"No? Guess what we found in one of Delmont's incubators."
"Not a--"
"Yeah. And it's probably not the first. This business about padding
his quota is baloney! Hell, man, he was going to start his own black
market! He finally admitted it, after twenty-hours' questioning without
a letup. He was going to raise them, Norris. He was stealing them
right out of the incubators before an inspector ever saw them. The
K-99s--the numbered ones--are just the ones he couldn't get back. Lord
knows how many males he's got hidden away someplace!"
"What're you going to do?"
"_Do!_ What do you _think_ we'll do? Smash the whole scheme, that's
what! Find the deviants and kill them. We've got enough now for lab
work."
Norris felt sick. He looked away. "I suppose you'll want me to handle
the destruction, then."
Franklin gave him a suspicious glance. "Yes, but why do you ask? You
_have_ found one, haven't you?"
"Yes, sir," he admitted.
A moan came from the doorway. Norris looked up to see his wife's white
face staring at him in horror, just before she turned and fled into the
house. Franklin's bony head lifted.
"I see," he said. "We have a fixation on our deviant. Very well,
Norris, I'll take care of it myself. Where is it?"
"In the house, sir. My wife's bedroom."
"Get it."
* * * * *
Norris went glumly in the house. The bedroom door was locked.
"Honey," he called softly. There was no answer. He knocked gently.
A key turned in the lock, and his wife stood facing him. Her eyes were
weeping ice.
"Stay back!" she said. He could see Peony behind her, sitting in the
center of the floor and looking mystified.
Then he saw his own service revolver in her trembling hand.
"Look, honey--it's _me_."
She shook her head. "No, it's not you. It's a man that wants to kill a
little girl. Stay back."
"You'd shoot, wouldn't you?" he asked softly.
"Try to come in and find out," she invited.
"Let me have Peony."
She laughed, her eyes bright with hate. "I wonder where Terry went. I
guess he died. Or adapted. I guess I'm a widow now. Stay back, Mister,
or I'll kill you."