So, he sat and tried to keep himself calm while inwardly the battle for the control of his emotional outlook and disposition raged unabated.
He shook his red shaggy head. How had he ever gotten himself mixed up in anything like this? It had all started out so innocently. Or had it? Wasn't it true that there had been something peculiar right from the beginning? Right from the very first moment he had laid eyes on Spence Reston? Didn't all this have to do with him?
Packer was certain that beyond anything else Spence was the cause of his particular problems, and very likely the rest as well. Certainly Kalnikov had gotten where he was because of Restonthere was a mystery that begged investigation. Where it all would end, and what it was all about, he could only guess. Physicists did not like to guess.
Presently the outer door slid open and he heard someone speak in the next room. In a moment Chief Ramm was standing over him. Packer jumped up like an eager lap dog and all but barked to be let out.
"Well? Did you talk to him? Can I go now?"
Ramm frowned an official frown. "I'm afraid it won't be that simple. I'm going to have to lock you up for a couple days-until the director gets back, anyway."
Packer's face fell. "You're not serious,"
"I'm afraid I am. Come with me, please." The command was cold and left no room for argument.
The security head led the malefactor into an octagonal room with transparent doors set in each of the seven facing walls. These were the doors to the cells. All were empty; crime was not a problem on Gotham.
Ramm took his prisoner to the cell directly opposite the entrance to the room. "In here," he said, punching in the access code. The door slid open and Ramm stepped aside so Packer could enter. "I think you'll be comfortable here. Try not to worry. I'll notify your wife."
"Don't bother," Packer responded dully. "My wife's visiting her sister Earthside. Just tell my assistant what's happened." He looked around at his celclass="underline" a small square room with padded walls and a low cav couch built on a ledge. That was it. He turned back and was surprised to see Ramm had joined him in the cell.
Ramm indicated the couch and said, "Sit down. I want to talk to you."
Packer did as he was told.
"This is the only quiet room in the detention center-all the rest are bugged," Ramm explained. Packer kept quiet and waited for what would follow.
"Something squirrelly is going on here. I mean to find out what it is. You'd better give me the whole story, Packer. From the beginning."
Packer stared back blankly. The chief's frown had deepened to a formidable scowl. He guessed the tall policeman could eat his weight in wildcats, and decided not to play any games.
"You talked to Williams?"
"I talked to him. It was like talking to a clam. He's scared of something and he won't open up and let it out. I thought I might see if you could enlighten me."
"I'll try," said Packer and began telling him about what he knew of Spence and Adjani's disappearance-which was not much because he had only heard the same rumors as everyone else.
"Yes," said Ramm. "I've got a couple of men working on that one. Nothing much has turned up so far."
"That's why I went to Kalnikov. Reston and Rajwandhi are friends of mine; Adjani's on my staff. I couldn't believe the rumors about them, and I wanted to find out what happened. I figured Kalnikov was the one person who might know."
"Would it surprise you if I told you that it was my order that Kalnikov receive no visitors?"
"It was?"
"It was. He was an eyewitness and I didn't want anyone talking to him before I could. When you turned up in bed next to him, I figured you were mixed up in it. Either you knew a lot more than you were telling, or you had stumbled into something innocently. I didn't know which, but it gave me a chance to go back and talk to Williams again."
"Well?"
"You tell me. I can't make heads or tails of this. All I know is that it doesn't take fifteen hours for a man to recover from a taser jolt. Usually only a few minutes. Williams claims the taser dartstruck Kalnikov in the spine and pierced the spinal column, grazing the spinal cord. He says Kalnikov may be paralyzed."
"He's not paralyzed-he's sedated."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive. Kalnikov told me himself. Rather, I got him to tell me-he can't talk, so we used an answer code. I found out that Kalnikov was trying to help Reston and Rajwandhi escape-from what, I don't know.
"He wasn't injured by the taser. You're right there. He thinks he was pumped full of sedative and muscle relaxant to keep him quiet. That's all I could get from him before I was interrupted."
"Hmm. Curiouser and curiouser."
"That's all I know, honestly."
"What about this Reston and the other guy. What's with them? Who were they escaping from?"
"I don't know. Kalnikov might. He saw them."
Chief Ramm stood. "I'm inclined to believe you, Packer. I'm going to check this out. I could release you on your own recognizance, but I think you'd better stay here for a while."
Packer moaned. "Oh, no. I was hoping you wouldn't say that."
"Look, it's more for your own protection than anything else. Until we find out what's going on here I don't want to lose any witnesses. You know as much as Kalnikov now. I don't want you to turn up missing."
"They wouldn't do anything to me-" bluffed Packer.
"Don't be too sure. I've got one man sedated and two others flying around in a stolen landing pod and I don't know why. I'm not so sure whoever's behind this would balk at killing off their witnesses if this gets any messier." To Packer's disbelieving look he said, "It happens. So, just sit tight and I'll get you out of here as soon as possible. In the meantime, relax. I'll have some statmags brought in for you to read, and we'll be having dinner in an hour or so. It's on me."
Chief Ramm smiled good-naturedly and went out, leaving Packer to fume in frustration.
"Just one thing, chief," the prisoner called through the faceplate in the door.
"Yeah?"
"Don't you go getting into trouble."
The chief laughed. "Don't worry. It's all in a day's work." "Maybe so, but I have a feeling these guys work mostly at night."
7
… THE HOVERJET DROPPED ONCE more below the scattered cloud cover and Ari saw the ground for the first time in several hours. She viewed a lush green terrain that looked like emerald velvet rolled out in puckered wrinkles. She could see the shining silver threads of rivers winding along the deep gorges. White birds soared over the verdant landscape in vee-formed squadrons. Seeing them from above with the noonday sun gleaming on their wings they looked like strands of diamonds suspended between the blue sky and the green earth, flashing white fire as their wings sliced the misty air.
Ahead and a little to the left of the plane she could see the sharp hills rise to a promontory surrounded on three sides by jungled slopes and by a lake on the fourth. Further ahead, and blue in the hazy distance, the white peaks of mountains rose, creating a jagged line on the horizon as far as she could see.
The hoverjet made a long descent, passing over the promontory with its cluster of villages crowded at the summit and descending in tiers like stairsteps.
Ari felt she recognized the place, though she had never seen it before.
"Daddy, where are we?" she whispered. Her father was not asleep, though he had his eyes closed and his head rested on his chest.