"They're waiting to see you, Mr. Vickers. If you'll just step this way."
He glanced questioningly at Tani, who nodded. Together they entered
Thorpe's office.
Fralick was there, looking old and tired and a little messy. He was
sitting behind the big desk with Thorpe at his elbow. There were two
others in the office, a tall, parchment-faced Chinese, obviously of
Manchu descent and an Arab with the features of a Biblical patriarch.
They were smiling, all except Thorpe, who couldn't very well with his
jaw in a cast.
Doctor Fralick put the palms of his hands on the desk and leaned
forward. He said, "I'm very glad you made it, Vickers. I haven't had a
chance to express my appreciation."
Vickers wrinkled his forehead. There was an air of hopeful friendliness
tinctured with awe in their attitude that puzzled him. He didn't say
anything.
Fralick looked vaguely embarrassed. "I--we've another favor to ask you,
Vickers. We want you to come in with us."
"What?" said Vickers in a stunned voice.
"We want you in International Spy Ring, Inc. Need you. We--well, we
wouldn't expect you to accept a minor position of course. Not a man of
your calibre. If you'll join us, Vickers, you can take charge of the
field work. None of us is so well fitted for active duty as you with
your enviable vision, your resourcefulness."
Vickers didn't know what to say. That anybody envied him, wanted him
around, considered him an asset, knocked a hole in his armor. He had no
defenses against friendliness.
"But you," he said; "Doctor Fralick, you're head of the U.S. Bureau of
Research--"
"I'm also the head of International Spy Ring, Inc."
At Vickers' expression, Fralick allowed a smile to flit across his
visage.
"Don't judge us too harshly. Science is international, not the property
of one individual or one nation, even. It must belong to everybody.
"We don't want power. We're after peace and tolerance and the
dissemination of knowledge. We're united, Vickers. The scientists, the
technicians, the engineers of the seven great nations. Not all of us,
but enough of us."
He gave Vickers a shrewd penetrating look. "Our way may not seem
ethical, but it works. When there are no secrets between countries, war
is almost impossible. And there are no secrets anymore; we see to that.
"If the Arab Federation discovers a new gas, we sell the formula to
each of the other countries. If the Black Republic or China starts a
program of military training or lays the keel of a new battleship, in a
week everyone of the other countries has the complete details.
"We don't sell the information for profit, Vickers, but to finance the
organization."
* * * * *
Vickers was stunned. The realization that the Ring was not a hard
grasping organization of thieves, spies and traitors; but an
international group comprising the finest minds and bent on preserving
the peace, left him completely bewildered.
"I don't know what to say," he said. "Of course I'll join you."
"Good." Fralick jumped up, came around the desk with his hand out.
"We'll get you a pardon. It wouldn't do for my son-in-law to be a
fugitive from the ISP." He winked at the others who had crowded about
Vickers, pumping his hand.
It occurred to Vickers that these men were pleased to have him--not in
spite of his mutation, but because of it! They'd even been a little
afraid he might turn them down.
It was a new experience for him, a good experience. He had the sudden
conviction that at last he'd found his place in the world. It made him
feel warm.
The Chinese was saying: "You're a violent man, Vickers, a dangerous
man. We were afraid that you might not see eye to eye with us in our
aims."
"No," Vickers protested, really shocked. "No, I'm not a violent man. I
do what I must and do it as quickly and effectively as I can. But I'm
not violent."
Thorpe's eyes twinkled. Seizing a pencil he wrote something, held it up
for them all to see, at the same time tapping the cast on his jaw.
Vickers couldn't repress his grin. Tani squeezed his hand.