"I don't know."
"We're going to find out."
He stood up and left money on the table. When Nadia still hesitated,
Gavin took her arm lightly but firmly and urged her toward the stage
door.
A yellow-skinned Venusian, his green eyes cold as glass, stopped them
at the entrance of the passage. "You can't come backstage," he said.
On the dance floor, a flock of girls dressed like Ganymedian natives
were performing an orgiastic dance. The drums in the orchestra beat out
a sultry rhythm. Gavin reached in his pocket for a bill. A disturbance
at the main door caused him to look up quickly.
A man had just entered across the room. It was Mr. X.
Nine men followed X through the door, fanning out among the tables.
They were armed with bell-mouthed, Dixon ray rifles.
"Everybody keep your seat!" Mr. X called out sharply.
A woman screamed. The drums stopped. The dancing girls lapsed into a
confused huddle.
Instead of a bill, Gavin brought the knucks out of his pocket and
clipped the Venusian behind his ear. Snatching the girl's arm, he
dragged her through the door.
"Run," he commanded. "Run like hell!" He pushed her down the long dimly
lit corridor ahead of them.
Nadia ran. She hiked up her skirts and ran as if the devil himself were
after her. Gavin, hard on her heels, caught the reflection of a yellow
ray as one of X's men turned loose at the stage door. The sound of
screams, shouts and overturned tables pursued them down the corridor.
Gavin caught glimpses of dressing rooms, a scad of Venusian and Terran
girls changing costume. He nearly collided with an electronician. Then
they burst through a small chamber where a wizened Mercurian sat in a
chair propped against the wall--and out into the street.
It was the next street over from Mercury Alley, Gavin realized. He
hailed a robot cab, piled in with the girl and said, "Pit Nine."
The cab darted away from the curb. Gavin caught a flash of bare leg,
stared at Nadia. She was hunched in her corner, her face a dim oval in
the darkened interior. She pointed something black at him.
"I've got a dart-gun!" Her voice trembled. "Don't move! Or I'll shoot!"