too often make such experiments. That United was a good guess she made,
It was the word Fanny had used. He asked, “Am I a dangerous Visitor or a harmless one, Mr. Klamm?”
Klamm chuckled softly. “Harmless, very much so, exactly like me. But Herr North, he is a dangerous Visitor, you see? And so we must question all Visitors somewhat. You become the responsibility of one of my subordinates. She will keep you from harm, and it might be someday Laura comes for you.”
“One more thing, sir. I told you about the other man, who answered the phone in my apartment.”
“I saw him on TV one time. I just switched on the TV, and there he was, answering the phone in my apartment.”
Klamm nodded. “No one else was looking? Perhaps another would have seen what you saw, Herr Kay. But perhaps not. More often, not. She was near you then, and she brings such dreams; I cannot explain why.”
That was the end of their conversation for a time, and it seemed to him that the limousine should have pulled up in front of a hospital when Klamm said,
“Good-bye, Herr Kay,” Klamm said, once again extending his hand. “No, at such a time you haff a right to the correct name. Good-bye, Herr Green, my friend. May good fortune go with you! I only call you Herr Kay because I remember an old friend, that was myself also.”
He shook Klamm’s hand. “Good-bye, Mr. Klamm. You can call me anything you want.”
One of the bodyguards opened the door.
“You know how to reach me at my desk,
The dome light had come on when the door was opened, and he saw with astonishment that there were tears in Klamm’s eyes. He said, “Yes, I do, sir.”
“Take care of him, Ernest. See he has a good doctor.”
The bodyguard replied, “I will, Mr. Secretary,” and he got out; as soon as the door closed, the limousine glided away.
Tina said, “What a nice old man.”
The bodyguard glanced down at her and grinned. “You got one of those? I used to have one myself.”
Tina told him, “You should get another one.”
He followed the bodyguard into a brightly lit room, where an Oriental who had been sipping from a battered china mug rose to attend to him. “Good to see you again,” the Oriental told him. “But not here. Have a seat.”
He sat down. “It’s good to see you again, too, Dr. Pille.” After a moment he added, “I thought you were at that other place.”
“I am, when they need me. It’s only a block away. You had a concussion that time, remember?”
“Sure,” he said.
“Your nose is broken,” Dr. Pille told him. “We’ll have to set it. I’ll give you an anesthetic, but it will still hurt a bit. You get in a fight?”
A nurse answered for him. “With an assassin, Doctor. It was all over TV.”
Still examining his nose, Dr. Pille nodded. “Really?”
The bodyguard asked, “Can you keep him overnight, Doc? Somebody will come by to get him in the morning.”
“Certainly.” Dr. Pille straightened up and began filling a hypodermic.
Decision
A nurse woke him to ask what he wanted for breakfast. “You lost a couple of teeth,” she told him. “So no toast or anything like that. Do you think you could manage a coddled egg?”
He nodded and sat up in bed. “I’m hungry. Guess I missed dinner last night.”
She grinned. “That would explain it.”
When she was gone, he looked around the room; it was bigger than the one he had occupied at United, much smaller than the open ward in which he had slept with nine other patients in the psychiatric wing of some hospital whose name he could not quite remember. Like his room at United, it held a locker, but this locker was unlocked. His jacket, his trousers, and his overcoat hung inside. His shoes were on the bottom. He recalled that he had not had his overcoat when he had been in the limousine with Klamm. Someone had brought it.
He peeked into the breast pocket of his jacket, and Tina said, “Hello-good morning,” and stretched.
“Good morning.” He held out his hand, and she climbed into it. “Back in the hospital,” he said.
“Were you in the hospital before?”
“Yes, but you were asleep. I’ve been in hospitals a lot.”
The nurse came in with his tray. “Those are against our regulations,” she said.
