarked door and led the way into a narrow, brightly lighted corridor. The two guardsmen stepped in behind them, but turned down another hallway and disappeared without a word.
The corridor was lined with numbered, woodveneer doors and opened into a lobby farther down. Paul heard distant voices and the erratic chatter of a high-speed printer. Frakes stopped in front of one of the doors before they reached the lobby. He thumbed the lock and pushed open the door, then moved out of the way to let Paul and Dorland step through into a small conference room.
'Sabre's on his way down. Have a seat if you want.'
