“The next delivery will be in three day’s time. The driver, accompanied by one of the building guards, takes it directly to the storage room. But this time I will be the driver. After delivering the stationery the guard will fall asleep. The bonds will be loaded onto the handcar, the sleeping guard left in their place. Exit the building. The crime of the century.”

  He sighed and leaned back in his chair, smiling, contemplating this perfect crime. Igor came in and Chaise grabbed one of the beers, opened it and took an immense swig. Then looked at me speculatively. “You can do this?”

  “I can. But I’ll need some more equipment.”

  “Give me the list. You will have it before you leave tonight.”

  “Fine. Now I am going to get something to eat, then get me some sleep.”

  He did not try to stop me. Knowing that he had absolute power over me as long as Angelina was his prisoner. I slowly strolled the streets among the wage slaves hurrying to work. Entered the now familiar environs of the mechomart and buried myself in its depths. If I were being followed I wanted to lose my tail. I entered the first office building I came to. Up the elevator alone. Down the stairs and out the rear door-did this sort of thing a number of times until I was sure I wasn’t being followed. Only then did I go and buy a cheap telephone. After I first threw mine away. Chaise had had the entire night to bug this phone-and to plant more of his bugs on me.

  “Waiter. Come here,” I said as soon as Bolivar answered it. “Let me remember what I ate the last time I was here. Yes, a bearburger and some beer.”

  I hung up and strolled away. And dropped the phone in the nearest waste receptacle. Hoping that Bolivar would catch on that I was still probably bugged, and letting him know I would be at the restaurant we had met in before. I knew I had not been followed. But I also knew that I was undoubtedly still bugged.

  I moved about, never staying in one place very long-in case there was a tracker on one of my bugs. It was on my third pass that I saw Bolivar sitting in a corner booth. I made a wide circle, then went back and moved as quickly as I could to the restaurant. I came up behind him and held up a card when he turned. Which read:

  SEARCH ME FOR BUGS

  Which he instantly did-after one shocked look at my face. Whipping out the detector and passing it down my body. Three coins, the usual, but one of my metal fly buttons turned on the red light as well. Chaise was getting trickier all the time. I tore off the button and handed it to Bolivar along with the coins. He took the insulated pouch from his pocket and tipped all the miniature transmitters into it, then sealed it shut.

  “They’re shielded now and can’t transmit,” Bolivar said. “I barely recognized you-great makeup. And I have some good news. Bolivar has found Kaia’s house.”

  “But you are Bolivar!”

  “James, Dad. You’ll never get it right.”

  “Is she there?”

  “We don’t know. But it is a very big place, and there is a prime-class robot in the house.”

  Prime class. Intelligent and expensive. We would have to be very careful before we tackled it.

  “While you and Bolivar were holidaying in Swartzlegen I finally cracked into the local government files in Sunkistby-the-Sea. I had to do it physically.”

  “You’ve lost me.”

  “I mean that their anti-hacking programs were unbeatable without leaving signs of forced entry. So I did a little burglary one night and stole some office machines as a cover. Since I had planted a transceiver inside their main computer bank. The computer is now wide open. I left Bolivar tracking down the construction details in the government files. Planning permission and such should tell us everything about the house that we need to know.”

  “I’ve had a long night,” I said and punched for the drinks menu. I ordered double eye-openers for both of us. “Let me tell you all about it.”

  “Wow!” he said when I had finished, took too big a slug of his drink and started coughing. I slapped him on the back, which worked. “That is the most ambitious caper I have ever heard of,” he wheezed.

  “Thank you. I am proud of it. But I am afraid that I was a little untruthful to my employer about one detail.”

  “Which is?… “

  “The stationery delivery will be in two day’s time-not three.”

  He instantly assessed the importance of this fact. And smiled broadly.

  “You plan to get the bonds out-and keep them!”

  “Exactly. But before we even consider doing that we have to be absolutely sure that your mother is safe. And I have another assignment for you. This is not a casual disguise that I am wearing-I look like an employee of the depository named Iba. I’m worried about him. Chaise says that he left on a spacer yesterday, got paid off.”

  “And you think differently? That is not Kaia’s way.”

  “Exactly. Find out who did leave the planet yesterday. And look at all the news reports as well.”

  “Good as done. Any way that I can report to you?”

  “I doubt it. I think it is best if we stay away from each other. If Chaise gets any hint that I am seeing you we are in deep doodoo. I’ll phone you again, early, about this time tomorrow. After the bond operation.”

  “Take care of yourself,” he said. He looked worried.

  “I always do,” I said, putting more enthusiasm than I felt into my words. I was more than a little stressed out.

  He passed me the shielded bag and I shook out the bugs and put them into my pocket. He took back the bag and we waved good-by in silence. I made my way back to the warehouse and a bit of a rest.

  I thought Igor looked at me when I came in, then turned away. Chaise glared at me and had other ideas. “I don’t like you wandering around the city alone.”

  “What harm can I get into?”

  “I don’t trust you, diGriz. You are too smooth.” He pointed to the parcels on the table. “Here are all the items you will need for tonight’s operation.”

  “Good.”

  He reached into his bag and took out his handgun. “I want you to sit very still while Igor puts the handcuffs on you.”

  There was absolutely nothing that I could do. The big thug came from behind me: the gun pointed unwaveringly. The cuffs clicked into place. And if this wasn’t bad enough he locked my ankles together with another pair. Chaise put the gun away and smiled.

  “Get some sleep,” he ordered. “You have a big night ahead of you.”

  They both looked on as I struggled to my feet, then turned and hopped to my cot, fell heavily onto it. Struggled about until I was lying on my back. Looked down at the handcuffs and knew why Chaise had smiled. I couldn’t use a picklock on these. They had a combination lock inset so deeply that I couldn’t have turned it, even if I could have reached it by twisting my fingers around. I tried. It couldn’t be done.

  I was tired enough to sleep deeply despite the cramped position. I woke a bit when I heard voices, fell asleep again almost instantly. It wasn’t until I felt Igor’s hot breath on my cheeksmelled it as well-that I awoke fully. He was bent over and trying to work the combination lock. I opened my hands ready to throttle him, when I saw Chaise in the doorway, gun pointed.

  “Bring him in here where you can see better.”

  Igor grabbed me by the ankles and dragged me off the bed. I threw myself sideways so I landed on my shoulder instead of my head. He hauled me, bumping and cursing into the other room. Then sat on me while he opened both pairs of cuffs.

  “Is this the way you treat a loyal employee?” I said as I pushed myself up from the floor and sat down in the chair.

  “Igor will take you to the depository now,” he said. “I will be right behind you in my car. All of the way. I will also be close by when you come out in the morning. If I have any suspicion at all that you have not done exactly what you described, you can be perfectly sure that you will never see your wife again.”

  I couldn’t trust myself to answer him. He took my silence as assent. He looked at his watch. “Time to go. Take your lunch box. All the equipment you will need is inside it, under that repulsive food.”

  The same drive to the same corner. The same walk to the front door of the repository. The only difference was the black car that drove silently behind me, waited across the street from the entrance.

  I was happy to leave it behind. My contact lens stayed in place this time. My palm unlocked the door and I walked in.

  “Hey you. Iba, I’m talking to you.”

  “Bowb off,” I said sullenly, not looking at the speaker. What had gone wrong?

  “Come here. Got something for you.” I had to stop and look at him. At the newspaper he was holding out to me. “Some guy gave me this for you. Gave me five credits too, can you believe that? Nothing special, I looked at, just today’s paper. Almost threw it away.” He dropped it to the floor and walked off.

  Newspaper? Who? Certainly not Chaise. It could only have been James. But why?

  I could not look at it now. The inside guard was staring at me suspiciously as it was. “Bowb off,” I called after the retreating back. Scooped up the paper and hurried to my waiting charges.

  As they surged into pseudolife I opened the newspaper. Quickly looked through it. I didn’t have the time to read it now-no, wait. On the last page a tiny semicircle had been torn off the edge of the paper. Next to advertisement for a Doit-Yourself hernia repair kit. That couldn’t be it. I looked at the other side, at the small news item there.

  DROWNING SUICIDE IN CENTRAL PARK LAKE

  I felt suddenly very cold. Scanned the report quickly.

  Person unknown … ragged clothing … water in lungs … no identification.

  And then the last line.

  Disfiguring scar on face.

  There would no need to check the passenger lists now. Iba had missed his connection. He had known too much about Kaia’s business.

  So I knew exactly what was in store for me as well.

  CHAPTER 23

  For the first time I was glad that this job was so brainless. My thoughts trudged in endless circles looking for a way out, but not finding it. I could steal the bonds, that was the easiest part. But after I had committed the theft, I would then be handcuffed again. Locked up for two days before the supposed delivery to bring out the bonds. Yet the delivery would be a day earlier. Should I admit that? If I did I would be forced to get the bonds and bring them to him. After that I would quickly join Iba in the lake. Or worse.

  The robots chuntered along their appointed courses and I was barely aware of them. Only if one of them stalled in a feedback cycle did I remember what I was supposed to be doing and shock it back into action. Then I would sink back into the insolvable circle of my thoughts.

  Enough! I was driving myself slightly around the bend with my brain also locked an endless feedback cycle. It was time to do something. Time for the robbery. I turned off all the robots, except for the one I needed, to keep them from wandering. Then I manhandled the bins off the largest wheelbot and jolted it into following me. To the stationery supply room, where the door wasn’t even locked. Only the dim nightlights lit my way through this mausoleum of bureaucracy. Printed forms stacked almost to the ceiling, envelopes and reams of paper. We passed it all by and moved deeper into the cavernous room. There was dust on the floor here, dry and musty darkness. The very last access way just at the back wall was my goal. The air was dusty as well, the forms dry and brown-edged. They would burn fine. I loaded the robot high with them, stopping only to sneeze a few times. Finally done, and one last sneeze, and I was out of the paper room with my faithful robot grinding along after me. It then waited with metallic patience while I burgled the bond room.

  I shorted out the electronic door lock, then accessed the door frame alarms and neutralized them as well. Then came the only tricky part; sliding the infrared generator in front of the receiving lens without breaking the beam. Slowly forward, angled square on, only too aware of the sweat that was trickling down my face. There!

  And no alarms.

  After that it was just a lot of physical work that I had to do myself. I piled the paper forms in the center of the room, spreading them out so they would burn all the better. By the time I got around to loading the bearer bonds onto the wheelbot I was breathing hard. One last task. I grabbed up a handful of the bonds-worth over a million altogether-what a waste! And took them far down the hall away from any fire detectors. I lit them, one by one, with my lighter. Let them singe a bit before I put them out. When they were satisfactorily charred I went back and sprinkled them tastefully about the room. Then, the very last thing, I twisted the dial and set the thermite bomb. It would go off an hour after I left the building, a few minutes before the day workers arrived. They were going to have a far livelier time today than they expected.

  Then I stopped to take a break. Cooled down and rubbed my hands together to supple my fingers. Only then, and with infinite patience, did I trust myself to withdraw the infrared projector. Slowly, slowly-done! The rest was child’s play.

  Relocking the door and then restoring all the alarms to working order.

  One last trip back in the storeroom, where I carefully hid the bonds among the stationery. I slid some ancient forms in front of them, then I was done. The bonds would be safe there until I came to retrieve them. Or, depressingly gloomy thought, they would remain concealed forever if I made any mistakes.

  The next hours dragged slowly by: I worked hard not to think about the thermite bomb. If the thing went off before it should? Don’t even think about thinking about it. Then the last ashtray and the last shredder. Down to their underground lair where my metallic aides were tucked away and sucking happily on their electrical teats. I washed the traces of soot off my hands. When the shift ended I left with the others.

  There was more than a little tension as I exited the building. If I had not set the thermite timer correctly-I would have to make a run for it. My stomach stayed in a knot until I was safely in the street outside. I walked slowly to the appointed corner. The van was not there.

  Was something wrong? Before my thoughts ran away with themselves Kaia’s black car pulled up beside me.

  “Get in,” he said.

  “Where’s Igor?”

  “That is no business of yours,” he said as we drove away. “Everything go as planned?”

  “Yes.”

  He smiled and licked his lips. Then drove with one hand as he pushed a notebook with a stylo attached over to me. “Write down all the details about the storeroom. Where the bonds are. The name of the stationery company and driver…”

  “I don’t think that I should do that.”

  “Don’t play games with me diGriz. And you know very well why are going to give me that information.”

  “I know. But my wife comes first. And your threats against her life. That is what I want to talk about. What happens to her after I bring you the bearer bonds?”

  “Why she joins you, of course.”

  Joins me. In the grave.

  “And what guarantees do I have that that is what will happen?”

  “My word, of course.”

  “Not good enough. You are too much of a liar, Chaise.”

  He gave me a quick, cold look, but did not respond.

  “Look-let us make a deal. I’ll get the bonds for you-if you release her first.”

  He was quiet as he drove. Then shook his head. “No, I can’t do that.”

  “Then I can’t give you the information that you will need if you attempt to get the bonds yourself.”

  Nothing more was said after that. The warehouse door opened as we approached, swung shut behind us. Igor and his truck were not there. Chaise got out first, opened the rear door of the car and reached inside.

  “Look at this,” he said.

  I looked-and desperately tried to leap aside. He was faster.

  The two metal prongs of the electric stunner slammed into my side. The high voltage washed pain through my body. My muscles spasmed uncontrollably as I fell to the floor.

  I was conscious but could not move. He dragged me through all the ancient filth and litter on the floor, then rolled me onto the cot. I still could not resist as he locked one pair of handcuffs on my wrists, then secured my leg to the metal bed frame with the other. The numbness was beginning to wear off as he dragged the bed with my limp body across the room and slammed it against the wall.

  He went into the other room and came back with another pair of cuffs. I saw what he had in mind and struggled to roll away, kick out, kick him. My free leg barely twitched as he pulled it out. Then cuffed my ankle to a metal pipe that ran along the wall. He was breathing hard, his face twisted with anger. The sophisticated multimillionaire had vanished; he punched me in the face again and again. Stopped only when he hurt his knuckles on my jaw.

  “No one goes against my will, no one.” He rubbed his hand over his bruised knuckles. “You, a common criminal, seek to dictate terms to me. I will have none of this.” The cruel smile was back, his heavy breathing slowed. The painful kick into my ribs was not done in anger, but was carefully calculated to drive his convincing argument home.

  “You are helpless. So I can do what I want with you. What I want to do now is to leave you here for a few days without food or water. I am sure that when I return you will be eager to tell me how I can obtain those bonds. If you talk, why then I might let you live.”

  This was the real Chaise, unmasked.

  “You will let me live just the way you let Iba live? In the lake in the park.”

  He was turning away when I shouted this after him. Turned back, his face livid. Why had I let my own anger carry me away? I realized that I had signed my own death certificate.

  “You are lying in your grave,” he said. Then he went out, slamming the door behind him. I heard the car start and the squeaking of the garage door as it opened. It closed again and I was alone.

  “Someday, Jim, you will have to learn to keep your big mouth shut,” I said aloud. This was sage advice. I wish I had given it to myself earlier. Now-how could I get myself out of this mess?