Lippitt and I kept peppering the Warrior with questions. Considering his refusal to speak, we could understand his growing bewilderment at our somewhat casual persistence; what he couldn't understand was that it was necessary only for him to hear a question and register the answer in his mind.
After about ten minutes of this I glanced across the room at Rafferty, who was standing in a dark corner, behind the Warrior. Rafferty stepped quietly out of the shadows and nodded to me. I nodded to Lippitt, who clipped the Warrior hard across the jaw, knocking him out.
'The Institute was taken over by Loge's people, with unofficial government backing, some ten months ago,' the telepath said in a low voice as he slowly walked toward us, rubbing his temples. 'All of the genetic computer data has been electronically leached and transmitted somewhere, but this man doesn't know where. He trained here, and believes he's a member of an elite security force of Warriors who will police the world after Father's Treasure is administered to most of the world's population. He doesn't know where Loge is, doesn't know what Loge is doing-he simply believes that whatever it is will enable him to exercise control over a great many people. Stryder London is here. If we can capture and interrogate him, then we may be able to find out where Loge is. You'll both be happy to know that Jonathan Pilgrim fought this from the beginning; they have him and a large part of the staff locked away in some southern military installation.'
'What about Garth, Hugo, and Golly?' I asked anxiously.
Rafferty bent over the unconscious Warrior, removed a set of keys from his pocket. 'Hugo and your hairy friend are locked up in a room three buildings away. They're continuing to run tests on Garth in a laboratory in the winter sports complex.'
'I know where it is,' Lippitt said tersely.
I swallowed hard. 'Is Garth… is he…?'
Rafferty avoided my eyes. 'Garth is still alive, Mongo. Hold on to that. You won't recognize him. I don't know about his mind, and I don't know whether he'll be able to understand anything you say. He definitely won't be able to speak to you.' Now Rafferty looked at me, his dark, brooding eyes filled with sorrow. 'He's not human anymore, Mongo.'
'There isn't much human left in me, either,' I said, turning toward the door to hide my tears, stoking my anger to displace what would otherwise be panic, 'and he's still my brother.'
The two prisoners down the block, after they'd recovered from their initial shock, seemed rather pleased to see us.
HELLO FUCKING MONGO
HELLO FUCKING MISTER LIPPITT
HELLO FUCKING MAN
'Hello, fucking gorilla,' Rafferty answered without hesitation, smiling at her. After all, he'd already met Golly in my mind.
'Mongo!' Hugo shouted, and I quickly closed the door to cover his booming voice. I was too far away to grab, and so it was a somewhat perplexed Mr. Lippitt who was forced to suffer, feet dangling a good six inches off the floor, a very serious giant hug.
Finally Lippitt managed to extricate himself. Taking deep breaths, he rubbed his chest for a few moments, then nodded toward a bemused Rafferty. 'This is Ronald Tal,' Lippitt said in a hoarse voice. 'He's a friend of ours from the U.N.'
Hugo flung his arms out to his sides, and Lippitt quickly stepped back, almost knocking me over. 'The U.N.!' Hugo said. 'Does that mean-?'
'No, it doesn't,' Lippitt replied. 'There's just Tal. But he's been a big help so far. We might not be standing here with you right now if it weren't for him.'
Rafferty and Hugo shook hands, and I felt a smooth, leathery hand grip mine.
GOLLY LOVE FUCKING MONGO
'Yeah, babe. I love you, too.'
'Mongo, they caught us- '
'Later, Hugo. First we get Garth, and then we hunt up Stryder London. I have a real urge to hit that man.'
'Mongo,' Hugo said, his voice breaking as he reached out with a trembling hand and gently touched my shoulder, 'your brother… It was no more than an hour or two after you left…'
'I know about it, Hugo,' I said, patting his hand reassuringly. 'I'll handle it. As long as he's alive, there's still a chance Loge may have something that can reverse the process.'
I had to believe that, I thought, as, with Lippitt in the lead, we slipped out into the night and walked quickly through a series of narrow alleyways in the warren of storage buildings. Without hope, there was… nothing. If Siegmund Loge couldn't heal and make us human again, then we would die. And the world would probably die with us.
And my mother's dream would come true.
GOLLY KILL FUCKING STRYDER LONDON
'No, sweetheart. At least not until we're finished with him.'
FUCKING OKAY
'That's the winter sports lab,' Lippitt said, pointing across a snow-covered open area to where a blue and white building sat near the lip of a deep bowl used for skiing and jumping.
Rafferty nodded. 'It's the building that was in the man's mind. Garth is in a room at the far end.'
'Let's go get him,' I said, stepping away from the side of the building where we were pressed.
Lippitt put a hand on my chest, pushed me back into the shadows. 'I don't like it,' he said in a low voice. 'I found the one that's tied up back there easily enough. Now there's nobody around. I know there's only a skeleton crew here, but it's still too quiet. It doesn't feel right.'
'Maybe they feel there's nothing left to guard. They may be having dinner.'
'It may be a trap.'
'Garth's in there, Lippitt, and that's where I have to go. I'll go alone. If you hear shooting, you'll know it's a trap and you can get out of here.'
Lippitt shook his head. 'Unless we can find out where Loge has his main base of operations, there's no place to go, and we have no way of communicating if we separate. I think we have no choice but to go in together and take our chances.' He paused, turned to the giant. 'Except for you, Hugo. You stay here and act as lookout.'
Hugo scowled. 'I want to go in with you. You may need me.'
'We do need you-and we need you here. Do you know how to use one of these pistols?'
'No,' Hugo answered grudgingly.
'Right,' Lippitt said evenly. 'Even if you did know how to use one, we don't have an extra one to give you. Your voice will carry as far as a gunshot. If you spot trouble after we go in there, give a warning shout-and then get lost. That's the best help you can give us.'
'All right,' Hugo said softly, bowing his head in resignation.
Lippitt turned to Golly, smiled kindly. 'You stay with Hugo, lovely lady.'
PLEASE FUCKING NO
PLEASE GOLLY GO WITH FUCKING MONGO
The D.I.A. operative gently stroked the gorilla's jaw with the back of his hand. 'If this is a trap, Golly, you'll be killed. You have no way of defending yourself against guns.'
GOLLY FUCKING WRONG
GOLLY LOST WITHOUT FUCKING FRIENDS
'She has a point, Lippitt,' I said. 'There's nothing she can do out here, so she may as well come with us.'
Lippitt nodded, then stepped out from the side of the building. Keeping low and spreading out to present more difficult targets, three men and an ape ran across the open area to the blue and white laboratory on the lip of the snow bowl. There was no gunfire, no warning shots.
Motioning for us to stay back, Lippitt gripped the knob of the door, then flung it open and went down into a crouch, gun aimed, into the lighted interior. There was no one inside.
Victor Rafferty took the lead as we entered the building, running down a wide corridor toward a closed green metal door at the end.
