Then two bandits were standing before them with rifles leveled. One of them spoke a rapid question to Gita. The little man, quaking with fear, stepped forward.
'He wants to know what we have to give him,' whispered Adjani out of the side of his mouth.
Gita was speaking quickly with fear-inspired eloquence. The palms of his hands could be seen waving ecstatically before him in wild gesticulations.
'What's he saying now?'
'Gita is telling him that we are doctors on our way to Darjeeling to help a friend. That we have no money or possessions with us. He is praying that we be allowed to continue for the sake of our friend.'
The bandit looked long at Gita and then at Adjani and Spence in turn. He came to stand directly before them and peered into their faces. Spence could smell the reek of puyati, the strong home-brewed liquor made from fermented palm sap, on the thief's breath. His face was greasy in the fading moonlight.
All at once the bandit whirled on his heel and barked out a short sentence. In a moment a very large outlaw with a huge white turban and a flowing, striped coat came striding up with a goonda on either side. Spence guessed this was the leader.
The two bandits conferred with one another briefly and then the leader turned with a flourish of his coattails and left. Spence thought for an instant that they would be left alone. But the first bandit roared a command at Gita which almost sent the little man rolling on his backside. Gita scrambled for the car and came out with the sacks bearing their provisions. He turned to Spence and Adjani with eyes wide and fearful.
'We are to follow him,' said Adjani, nodding in the direction of the retreating bandit.
'What if we don't?'
'Then he hopes we have lived good lives and thought pure thoughts, for tonight we will have the opportunity of joining the World Soul in Nirvana.'
'I'd rather not,' said Spence. 'Let's go.' …
OLMSTEAD PACKER CROSSED AND recrossed his legs, folded and refolded his hands alternately and regularly. He was bored with waiting and apprehensive that security chief Ramm should be taking so long to iron out the difficulty between him and Dr. Williams. A sense of doom had settled over the big physicist as he waited; he saw his future growing dim before his eyes, and the hobbling shackles of a prison record snaking out to claim him.
And yet, the offense was so small, so trivial, so insignificant he wanted to laugh. This extreme ambivalence of feeling created in the red-bearded man a curious tension, as if a tug-of-war was being waged inside him with first one side gaining the advantage and then the other. And to make matters worse, Packer did not know which side to cheer for. At any moment, depending upon the swing of mood, either side seemed capable of carrying the day.
So, he sat and tried to keep himself calm while inwardly the battle for the control of his emotional outlook and disposition raged unabated.
He shook his red shaggy head. How had he ever gotten himself mixed up in anything like this? It had all started out so innocently. Or had it? Wasn't it true that there had been something peculiar right from the beginning? Right from the very first moment he had laid eyes on Spence Reston? Didn't all this have to do with him?
Packer was certain that beyond anything else Spence was the cause of his particular problems, and very likely the rest as well. Certainly Kalnikov had gotten where he was because of Restonthere was a mystery that begged investigation. Where it all would end, and what it was all about, he could only guess. Physicists did not like to guess.
Presently the outer door slid open and he heard someone speak in the next room. In a moment Chief Ramm was standing over him. Packer jumped up like an eager lap dog and all but barked to be let out.
'Well? Did you talk to him? Can I go now?'
Ramm frowned an official frown. 'I'm afraid it won't be that simple. I'm going to have to lock you up for a couple days-until the director gets back, anyway.'
Packer's face fell. 'You're not serious,'
'I'm afraid I am. Come with me, please.' The command was cold and left no room for argument.
The security head led the malefactor into an octagonal room with transparent doors set in each of the seven facing walls. These were the doors to the cells. All were empty; crime was not a problem on Gotham.
Ramm took his prisoner to the cell directly opposite the entrance to the room. 'In here,' he said, punching in the access code. The door slid open and Ramm stepped aside so Packer could enter. 'I think you'll be comfortable here. Try not to worry. I'll notify your wife.'
'Don't bother,' Packer responded dully. 'My wife's visiting her sister Earthside. Just tell my assistant what's happened.' He looked around at his cell: a small square room with padded walls and a low cav couch built on a ledge. That was it. He turned back and was surprised to see Ramm had joined him in the cell.
Ramm indicated the couch and said, 'Sit down. I want to talk to you.'
Packer did as he was told.
'This is the only quiet room in the detention center-all the rest are bugged,' Ramm explained. Packer kept quiet and waited for what would follow.
'Something squirrelly is going on here. I mean to find out what it is. You'd better give me the whole story, Packer. From the beginning.'
Packer stared back blankly. The chief's frown had deepened to a formidable scowl. He guessed the tall policeman could eat his weight in wildcats, and decided not to play any games.
'You talked to Williams?'
'I talked to him. It was like talking to a clam. He's scared of something and he won't open up and let it out. I thought I might see if you could enlighten me.'
'I'll try,' said Packer and began telling him about what he knew of Spence and Adjani's disappearance-which was not much because he had only heard the same rumors as everyone else.
'Yes,' said Ramm. 'I've got a couple of men working on that one. Nothing much has turned up so far.'
'That's why I went to Kalnikov. Reston and Rajwandhi are friends of mine; Adjani's on my staff. I couldn't believe the rumors about them, and I wanted to find out what happened. I figured Kalnikov was the one person who might know.'
'Would it surprise you if I told you that it was my order that Kalnikov receive no visitors?'
'It was?'
'It was. He was an eyewitness and I didn't want anyone talking to him before I could. When you turned up in bed next to him, I figured you were mixed up in it. Either you knew a lot more than you were telling, or you had stumbled into something innocently. I didn't know which, but it gave me a chance to go back and talk to Williams again.'
'Well?'
'You tell me. I can't make heads or tails of this. All I know is that it doesn't take fifteen hours for a man to recover from a taser jolt. Usually only a few minutes. Williams claims the taser dartstruck Kalnikov in the spine and pierced the spinal column, grazing the spinal cord. He says Kalnikov may be paralyzed.'
'He's not paralyzed-he's sedated.'
'Are you sure?'
'Positive. Kalnikov told me himself. Rather, I got him to tell me-he can't talk, so we used an answer code. I found out that Kalnikov was trying to help Reston and Rajwandhi escape-from what, I don't know.
'He wasn't injured by the taser. You're right there. He thinks he was pumped full of sedative and muscle relaxant to keep him quiet. That's all I could get from him before I was interrupted.'
'Hmm. Curiouser and curiouser.'
'That's all I know, honestly.'
'What about this Reston and the other guy. What's with them? Who were they escaping from?'
'I don't know. Kalnikov might. He saw them.'
Chief Ramm stood. 'I'm inclined to believe you, Packer. I'm going to check this out. I could release you on your own recognizance, but I think you'd better stay here for a while.'
Packer moaned. 'Oh, no. I was hoping you wouldn't say that.'
'Look, it's more for your own protection than anything else. Until we find out what's going on here I don't want to lose any witnesses. You know as much as Kalnikov now. I don't want you to turn up missing.'
