HUNCHING slightly as she stood behind the driver's seat, Jo saw through the tinted windshield of the lumbering bus the squat saucer shape of the rocket sitting on its spindly legs at Delphi base's main airlock The saucer was unpamted, unmarked, but she knew that Vie Tomasso had brought an assault team of Pacific Commerce commandos in it to seize the base
"Check Archimedes," she said curtly to the woman sitting at the driver's right
The woman, in the coral jumpsuit of the security department, touched the comm panel in front of her with one hand while passing a headset to Jo with the other
Jo received a terse report from the security chief at Archimedes The attempt to kidnap Rickie had failed, and all the Pacific Commerce commandos were dead Three platoons of paramilitary personnel were already aboard ballistic rockets, ready to take off for Delphi at Jo's signal
"Good," said Jo tightly into the pin mike "If I don't transmit a signal within half an hour, send the troops "
"Yes, ma'am," said the security chief's voice He had been with Vanguard since boyhood, and Jo had investigated his
background and actions so thoroughly that she knew him better than he knew himself. He was utterly reliable, she would stake her life on that.
I am staking my life on him, she told herself as the bus labored over the last small rise in the dust-covered rocky ground and finally groaned to a halt before the auxiliary airlock of Delphi base.
Jo walked down the length of the bus to its mam hatch Cliff Baker pulled himself up from his seat and joined her, a quizzical grin on his puffy face.
"So what's here that's so bloody important?" he asked Jo.
"You'll see soon enough."
It took a few minutes for the personnel inside the small rubble-covered dome to snake out the access tube and make the connection with the bus's mam hatch.
At last the indicator light on the wall panel turned green and the hatch popped open with a little sigh. Jo's nose wrinkled at the slight odor of stale air and plastic as she pushed the hatch all the way out. Stepping into the access tube, she felt every sense heightened, every nerve straining taut.
Hsen's not here, she knew, but Vie is. He thinks I don't know he's taken over the base He thinks he's trapping me.
As she walked slowly along the tube, Baker two steps behind her, she thought, And I think I'm trapping Vie. The kids are safe, so that card's been taken out of Hsen's hand. Even if I can't get to Hsen right away, I'll have Vie in my grasp. And I'm going to squeeze him until his damned traitor's eyes pop out.
She paid no attention to the fact that the two men working the airlock wore black uniforms rather than the blue coveralls of Delphi's staff. With Baker trailing behind her, Jo placed both her booted feet on the power ladder and grasped the rung at the level of her shoulders. It began to descend slowly, the faint hum of an electric motor the only sound in the cramped little dome. Baker followed her down.
Despite herself Jo was trembling inside. More than the anticipation of roasting Vie for his part in killing Cathy, there
was something else gnawing at her innards Not fear Something else.
The ladder carried down past three landings to the lowest level of the underground base, ending at the juncture of five corridors. Vie was standing there, smiling brightly, as Jo stepped off. He was in the tan coveralls of a Vanguard administrator, the damned traitor, with the front unzipped halfway down his hairy chest to show off three ropes of gold
"You don't look surprised," he said to Jo.
"Should I be?"
Baker stepped off the ladder, his lopsided grin fading into genuine puzzlement.
"Your bodyguard?" Tomasso asked
"Hardly," said Jo. "This is Cliff Baker, chairman of the International Investment Agency. You're the one who needs a bodyguard, Vie."
"I've got one."
"They won't be enough. Rickie and Cathy are safe. The goons Hsen sent to take them are all dead."
Tomasso's smile faltered for only a heartbeat. "I didn't think that would work Hsen wanted it for insurance, though "
"Where is Hsen?" Jo asked, her voice low and murderous.
Tomasso made his smile wider, showing lots of perfect teeth. "I thought you'd be more concerned about the whereabouts of your husband."
"Keith can take care of himself There's nothing you can do to hurt him."
"Oh no?" Crooking a finger, Tomasso said, "You'd better take a look at this."
He led Jo down one of the corridors and into a small empty office He pointed to the desktop computer and Jo stepped up to the desk and swivelled its display screen so she could see it.
Her face paled and she leaned heavily against the desk Baker's mouth dropped open.
The screen showed Keith Stoner, blindfolded, strapped into
a stiff-backed chair, his bare torso showing a score of ugly burns, yellowing black against his pale skin His head was slumped forward, he was obviously unconscious
Jo kept herself from screaming Barely She realized that the tension, the odd sensation she had felt a few minutes earlier, had been a warning The fear that she had kept bottled within her all these weeks finally erupted in a hot flame of anguish Keith was helpless and in their hands He was not the powerful, confident, capable superman she had told herself he was He was just as vulnerable and defenseless as any ordinary man
Jo realized now that she was vulnerable and defenseless, too
Zoltan Janos had been carefully briefed by Tomasso He and Ilona Lucacs had waited inside the rocket with the handcuffed and blindfolded Stoner until a black-clad Pacific Commerce commando returned to tell them that the base was securely in their hands Then, following Tomasso's orders, Janos dispatched Ilona and two of the orientals to set up Stoner while he himself followed a third black-uniformed man to the base's communications center
Ilona Lucacs had gone with two men who led Stoner, their hands tightly gripping his arms, down the base's only elevator to a small storeroom There they ripped off his shirt and strapped him--still handcuffed--into a stiff chair As Janos had told her to, Ilona then injected Stoner with a heavy dose of phenobarbital He gave a little gasp, more of surprise than pain, when the needle went into his bare arm Then his head lolled on his shoulders, and finally his chin sank to his chest
Ilona stared at the unconscious Stoner for several moments, thinking, He wanted to help me He wanted to be my friend, to be my father, almost And all I've given him in return is pain
She pulled off the earphones that were still tightly clamped to his head He was completely limp, sagging against the straps that cut into the flesh of his chest and arms
But it has to be this way, Ilona told herself He is too important to be sentimental over His offers to help me, to love me,
they were nothing but bribes to make me do what he wanted fanos and I must study him further, pry out all the secrets within him He is an experimental subject, nothing more An experimental subject
Still, she knew that he had not volunteered for these experiments And the only end to them that she could see was death
The two silent orientals were waiting at the door Carrying the earphones in one hand, Ilona walked out into the corridor The two commandos shut the airtight storeroom door firmly, the rubberized gasket around its rim gave a sighing sound They clicked its electronic lock and, for good measure, wedged a thick metal rod across it as a makeshift bolt
Ilona took a deep breath and headed for the room that the man Tomasso had indicated she could use Her pleasure machine was waiting for her there [ust a few minutes of it and she knew she would feel much better about everything
Stoner remained limp and sagging against the straps that constrained him until he was certain that he was alone His star brother had neutralized the sedative that Ilona had injected into him almost as quickly as the chemical had entered his bloodstream But it wouldn't do to let them know we're perfectly conscious
He sensed a camera over the room's only door, up by the ceiling Originally installed to guard against pilfering, now it was watching him He probed its mechanism and found that it could be overloaded and shorted out without much trouble
Jo He realized that she was in the base, watching the picture that the camera showed Stay strong, Jo, he said silently Stay strong The real test is just beginning
Paulino Alvarado wormed his way along the heating duct, desperately looking for a way to escape the soldiers who had taken over the base He had seen Matthews and the others milling about angrily, worriedly, in the crowded cafeteria If he could find them weapons, maybe they could fight their way out There seemed to be only a dozen or so soldiers
As silently as he could, Paulmo slithered along the cold metal ducting He had never seen guns or weapons of any kind in the many days he had spent at the base But surely there must be something
He stopped at one of the grilles A beautiful young woman was sitting on the bed, an open suitcase full of electronic gear on the floor at her feet Her face was exquisite, but so troubled that Paulmo felt he had stumbled upon a princess in exile, like the stories he had read in childhood
All the soldiers wore black uniforms and were orientals This lovely young woman wore a tweed skirt and a wrinkled blouse that had once been white Her hair was the color of thick honey and her skin was like flawless cream
And she had a suitcase full of electronics Maybe it was a radio Maybe they could summon help If she isn't one of the enemy Paulmo knew he had never seen her before She did not wear the blue coveralls of the regular staff Yet she was sad, perhaps even frightened, as she stared at the little suitcase on the floor
And so beautiful With the glandular wisdom of youth, Paulmo decided that a woman of such beauty could not possibly be evil, or an enemy
He tapped on the grille
Ilona flinched and looked up toward the sound that startled her A man was behind the grille set up in the wall near the ceiling
"Senonta," he whispered hoarsely, "poi favor "
"Who are you " she whispered back in English as she stood up
"I need your help," the young man replied in accented English
It took a few minutes of rummaging in her purse before Ilona found a nail file sturdy enough for the screws holding the grille Standing on the room's only chair, she quickly got the grille off, then stepped down and watched Paulmo slide stealthily to the chair and then the floor
He looked something of a scarecrow, rail-thin, with fright-
ened, darting eyes The eyes were deeply dark, though, and his thin face with its sculpted cheekbones had an aesthetic look to it that was almost romantic His pale orange coveralls were stained and rumpled, as if he had been living in them for days on end
"I can help you," he whispered, once his feet were safely on the bare floor "We must work together to get away from the soldiers "
Ilona heard herself answer, "Yes, but how "
She was shocked at her own words, until she realized that she did indeed want to get away from these menacing orientals in black, away from the guns and the danger, away from Janos and what he was doing to Stoner
But how?