"I think Paul might be lying to you."
Dan shot him a sharp glance. "Maybe--but I don't think so. Paul has
always been fussy about telling the truth. He's all wrong, of
course--" (fresh coffee, sugar-cream)--"but I think _he_ believes his
tale. Does it sound like he's lying to you?"
Carl sighed and shook his head. "No. I don't like it. It sounds to me
as though he's pretty sure he's right."
Dan clanked the cup down and swore. "He's demented, that's what he is!
He's waited too long, his brain's starting to go. If that story of his
were true, why has he waited so long to tell somebody about it?"
"Maybe he wanted to see you hang yourself."
"But I can only hang myself on facts, not on the paranoid ramblings of
a sick old man. The horrible thing is that he probably believes it--he
almost had me believing it, for a while. But it isn't true. He's
wrong--good lord, he's _got_ to be wrong." Dan broke off, staring
across at Carl. He gulped the last of the coffee. "If he _isn't_
wrong, then that's all, kiddies. The mountain sinks into the sea, with
us just ten feet from the top of it."
"Well, would _you_ walk into the Center for a Retread now without
being sure he's wrong?"
"Of course I wouldn't," said Dan peevishly. "Paul has taken the game
right out from under our noses. We've got to stop everything and find
out _now_, before we do another damned thing." The Senator dragged a
sheaf of yellow paper out of his breast pocket and spread it out on
the table. "I worked it out on the way back. We've got a nasty job on
our hands. More than we can possibly squeeze in before the Hearing
come up on December 15th. So number one job is to shift the Hearings
back again. I'll take care of that as soon as I can get McKenzie on
the wire."
"What's your excuse going to be?" Jean wanted to know.
"Anything but the truth. McKenzie thinks I'm going to win the fight at
the Hearings, and he wants to be on the right side of the toast when
it's buttered. He'll shift the date back to February 15th. Okay, next
step: we need a crew. A crowd that can do fast, accurate, hard work
and not squeal if they don't sleep for a month or so. Tommy Sandborn
should be in Washington--he can handle statistics for us. In addition,
we need a couple of good sharp detectives. Jean?"
* * * * *
The girl nodded. "I can handle that end. It'll take some time getting
them together, though."
"How much time?"
"Couple of days."
"Fine, we can have lots of work for them in a couple of days." The
Senator turned back to Carl. "I want you to hit Starship Project first
thing."
Carl shook his head. "I've got a better man for that job. Saw him last
night, and he's dying for something to do. You don't know him--Terry
Fisher. He'll know how to dig out what we want. He was doing it for
five years on Mars."
"The alky?" Dan didn't like it. "We can't risk a slip to the teevies.
We just don't dare."
"There won't be any slip. Terry jumped in the bottle to get away from
Mars, that's all. He'll stay cold when it counts."
"Okay, if you say so. I want to see the setup there, too, but I want
it ready for a quick scan. Get him down there this morning to soften
things up and get it all out on the table for me. You'd better tackle
the ad-men, then. Let's see--Tenner's Agency in Philly is a good place
to start. Then hit Metro Insurance. Don't waste time with underlings,
go to the top and wave my name around like an orange flag. They won't
like it a damned bit, but they know I have the finger on Kornwall in
Communications. We'll take his scalp if they don't play ball. All
you'll have to do is convince them of that."
"What's on Kornwall?"
"Kornwall has been fronting for 'Moses' Tyndall for years. That's why
Tyndall never bothered me too much, because we could get him through
Kornwall any time we wanted to. And the ad-men and Metro have
everything they own sunk into Tyndall's plans." Carl's frown still
lingered. "Don't worry about it, son. It's okay."
"I think maybe you're underestimating John Tyndall."
"Why?"
"I worked for him once, remember? He doesn't like you. He knows it's
going to be you or him, in the long haul, with nobody else involved.
And you realize what happens if 'Moses' gets wind of this mess? Finds
out what your brother told you, or even finds out that you're worried
about something?"