had taken place immediately after the adoption and putting pressure on Boothroyd by threatening to appeal to the Nest of Kkkah. But they had found Bonforte, had simply run across him in the street before they left Old Town — a poor old stumblebum with a week's beard, dirty and dazed. The men had not recognized him, but Penny had known him and made them stop.
She broke into sobs again as she told me this part and we almost ran down a truck train snaking up to one of the loading docks.
A reasonable reconstruction seemed to be that the laddies in the second car — the one that was to crash us — had reported back, whereupon the faceless leaders of our opponents had decided that the kidnapping no longer served their purposes. Despite the arguments I had heard about it, I was surprised that they had not simply killed him; it was not until later that I understood that what they had done was subtler, more suited to their purposes, and much crueler than mere killing.
«Where is he now?» I asked.
«Dak took him to the
«Is that where we are headed?»
«I don't know. Rog just said to go pick you up, then they disappeared in the service door of the hostel. Uh, no, I don't think we dare go there. I don't know what to do.»
«Penny, stop the car.»
«Huh?»
«Surely this car has a phone. We won't stir another inch until we find out — or figure out — what we should do. But I am certain of one thing: I should stay in character until Dak or Rog decides that I should fade out. Somebody has to talk to newsmen. Somebody has to make a public departure for the
«What? Oh, he couldn't possibly. You didn't
«So I didn't. I'll take your word for it. All right, Penny, I'm “Mr. Bonforte” again and you're my secretary. We'd better get with it
«Yes — Mr. Bonforte.»
«Now try to get Captain Broadbent on the phone, will you, please?»
We couldn't find a phone list in the car and she had to go through «Information,» but at last she was tuned with the clubhouse of the
Penny covered the microphone. «Do I give my name?»
«Play it straight. We've nothing to hide.»
'This is Mr. Bonforte's secretary,» she said gravely. «Is his pilot there? Captain Broadbent.»
«I know him, dearie.» There was a shout: «Hey! Any of you smokers see where Dak went?» After a pause she went on, «He's gone to his room. I'm buzzing him.»
Shortly Penny said, «Skipper? The Chief wants to talk to you,» and handed me the phone.
«This is the Chief, Dak.»
«Oh. Where are you — sir?»
«Still in the car. Penny picked me up. Dak, Bill scheduled a press conference, I believe. Where is it?»
He hesitated. «I'm glad you called in, sir. Bill canceled it. There's been a — slight change in the situation.»
«So Penny told me. I'm just as well pleased; I'm rather tired. Dak, I've decided not to stay dirtside tonight; my gimp leg has been bothering me and I'm looking forward to a real rest in free fall.» I hated free fall but Bonforte did not. «Will you or Rog make my apologies to the Commissioner, and so forth?»
«We'll take care of everything, sir.»
«Good. How soon can you arrange a shuttle for me?»
«The
«Very good. Out.»
«Out, sir.»
I handed the phone to Penny to put back in its clamp. «Curly Top, I don't know whether that phone frequency is monitored or not — or whether possibly the whole car is bugged. If either is the case, they may have learned two things — where Dak is and through that where
She looked thoughtful, then took out her secretary's notebook, wrote in it:
I nodded, then took the book from her and wrote in it:
She answered:
Silently we climbed out and left. She had pulled into some executive's parking space outside one of the warehouses when she had parked the car; no doubt in time it would be returned where it belonged — and such minutiae no longer mattered.
We had gone about fifty yards, when I stopped. Something was the matter. Not the day, certainly. It was almost balmy, with the sun burning brightly in clear, purple Martian sky. The traffic, wheel and foot, seemed to pay no attention to us, or at least such attention was for the pretty young woman with me rather than directed at me. Yet I felt uneasy.
«What is it, Chief?»
«Eh?
«Sir?»
«I'm not being the “Chief.” It isn't in character to go dodging off like this. Back we go, Penny.»
She did not argue, but followed me back to the car. This time I climbed into the back seat, sat there looking dignified, and let her chauffeur me to Gate 3.
It was not the gate we had come in. I think Dak had chosen it because it ran less to passengers and more to freight. Penny paid no attention to signs and ran the big Rolls right up to the gate. A terminal policeman tried to stop her; she simply said coldly, «Mr. Bonforte's car. And will you please send word to the Commissioner's office to call for it here?»
He looked baffled, glanced into the rear compartment, seemed to recognize me, saluted, and let us stay. I answered with a friendly wave and he opened the door for me. «The lieutenant is very particular about keeping the space back of the fence clear, Mr. Bonforte,» he apologized, «but I guess it's all right.»
«You can have the car moved at once,» I said. «My secretary and I are leaving. Is my field car here?»
«I'll find out at the gate, sir.» He left. It was just the amount of audience I wanted, enough to tie it down solid that «Mr. Bonforte» had arrived by official car and had left for his space yacht. I tucked my life wand under my arm like Napoleon's baton and limped after him, with Penny tagging along. The cop spoke to the gatemaster, then hurried back to us, smiling. «Field car is waiting, sir.»
'Thanks indeed.» I was congratulating myself on the perfection of the timing.
«Uh...» The cop looked flustered and added hurriedly, in a low voice, «I'm an Expansionist, too, sir. Good job you did today.» He glanced at the life wand with a touch of awe.
I knew exactly how Bonforte should look in this routine. «Why, thank you. I hope you have lots of children. We need to work up a solid majority.»
He guffawed more than it was worth. «That's a good one! Uh, mind if I repeat it?»
«Not at all.» We had moved on and I started through the gate. The gatemaster touched my arm. «Er ... Your passport, Mr. Bonforte.»
I trust I did not let my expression change. «The passports, Penny.»
She looked frostily at the official. «Captain Broadbent takes care of all clearances.»
He looked at me and looked away. «I suppose it's all right. But I'm supposed to check them and take down the serial numbers.»
«Yes, of course. Well, I suppose I must ask Captain Broadbent to run out to the field. Has my shuttle been assigned a take-off time? Perhaps you had better arrange with the tower to “hold.”»
But Penny appeared to be cattily angry. «Mr. Bonforte, this is ridiculous! We've
