For a long time after that he did not say anything.
At midday, though only a few kilometers out of the city, they stopped to eat. Fruit sellers materialized with baskets full of produce to sell to the travelers. Spence was not particularly hungry, but bought two bananas from an old man with a stump leg -mostly out of pity.
Adjani and Gita had gone to confer with Gurjara about the route they would take. Spence sat on the ground in the shade of the car and peeled one of the bananas and munched it thoughtfully.
The air was clearer away from the city, and the land green with tropical foliage. Except for the crumbled pavement underfoot they might have been a safari from long ago exploring an uncharted territory-the sense of the new unknown was strong in Spence.
To the north the foothills rose in even steps leading to the high mountains which showed as little more than a faint purplish smudge in the sky behind the hills. Somewhere up ahead in those hills was Darjeeling, jewel of the mountains. Six days, seven, maybe more away. Rangpo was further still.
Spence sighed; perhaps they were on a wild goose chase. Perhaps Ari was nowhere within a million kilometers of those superstition-breeding hills. Thinking of her, wondering about her, worrying over her had made him sick at heart. He kept telling himself, and anyone else who would listen, that he should have done something to help her. Adjani had pointed out time and again that her kidnapping had been carefully arranged and that she was probably out of the building before they had entered the room.
"What about the scream? That was her scream, I know it."
"How do you know? We both heard what we were meant to hear. We were summoned when our presence was required and not until then. Do you really think that if there had been a struggle we would not have heard it? We were but a few steps from the door and could have rescued her easily if she had been there to rescue. No, they knew where to find her. They were watching her, waiting for a chance to act."
"But why? What is she in all of this? Why didn't they take me?"
Adjani shook his head. "I don't know. But we're doing the right thing. We'll just have to trust God to show us what to do when the time comes."
"How can you be so sure?"
"I don't see that we have any other choice-do you? We were meant to follow. So be it. We follow."
Spence felt he had betrayed his beloved. It frustrated him to have to sit in the road eating bananas while she waited for him to rescue her.
He finished the banana and tossed the peel away.
At once there was a flurry of motion at the roadside where he had tossed the peel. Two children-a girl about eight years old and wrapped in a ragged, faded sari, and her brother of about five who wore only a man's sleeveless shirt-dived after the banana skin. They had been watching Spence from a distance and when he threw the peeling, they pounced.
The girl brushed the dirt away from the peeling and pulled a small square of frayed cloth from the folds of her sari. She spread out the cloth neatly and she and her brother sat down.
With patience and care she began pulling the long stringy soft portion of the inner peel away from the skin. When she was done she discarded the outer skin and divided the remains with the boy.
They ate them slowly and with deliberation as if they were munching a great delicacy best enjoyed at leisure. Spence was so moved by the sight that he went to the children and held out the other banana.
The girl's eyes grew big and round and the little boy cowered at his sister's shoulder. Spence smiled and offered the banana more insistently; he could tell by the way they looked at it that both wanted it very much. They were simply too shy to accept it.
So, Spence put the banana down on the dirty square of cloth and walked back to the car and sat down. As soon as his back was turned the girl snatched up the banana, peeled it, and broke it in half. Both were slowly chewing the fruit when Spence returned to the car.
Adjani and Gita returned and they began discussing their plans for the immediate future. They heard the soldiers call out and the pop of the jeep firing. As they were climbing back into the car Spence felt a tug at his elbow.
He turned to see the little girl and her brother. He started to gesture to them that he had no more bananas when the girl smiled prettily and with some ceremony presented him with his banana peel.
Spence grinned and gave the peel back. Both looked at each other as if unable to believe their good fortune and then scampered off to devour the rest of their prize.
The happy look in the children's eyes warmed Spence the rest of the day.
"It's just a little thing," he replied to Adjani's knowing glance. "It's nothing."
"It's more than you think, my friend."
Thereafter he always made it a point to buy three bananas.
5
… You'RE IN AL0T of trouble, Packer. Care to tell me what this is all about?" Elliot Ramm, Gotham security chief, crossed his long legs and leaned on the edge of his desk. A penitent Olmstead Packer sat facing him with his hands between his knees and his face long and unhappy. There was a note of smoldering indignation in his voice when he spoke.
"To tell you the truth, Chief Ramm, I don't know myself." He jerked a thumb toward the two guards who stood watching him with cool disinterest. "Maybe you should ask your men. I was just talking to a friend when they came in and grabbed me."
The security chief nodded to his men, dismissing them. "I have your report. You can return to duty." He turned to Packer. "I also have a statement from Dr. Williams. He says that you obtained entrance to his infirmary under false pretenses after you were told you could not see the patient Kalnikov. He claims you were endangering the life of his patient."
Packer grinned sheepishly. "I guess I may have overdramatized a bit."
"Hmph." Chief Ramm picked up a white folder from his desk. "He's pressing charges against you."
"He's what?" Packer suddenly became very red. "He's nuts! This is all crazy. Let me talk to him. I didn't mean any harm. It was that nurse of his-she acted too snippy and fresh; I just decided to take matters into my own hands."
A faint smile crossed Ramm's lips; he nodded and shoved a lock of his black hair away from his forehead. "All right, I believe you. You scientists hate to be told 'no' to anything."
"Then I can go?" Packer asked hopefully. He had been in detention for over three hours, and was getting tired.
"I'm afraid it's not that simple. Whether I believe you or not doesn't really make a lot of difference. You see, Williams has filed a formal complaint. It's up to the director to review it and decide what to do."
"Director Zanderson's gone. No telling when he'll be back."
"I'm sorry. You'll have to stay here until he gets back, or-"
"Or what? If there's another way to settle this I'm all for it."
"Or Dr. Williams could agree to drop the charges."
"Then let's talk to him by all means. I'm sure he'll listen to reason.
Ramm held up a hand. "Not so fast! He was pretty steamed up over this. I'd let him cool off a little first."
"But I've got to get out of here. I'm a busy man; I've got an experiment running."
"It'll just have to run without you for a while. You should have thought of that before your performance of Swan Lake in the sick bay."
"All right, I guess I had that coming."
"I'll talk to Williams after a bit and see what I can do."
"I'd appreciate it, Chief Ramm." Packer rose and shuffled to the portal. "You know, there's something funny about this whole thing. I never knew anyone to have to be sedated after getting buzzed by a taser. I thought those things were fairly safe, if you know what I mean."