* * * * *
"Mike," Dorothea said.
"Mike what?"
"Mike," she repeated. "He's probably the happiest of all. After Mom and
I talked to him for a while, anyhow, and he began to ... to get used to
things. Now he's excited about being an FBI man." She looked worriedly
at Malone for a second. "You weren't kidding about that, were you?" she
asked.
She looked very pretty when she was worried, Malone decided. He leaned
over and kissed her with great care. After a while he said: "You were
saying?"
"Was I?" Dorothea said. "Oh, yes. I was. About Mike being an FBI man."
"Oh," Malone said. "Well, normally you've got to be a lawyer or an
accountant, but there are a few special cases. And maybe Mike would fit
in to the special-case bracket. If he doesn't--well, he'll be doing some
kind of official work for the Government."
"What about Her Majesty, or whatever she is?" Dorothea asked. "Is
she--convinced that teleportation's no good, the way Mike is?"
Malone looked unhappy. "I wish you hadn't mentioned it," he said.
"Then what will you do?" Dorothea said.
"Burris has it all down pat," Malone said bitterly. "Since I'm the only
one who can predict where she's going to be, I'm going to be her
permanent bodyguard from now on. She's promised me that she won't go
teleporting all over the place--but we won't be able to keep her locked
up all the time, either. So: whither she goes, I go--first."
"Well," Dorothea said, "don't feel bad. After all, you did what you set
out to do."
"I suppose so," Malone said.
"Sure you did," Dorothea said. "You got the boys. And they won't feel
so bad after they get used to it."
"I suppose not," Malone said. "We had to prove one thing to them,
anyway. We can stop them at any time. You see, they've got to think
about teleporting, and as soon as they do that one of our
telepaths--like Her Majesty or me, I guess--will know what they're
thinking. And we can 'freeze' them. I mean, I can."
"It sounds all right," Dorothea said.
"Sure," Malone said. "After all, we did them quite a favor--getting them
out of all the trouble they'd gotten themselves into."
"That reminds me, Ken," Dorothea said. "All the things that were stolen.
The liquor and all of that. Money. What's going to happen to that?"
"Well," Malone said, "everything that can be returned--and that includes
most of the liquor, because they hadn't had a chance to get rid of it to
the bootleggers around this area--will be returned. What can't be
returned--money, stuff they've used, broken or sold--well, I don't
exactly know about that. It might take a special act of Congress," he
said brightly.
"All for the boys?" Dorothea said.
"Well, they'll be at Yucca Flats," Malone said, "and they'll be pretty
useful. And, as I said before we started all this, if they try to run
away from Yucca Flats we'll just have to keep them 'frozen' all the
time. I mean, I will. Little as we want to. They can be of some use that
way, too. The Government isn't doing all this for nothing."
"But keeping them 'frozen'--"
"I said we didn't want to do it. And I don't think we'll have to.
They'll be well taken care of, don't worry. Some of the best
psychiatrists and doctors are out there. And Mike and the others--if
they can show they're trustworthy--can come home every weekend, or even
every night if they can teleport that far." Malone paused. "But it isn't
charity," he added. "We need people with specialized psionic
abilities--and, for a variety of reasons, they're pretty hard to find."
"You know," Dorothea said, "you're pretty wonderful, Mr. Malone."
Malone didn't answer her. He just kissed her again.
Dorothea pushed him gently away. "I'm envious," she announced.
"Everybody gets a reward but me. Do I get left out just because I swiped
your notebook?"