Rand blinked. "Overpowered? Two against four with guns!? Do I have nothing but idiots here?"
The guards reddened. Rand watched them.
"No sign of them?"
"No, sir."
Rand nodded. "All right. They probably went out one of the loading ramps. Find them! They can't have gone far. Search the factory, just in case, and then search the countryside."
"Yes sir."
"Wait!" Rand said as the guards all turned to go. "In case they have escaped, institute Plan F. Immediately. We have no more reason to stay here anyway. You understand? Plan F. And notify Dr. Heimat below."
"Yes sir. Plan F. At once."
The guards all turned and ran from the room. Rand sat in the silence that descended and frowned. He looked again at his Mind-Sweeper machine. That made him smile again. He stared at the machine like a father looking at a beautiful daughter.
"So, now we are about ready, my beauty," the slender, grey-haired man said out loud. "We will make history, you and I, eh? Heimat has you almost perfected; you will soon have brothers and sisters." Rand laughed a high, in sane laugh. "Yes, you and I will have power. Power and wealth. Who knows how far we will take each other?"
"Not too far, Rand," a voice said.
Rand whirled, his made eyes searching the shadows of the room.
Then he saw the figure in the white smock. There was a gun in the man's hand, and it was trained on Rand. The man stepped out of the shadows.
"Solo!" Rand breathed.
THREE
NAPOLEON SOLO smiled as he moved slowly and carefully toward the slender, grey-haired electronics man.
Solo and Illya had never left the room, but had blended into the shadows and had overheard the last part of the talk between Rand and Danton. They had lurked, waited, until Rand was alone in the room. Now Solo stepped out with his gun ready.
"Don't try anything, Rand," Solo said quietly.
Rand stared at the gun. "I have no desire to die, Mr. Solo. But what do you think you can do? My men have this place locked up. You can't escape."
"Neither can you," Solo said.
Rand did not flinch. "You plan to kill me?"
"If we have to."
"And destroy the machine?"
Solo nodded grimly. "And destroy the machine."
"You'll never survive," Rand said coldly.
"Maybe not, but you and the machine will go first."
Rand sneered. "What good will that do you? My men will still be here. Dr. Heimat will duplicate the machine. Don't be a fool, Solo. Destroy the machine and me and you throw away a fortune. You throw away the power to rule the world! Think of it!"
"I'm thinking of it," Solo said.
"Then join us! That's an offer. Leave U.N.C.L.E. and join with me. I can use your brains. Danton is right about one thing—there'll be a big risk, and I'll need an organization. You can be chief of our security organization. Think of it, Solo! Infinite money! Infinite power! Control of all the minds!"
"I can sometimes barely control my own mind," Solo said quietly. "Now, if you want to get out alive, I think you better call Dr. Heimat and get him up here."
Rand laughed. "Don't be a fool. You'll get nothing from me! You can't escape!"
"Illya," Solo said.
Rand blinked. He watched Solo and saw that the agent was looking over his own, Rand's, shoulder as he spoke. Rand turned to look behind him. His tanned face went bloodless.
Illya Kuryakin stood at the Mind-Sweeper machine. The small blond agent had his hands on switches. Kevin Rand tried to bluster.
"What do you think to do with the machine, Kuryakin?"
"Use it," Illya said quietly.
Rand sneered. "You think that you—"
"I am a trained electronics engineer, Rand," Illya said. "The machine is not too difficult. I don't expect any trouble. I suggest you relax."
Rand watched Illya. He glanced at Solo behind him. Then he made a desperate attempt. He bent, and came up from the desk with a pistol.
Solo leaped, kicked, and the pistol went sailing across the room.
The Mind-Sweeper began to hum. The tape spools turned. The lights began to flash. As the machine hummed, its probe was aimed directly at Rand. For an instant the slender man sat rigid. Then he began to blink, rub at his eyes, smile.
The machine hummed on, and Rand slowly began to nod where he sat. His arms dropped limp. Then he seemed to sleep.
Solo walked to the machine where Illya manipulated dials and switches. The computer section had begun to hum. Illya nodded at the machine.
"It really is a beautiful machine, Napoleon," Illya said. "It scans the brain, absorbs the data, records it on tape, and then feeds the tape into the small computer. In the computer the data is coded, and printed on a paper-tape read-out. The read-out tape can be stored, or it can be set for immediate read-out."
"Is it set?" Solo asked.
"Yes," Illya said. "We should know what is on Mr. Rand's mind any second."
The two agents bent over the tape. Solo watched the main door from time to time. The read-out tape began to come out of the machine. Illya Kuryakin studied it closely.
"This is the only model, but others are almost ready," Illya said. "They are all down in the factory we saw. This is Rand's only production center now."
The tape clicked on as the machine hummed and Rand sat slumped in his desk chair.
"He plans to operate the machines himself once he has ten models, and blackmail the whole world if he can," Illya read.
Rand squirmed in his chair, muttered, like a man in the throes of a bad dream.
Illya Kuryakin read, "Heimat is the only man who really can build the machine, and Rand himself can almost do it. Heimat's office is extension two thousand-seven-hundred and seventy, the code signal to make him come fast is the use of the words, 'There is no rush.' Heimat is a former Nazi scientist."
Solo held up his hand. Illya looked up. Far off, somewhere, there was a sound like gunfire.
The two agents looked at each other in the silent warehouse.
"It sounds like they think they've found us," Solo said. "Can you hurry that up?"
Illya read again. "Here it is! The outer-space defense system data is here in the machine memory banks, and Rand has it in his desk, but that's all!" Illya looked up. "Only the machine and Rand himself has the details. He has not passed it on yet."
"So all we need is Rand and the machine," Solo said.
"And Heimat," Illya said.
"Right. Let's get him up here," Solo said. "And fast. Someone will be coming in soon."
"Call Heimat imitating Rand's voice," Illya said.
Solo nodded and went to the desk where Rand still sat in a kind of drugged sleep, a smile on his face now as if all his evil thoughts had been taken and left him peaceful. Solo picked up the inter office telephone.
Illya continued to read the read-out tape of the machine that hummed on in the silence of the vast warehouse.
Solo imitated Rand's voice. "Dr. Heimat, extension two-thousand, seven-hundred and seventy. Heimat? I'd like to talk to you, yes. No, there is no rush. That's correct. Right."
Solo hung up. "He should be here pretty soon."
"Very soon, I hope." Illya said, his eyes still studying the read-out tape. "Plan F is—"
The distant shots suddenly sounded closer. Solo and Illya listened. Then there were hurrying footsteps in the corridor outside the warehouse. Solo jumped for the cover of a packing case. Illya crouched down behind the humming Mind-Sweeper, his pistol ready.