"Yes. I let the son hypnotize me, and afterward I walked off with a
dreamy expression, as you told me to. Just three hours ago, he dropped
around here in person. He gave me a long rigmarole about the stupidity
of military secrecy, and how the Soviet Union stands for peace and
justice. I hope I acted impressed; I'm not much of an actor."
"You don't have to be. Just so you didn't overdo it. To one of Kennedy's
victims, obeying his advice is so natural that it doesn't call for any
awe-struck wonderment."
"And he wanted data from me! Bombardment cross-sections. Critical
values. Resonance levels. My Lord, if the Russians found that out
through spies it'd save them three years of research. This is an FBI
case, all right."
"No, not yet." Fraser laid an urgent hand on Sworsky's arm. "You've
stuck by me so far, Jim. Go along a little further."
"What do you want me to do?"
"Why--" Fraser's laugh jarred out. "Give him what he wants, of course."
* * * * *
Kennedy looked up from his desk, scowling. "All right, Fraser," he said.
"You've been a damned nuisance, and it's pretty patient of me to see you
again. But this is the last time. Wha'd'you want?"
"It's the last time I'll need to see you, perhaps." Fraser didn't sit
down. He stood facing Kennedy. "You've had it, friend; straight up."
"What do you mean?" Kennedy's hand moved toward his buzzer.
"Listen before you do anything," said Fraser harshly. "I know you tried
to bring Jim Sworsky under the influence. You asked him for top-secret
data. A few hours ago, you handed the file he brought you on to Bryce,
who's no doubt at the Amtorg offices this minute. That's high treason,
Kennedy; they execute people for doing that."
The psychologist slumped back.
"Don't try to have your bully boys get rid of me," said Fraser. "Sworsky
is sitting by the phone, waiting to call the FBI. I'm the only guy who
can stop him."
"But--" Kennedy's tongue ran around his lips. "But he committed treason
himself. He gave me the papers!"
Fraser grinned. "You don't think those were authentic, do you? I doubt
if you'll be very popular in the Soviet Union either, once they've tried
to build machines using your data."
Kennedy looked down at the floor. "How did you do it?" he whispered.
"Remember Ferris? The guy you fixed up for me? He owns a share of your
next-door neighbor, the Messenger Advertising Service. I fed him a song
and dance about needing an office to do some important work, only my
very whereabouts had to be secret. The Messenger people were moved out
without anybody's knowing. I installed myself there one night, also a
simple little electric oscillator.
"Encephalography is damn delicate work; it involves amplifications up to
several million. The apparatus misbehaves if you give it a hard look.
Naturally, your lab and the machine were heavily shielded, but even so,
a radio emitter next door would be bound to throw you off. My main
trouble was in lousing you up just a little bit, not enough to make you
suspect anything.
"I only worked at that during your calibrating sessions with Sworsky. I
didn't have to be there when you turned the beam on him, because it
would be calculated from false data and be so far from his pattern as to
have no effect. You told me yourself how precise an adjustment was
needed. Sworsky played along, then. Now we've got proof--not that you
meddled with human lives, but that you are a spy."
Kennedy sat without moving. His voice was a broken mumble. "I was going
to change the world. I had hopes for all humankind. And you, for the
sake of one woman--"
"I never trusted anybody with a messiah complex. The world is too big to
change single-handed; you'd just have bungled it up worse than it
already is. A lot of dictators started out as reformers and ended up as
mass-executioners; you'd have done the same."
Fraser leaned over his desk. "I'm willing to make a deal, though," he
went on. "Your teeth are pulled; there's no point in turning you in.
Sworsky and Martinez and I are willing just to report on Bryce, and let
you go, if you'll change back all your subjects. We're going to read
your files, and watch and see that you do it. Every one."