He was pointing to the black woman standing with Patrice. Pell did not choose to mention what I was supposed to see her about. Before I could ask, he was already stalking away, barking orders at everyone in sight. When I got there, Beert and the Docs trailing after, Patrice's eyes were all on Beert, but she hadn't forgotten her manners. 'This is Colonel Marsha Evergood, Dan. She's a neurosurgeon.'
I shook her hand. 'I hear you have a side specialty in amputating Doc limbs,' I said.
She acknowledged the remark with a grin. 'It happens I'm the world's greatest expert on Doc anatomy, Agent Dannerman. I didn't plan it that way, but I've debugged one and autopsied another. Now will you hold still for a minute?'
She didn't wait for an answer. She reached under my babushka to run her fingers over the thing behind my right ear. Marcus Pell came up behind me as she felt and peered and poked. 'Well?' he demanded testily.
The doctor withdrew her hand and gave me a friendly pat on the shoulder. She pursed her lips, considering. 'I can't say for sure without X rays and an ultrasound and maybe a little exploratory surgery, but I'd say it's architecturally similar to the Scarecrow bugs. If so, it has probably invaded a lot of tissue. I doubt I could remove it without risking serious brain damage.'
'Hey,' I squawked, pulling away. Pell didn't even look at me.
'So you think he's transmitting everything he sees?' he asked.
Marsha Evergood shrugged, so I answered for her. 'No! I'm not transmitting anything! It's nothing like that. It isn't a spy bug! It's made by the Horch, not the, uh, Scarecrows, and all it does is give me their language.'
He gave me a glance that time, but didn't respond. The doctor patted my hand reassuringly. I thought what she was trying to tell me was that she wasn't going to turn me into a slobbering idiot with her scalpels, no matter what Marcus Pell wanted. At least I hoped so.
Anyway, whatever decision he might have wanted to make got deferred by another call on his attention. The duty crew had been carrying bits and pieces of loose equipment-including my sack of Horch goodies-out of the sub. They were stacking it all on the floor next to a Bureau van, but they came to a stop. The officer in charge hurried over, looking worried. 'Deputy Director? I don't think we can lift the big cadaver without more men, and we'd better get it into refrigeration pretty fast.'
For a moment it occurred to me to volunteer the Docs for the job, which they could have handled easily, but Pell was already gone to sort this new problem out. Anyway, I wasn't in a mood to do him any favors, and I had something else I wanted to do. I beckoned Pirraghiz and Beert to come forward. 'Patrice,' I said, 'I'd like you to meet my two best friends.'
She stumbled over their names, but gamely stuck her hand out. Being a considerate person, Pirraghiz barely touched Patrice's hand with her enormous, taloned fist, but Beert wrapped one snaky arm around it. He kept his eyes on her but slid his head up close to mine, whispering. When I answered Patrice spoke up. 'What were you saying?' she demanded.
'Oh, well,' I said, trying to think of a lie, deciding to tell her the truth, 'he, uh, wanted to know if you were the human female I was talking about back in his nest.'
'And you said?'
I shrugged and stuck with the truth. 'I said, more or less.'
'Ah,' she said, nodding. 'More or less.' Then she added, in a tone of friendly curiosity, 'Tell me something, Dan. Why do you wriggle your arms and neck that way when you talk to your friends?'
She caught me by surprise. 'Do I? I never noticed it. Maybe I'm just sort of copying the way Beert talks.'
'You ought to try to stop it. It looks pretty dumb.' And the look she was giving me that time had no suggestion of kissing in it.
By then the cleanup crew had loaded the casualties onto a couple of waiting gurneys-and a hand truck for the dead Doc-and Marcus Pell was peremptorily calling my name again. 'Those robot machine things in the sub,' he said, sounding harried. 'The crew's afraid to touch them. Can you make them come out?'
I shook my head. 'No, but Beert can. Give me a minute.' Beert and I climbed back onto the deck, and he called his orders down through the hatch. Both the robots immediately came to life. I wasn't sure how the Christmas tree was going to manage the two ladders, up and down, but it simply extruded four or five more branches and whisked itself along, the fighter robot following briskly.
'Tell them to get in the van,' Pell ordered when they were down. I opened my mouth to ask why, but he didn't give me a chance. 'Do it!' he barked. And while they were doing it, impassive as ever, he climbed onto a crate. 'Listen up, all of you!' he called. Those high-ranking workmen stopped what they were doing and turned toward him. 'You will not, repeat not, ever under any circumstances mention to anyone at all the fact that you have seen any of this Horch technology. The Scarecrow stuff is different; that's covered by the treaty, and in a minute we'll let the UN people and everybody else in this project in to see it. Nothing about the Horch! Understand me? This is a national security matter, and violation carries a death penalty. Plus,' he added savagely, 'I will make you pray for the firing squad long before the sentence is carried out.' He met the eyes of everybody in the loading area, then jumped down and turned to me. 'Tell your Horch friend to get in the van, too,' he ordered.
That was pushing it a step too far. I didn't know what Pell was up to, but I didn't feel like going along with it. I said, 'No.'
Pell looked as astonished as though a waiter had turned down his request for a clean spoon. 'What the hell do you mean, no? That's an order!'
'No,' I said again. 'Beert stays with me. I promised him.'
The deputy director's expression changed. He didn't look angrier; he looked as though he had suddenly turned to ice. 'I don't give a shit what you promised that thing, Dannerman! I want him out of here before anybody else sees him. Do you want me to put you under arrest right now?'
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Hilda's life-support box rolling toward me dangerously, but I ignored her. I said, 'Well, Deputy Director, if that's what you want to do, I guess I can't stop you. I ought to remind you, though, that I'm the only one who can speak to these people. I don't see how I could do that for you if you put me in a detention cell.' He stood silent for a moment, swallowing what I had said to him. It looked as though it might choke him. I went on, 'Anyway, what's the point? Why do you want this stuff taken away?'
He glanced at Hilda, standing silently by, but didn't say anything until he had finished processing the situation in his head. When he had made up his mind all he said was, 'The Horch can stay. Just keep your mouth shut about the equipment.'
I could feel Hilda's warning eyes on me in spite of her oneway glass. I persisted anyway, 'Yes, but why?'
'Security,' he snapped.
That puzzled me. 'I don't see the problem. Isn't this place secure from the Scarecrows?'
Pell had regained his composure. When he answered it was as though our little head-to-head had never happened. 'It's secure from the Scarecrows, sure-I hope. That's not the problem. Camp Smolley is full of UN personnel and I don't want them nosing around the Horch materiel. It's bad enough we have to share the Scarecrow technology with them.'
That was even more of a puzzle. 'Why are you worrying about the UN? I thought the Scarecrows were the enemy.'
Pell gave me the kind of look a kindergarten teacher might give to a child who hadn't covered his coughs and sneezes. 'They're the present enemy, Dannerman. Who knows who our friends are going to be when this is over? Remember what country pays your salary, and keep your priorities straight!'
That was the end of the discussion. Pell turned away and gestured to the van driver, who started up and drove away through a smaller door to the outside.
Then, paying no further attention to me, Pell called to the guard at the inside door: 'Open up! Let's let the rest of the team come in and see what we've got!'
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
I don't know how many people had been waiting impatiently on the other side of those doors, maybe a hundred
