"What--?"
Merrill turned. His face was so contorted by emotion that Conroy barely
recognized it; the man's eyes were bright and glinting as if he were
possessed.
He had been sent here to search out a saboteur--but how could he do
that, when he himself _was_ the saboteur?
"Conroy! How did you get in here?"
"Get away from those controls," Conroy ordered, his throat dry. "If you
make a move toward them I'll blast you down."
_Don't call my bluff_, he prayed. _Don't!_
All Merrill had to do to release the bomb was to trip a cryotonic
relay; fiery death would descend on Washington within minutes. Stiffly
Conroy moved toward him.
"Keep your hands in the air, Merrill."
A blaster lay to one side--the blaster, no doubt, with which Merrill
had overpowered the Wheel's officers. Conroy edged toward it.
And then Merrill put his head down and charged desperately toward
Conroy.
Dave's hand wavered on the gun for a moment; he still could not fire.
Cursing, he hurled the blaster to one side and met Merrill's charge.
The Commissioner was in his fifties, but heavyset and muscular. He tore
into Conroy with a madman's fury. Gasping from a stomach blow, Conroy
reeled backward, locked his hands, brought them down with all his force
on Merrill's bull-like neck.
_Forget he's Janet's dad_, he ordered himself. _Hit him or he'll kill
you._
He drove his fists mercilessly into the Commissioner's bulk. Merrill
kept coming in his suicide attack. Finally Conroy crashed a fist into
the older man's jaw, and he sagged to the ground.
"Thank God!" Commandant Naylor exclaimed, wrestling in furious
impotence with his bonds. "That madman was about to bomb Washington!"
"I know," Conroy said tiredly. "I know."
* * * * *
Later, he held a sobbing Janet Merrill in his arms, felt her soft
warmth against him, soothed her as she wept.
"Easy, baby. Your Dad'll be all right once the psych-crew calms him
down. He had space-sickness; it can happen to anyone. He went out of
his mind temporarily--and instead of preventing the saboteur from
bombing, he _became_ the saboteur!"
"But the disgrace--"
"It'll be hushed up," he said. "It could happen to anyone. When he
comes out of it he'll forget the whole thing."