"Sorry," said Jaro; "but I've got a date. I'm late now." He started to
leave.
"Stanley!" called Albert Peet.
The pale-faced young man appeared in the doorway, the dart gun in his
good hand. Jaro Moynahan dropped on his face, jerking out his slug gun
as he fell. There was a tiny plop like a cap exploding. He heard the
whisper of the poisoned dart as it passed overhead. Then he fired from
the floor. The pale-faced young man crumpled like an empty sack.
Jaro got up, keeping an eye on Albert Peet, brushed off his knees.
"You've killed him," said Peet. "If I were you, Mr. Moynahan, I would
be on the next liner back to Earth."
Without answering, Jaro backed watchfully from the room.
* * * * *
Once Jaro Moynahan had regained the street, he mopped his forehead with
his handkerchief. Whatever was going on, these boys played for keeps.
Warily he started down the passage toward the native quarter. At the
first basement grog shop he turned in. His eyes swept the chamber, then
he grinned.
At a corner table, a tall glass of Latonka before her, sat Miss Webb.
Her hat was still on backwards, and she was perched on the edge of her
chair as if ready to spring up and away like a startled faun.
"_Bang!_" said Jaro coming up behind her and poking a long brown finger
in the small of her back.
Miss Webb uttered a shriek, jerked so violently that her hat tilted
over one eye. She regarded him balefully from beneath the brim.
"Never a dull moment," she gritted.
Still grinning, Jaro sat down. "I'm Jaro Moynahan, Miss Webb. I think
Albert Peet forgot to introduce us. There's some skullduggery going on
here that I'm particularly anxious to get to the bottom of. I thought
you might be able to help me."
"Yes," replied Miss Webb sweetly.
A native waiter, attracted no doubt by her scream, came over and took
Jaro's order.
"All right," Jaro smiled, but his pale blue eyes probed the girl
thoughtfully. "I'll have to confide certain facts which might be
dangerous for you to know. Are you game, Miss Webb?"
"Since we're going to be so chummy," she replied; "you might begin by
calling me Joan. You make me feel downright ancient."
"Well then," he said. "In the first place, I just killed that
baby-faced gunman your boss had in his office."
"_Awk!_" said Joan, choking on the Latonka.
"It was self-defense," he hastened to assure her. "He took a pot shot
at me with that poisoned dart gun."
"But the police!" she cried, as she caught her breath.
"There'll never be an investigation. Albert Peet will see to that. I
was called here on what I supposed was a legitimate revolution. Instead
I was offered ten thousand Earth notes to assassinate the leader of the
revolution."
"What revolution? I'm going around in circles."
"The Mercurians, of course."
"I don't believe it," said the girl. "The Mercurians are the most
peaceable people in the Universe. They've been agitating for freedom,
yes. But they believe in passive resistance. I don't believe you could
induce a Mercurian to kill, even in self-protection. That's why Albert
Peet and the rest of the combine had such an easy time gaining control
of the Latonka trade."
"Score one," breathed Jaro, "I begin to see light. Miss Webb--ah,
Joan--I've a notion that we're going to be a great team. How do you
happen to be Albert Peet's private secretary?"
"A gal's gotta eat. But the truth is, I was quitting. The Latonka Trust
is almost on the rocks. Their stock has been dropping like a meteor."
Jaro Moynahan raised his oblique brows but did not interrupt.
"Albert Peet," she continued, "has been trying to sell out but nobody
will touch the stock, not since it looks as if the Earth Congress is
going to grant the Mercurians their freedom. Everybody knows that the
first thing the Mercurians will do, will be to boot out the Latonka
Trust."
"What about this Karfial Hodes?" said Jaro. "I've heard that he's
inciting the Mercurians to rebellion. The newscaster had a line about
the revolution too. The government has advised all Terrestrials to
return to Earth."
"It's not true," Joan flared. "It's all a pack of lies invented by the
Latonka Trust. I know."
"But I should think rumors like that would run down the Latonka stock."
* * * * *
Joan shook her head. "It doesn't add up, I know. But Karfial Hodes is a
real patriot. He wouldn't advocate a bloody revolution. That's not his
way."
They both sipped their wine. Joan's eyes were narrowed thoughtfully but
Jaro's features were impassive.
"Well," he said at last, "I wouldn't give a Venusian kapek for Karfial
Hodes' life right now."
"Why?"
Jaro shrugged. "They wanted me to find him and kill him. Stanley, that
little rattlesnake, is captured by Hodes' men and escapes, then Albert
Peet doesn't need me anymore. What would you say?"