Jansen turned and hit him. The supervisor, an astonished look on his
face, stumbled back off the amphibious vehicle and into the swamp.
Jansen waited to see that he got up, then slid in through the hatch and
started the buggy.
There would be an alarm, he knew. But Bareen's buggy hadn't been
hurrying. If he could overtake it....
* * * * *
He chugged along, expecting pursuit momentarily. He rode with the hatch
open and his body half out, for best visibility. He saw the other swamp
vehicle, perhaps three hundred yards ahead. It reached the narrow neck
of the domed corridor and paused at the check-point there, then went
through.
Soon Jansen reached the check-point. Two men with blasting rifles stood
in his path, looking suspicious.
"Get out of the way!" Jansen called boldly. "I'm Bareen's bodyguard."
"Behind him?"
"Where would you stay, friend?"
The guards exchanged glances. One of them grinned. But the other one
said, "We got a report of a guy who--"
"I wouldn't be interested in any reports," Jansen said curtly. "Now, do
you let me through or do I report you to Bareen?"
Glances were exchanged again. One of the guards shrugged. They didn't
want trouble. Jansen's very boldness was his best weapon. Finally,
exchanging glances once more, they waved him on.
The second swamp-buggy was by then out of sight down the domed
corridor. But half an hour later Jansen reached the big, white,
squat structure which housed the irrigation machinery. And Bareen's
streamlined swamp-buggy was parked outside on the dry ground.