At his room, Jaro locked the door under the girl's suspicious eyes.
"If I were to listen to my better judgment," she remarked dryly, "I
would leap out the window right now."
"And probably get sunstroke before you hit the street," he
supplemented. "I'm hungry enough to eat a cow, hoofs, horns, and tail."
He went to the telescreen and ordered dinners to be brought to the room.
"Am I going to spend the rest of my life here?" she asked.
"Heaven forbid."
Joan stood in the middle of the floor like a skater on thin ice. Jaro
went over to the bed, sat down, lit a cigarette. He flipped the match
out the window.
"Sit down," he said abruptly. "Unless, of course, you can rest on your
feet like a horse."
Joan sank primly into a chair across from the bed. "What are we going
to do?"
He shrugged. "We're in a spot. Albert Peet probably has another gunman
after us by this time. We might have lost his men when we ducked out
the back of that bar, but I doubt it. He has a very efficient spy
system. Karfial Hodes' men have been tailing me since last night.
Actually Miss Webb--uh--Joan--we're in a state of siege. There's
something big afoot. So big they can't afford to let us escape."