The guard breathed, "By God!" and lowered his gun a little. Quillan
raised his a little, the Miam Devil grunted, and the guard sighed and
went down. Quillan went past him along the hall, stopped two doors
beyond the portal and rapped on the locked door.
"Quillan here! Open up!"
The door opened a crack, and one of Kinmarten's guards looked out
questioningly. Quillan shot him through the head, slammed on into the
room across the collapsing body, saw the second guard wheeling toward
him, shot again, and slid the gun back into the holster. Kinmarten,
standing beside a table six feet away, right hand gripping a heavy
marble ashtray, was staring at him in white-faced shock.
"Take it easy, chum!" Quillan said, turning toward him. "I--"
He ducked hurriedly as the ashtray came whirling through the air
toward his head. An instant later, a large fist smacked the side of
Kinmarten's jaw. The rest warden settled limply to the floor.
"Sorry to do that, pal," Quillan muttered, stooping over him. "Things
are rough all over right now." He hauled Kinmarten upright, bent, and
had the unconscious young man across his shoulder. The hall was still
empty except for the body of the portal guard. Quillan laid Kinmarten
on the carpet before the portal, hauled the guard off into the room,
and pulled the door to the room shut behind him as he came out.
Picking up Kinmarten, he stepped into the portal with him and jabbed
the fifth level button. A moment later, he moved out into the small
dim entry hall on the fifth level, the gun in his right hand again.
He stood there silently for some seconds, looking about him listening.
The baited cubicle yawned widely at him from the center of the big
room. Nothing seemed to be stirring. Kinmarten went back to the floor.
Quillan moved over to the panel which concealed the other portal's
mechanisms.
He had the outportal unsealed in considerably less than a minute this
time, and slapped the panel gently back in place. He turned back to
Kinmarten and started to bend down for him, then straightened quietly
again, turning his head.
Had there been a flicker of shadowy motion just then at the edge of
his vision, behind the big black cube of the Hlat's food locker?
Quillan remained perfectly still, the Miam Devil ready and every sense
straining for an indication that the thing was there--or approaching
stealthily now, gliding behind the surfaces of floor or ceiling or
walls like an underwater swimmer.
But half a minute passed and nothing else happened. He went down on
one knee beside Kinmarten, the gun still in his right hand. With his
left, he carefully wrestled the rest warden back up across his
shoulder, came upright, moved three steps to the side, and disappeared
in the outportal.
* * * * *
Reetal Destone unlocked the entry door to her suite and stepped
hurriedly inside, letting the door slide shut behind her. She crossed
the room to the ComWeb stand and switched on the playback. There was
the succession of tinkling tones which indicated nothing had been
recorded.
She shut the instrument off again, passing her tongue lightly over her
lips. No further messages from Heraga....
And none from Quillan.
She shook her head, feeling a surge of sharp anxiety, glanced at her
watch and told herself that, after all, less than two hours had passed
since Quillan had gone into the Executive Block. Heraga reported there
had been no indications of disturbance or excitement when he passed
through the big entrance hall on his way out. So Quillan, at any
rate, had succeeded in bluffing his way into the upper levels.
It remained a desperate play, at best.
Reetal went down the short passage to her bedroom. As she came into
the room, her arms were caught from the side at the elbows, pulled
suddenly and painfully together behind her. She stood still, frozen
with shock.
"In a hurry, sweetheart?" Fluel's flat voice said.
Reetal managed a breathless giggle. "Duke! You startled me! How did
you get in?"
She felt one hand move up her arm to her shoulder. Then she was swung
about deftly and irresistibly, held pinned back against the wall,
still unable to move her arms.