The passage outside was still deserted, thank the gods. He pulled the
physicist after him, sprinted toward the living quarters in the wing.
There were voices ahead. Two men going in the same direction they were,
Vickers saw. He slowed down in order not to trample their heels.
He was nervous now. He could feel the time running through his fingers.
Still no alarm! They burst out of the corridor into an enormous hall,
crossed it swiftly, ducked down another passage. Damn place was a rat
run. Fralick was panting. "Hold out, old man!" Vickers thought. "Hold
out!" Still no alarm. They were going to make it. They had to--
All the bells in the world seemed to cut loose at once!
* * * * *
Vickers jumped as if he'd been shot.
Fralick clutched his chest. For a moment Vickers was afraid the
scientist would pass out.
The bell rang frenziedly.
Hundreds of bells! Everywhere. Bells and shouts and trampling feet.
Through the misty walls Vickers could see running soldiers, frightened
officials, women and children. A vast terrifying pandemonium like a
disturbed ant nest--like a glass ant colony kept for observation.
Then the doors began to whoosh shut. Automatic doors closing off the
passages. Blocking escape! One rammed shut just behind them.
A party of guards caught sight of them. Steel jacketed bullets
ricocheted and whined down the corridor.
Vickers threw a gas grenade. The guards were blotted out by a fountain
of pale green mist. It wasn't deadly, but it would knock out the Arabs,
close off the passage temporarily.
Fralick was sobbing for breath. Suddenly Vickers grabbed him by the
shoulder.
"Here! This way! Through the harem."
With the atomic knife he freed the door which he'd sealed a few minutes
before. A few minutes! He glanced at his watch. Eighteen minutes
exactly; it seemed like hours! He was over his time. He put his
shoulder to the door, threw it back with a crash.
There was a cluster of frightened women in the corridor. When they
saw Vickers and Fralick, they began to scream and fled screaming like
chickens from a hawk.
Vickers paid no attention to them, but rushed to the bedroom where he
had cut through the wall. Kicking out the segment he almost hurled
Fralick through the opening.
Tani was waiting in the air taxi with the door open. A white, strained
Tani with a face like a mask.
"Dad," she cried.
Fralick tumbled into the taxi. Vickers started to shut the door, but
Tani held it open.
"Get in," she begged in a tight voice. "Quick!"
"No," he said. "The ISP would spot me in that air taxi and stop us. You
can get through all right by yourselves."
Consternation mirrored itself on Tani's waxen features. She shook her
head. "We're not going without you."
"Yes, you are!" he said; "no time to explain. I'll meet you at the blue
door."