“I’m Guess.”
“Guig, which one are you?”
“Here.”
“Must I listen to him?”
“If you can deliver, do what he says.”
“I can deliver anything. R. Come.”
As Harry led us, making the correct code gestures at checkpoints, an Abominable Snowman nestled up to me and took my hand. “I’m scared, Guig.”
“So am I, but let go. U-Con doesn’t hire faggot guards.”
When we got to the landing theater we were shocked. U-Con had installed a vibrator shield in front of the double doors. Taking no chances. Better Leukemia Lavalier should have used this instead of a cannon to protect her red-star carbuncle.
“New model,” Harry said.
“How do you know?”
“I’ve never seen this moiré pattern before.”
“Can’t you bust it?”
“Certainly, but it’ll take time to study it and we can’t spare the time just now. So what?”
“Out,” I said, “if you can out us.”
Oh, he out us all right, giving the correct signals and code words at every checkpoint. I’m not putting down Harry’s ingenuity but I’ll bet he spends a million a year greasing security forces all over the world, just in case. That’s preparation for you. That’s a pro for you.
We chopped back to my ex-house, stripping off the neutrals en route, and Jimmy Valentine was waiting for us. Also my bride, stark naked and painted from head to toe with a Picasso (his blue period). M’bantu gave me an embarrassed smile. “This is the dernier cri, Guig,” he said. “And it is definitely this side of contemporary sanity.”
“Thank heaven the Chief is too weak to react,” I said.
When I’d finished greeting Natoma she went to Fee and Sequoya, much concerned. I turned to Valentine. “What are you doing here, Jimmy? Not that you don’t come pat when we need you.”
“Why, I was on a job in Vancouver and I got your message.”
Jimmy, as you might guess from his nickname, has been a breaking entering artist for centuries. Like most great thieves, a colorless, anonymous man, and when he speaks it’s con sordino. He’s also a man of honor. He has never ripped any of the Group’s holdings.
“Fee, Natoma, put the Chief to bed. M’b, try to locate Borgia and bring her. Harry, Jimmy, I must get something straight. Who did you get the messages from?”
“You.”
“How?”
“Radex.”
“What did they say?”
“That you needed special help.”
“Did they specify?”
“Mine said you were cooped in U-Con and wanted out,” Harry said.
“Mine said you were outside U-Con and wanted in,” Jimmy said.
“I’m much obliged and grateful for the support,” I said, “but I’m much perplexed. I never sent any messages.”
The two pros brushed me off. “What’s the bust?” Jimmy asked Harry.
“A vibrator shield. I’ve never seen one like it before.”
“Linear? Lattice? Louvre?”
“No. Moiré.”
“Uh-huh. That’s the new Mosler Model K-12-FK. Only been out a few months.”
“Can you rip it?”
“Sure. You have to monkey with inductance and wattage. Takes about twenty minutes. I’ve got my tools with me and I’ll show you.”
“How can you be so positive?” I asked.
Valentine was pained. “You’ll never make a thief, Guig. I bought a Moiré the first day it came on the market and spent a week locating its weak points. Now I’m on a bust tour staying ahead of Mosler’s frantic try to crunch-proof the model. That’s what I was doing in Vancouver.”
There’s preparation for you. There’s a pro for you. But who sent the messages to the Group gimpsters? Don’t tell me. I knew but I wasn’t ready to face it yet.
A complete stranger wearing a lab coat projected into the house without warning. Very bad manners. “No ree-gret for intrusion,” he said in Spang. “Like emergencia, man. Dr. Guess aqui?”
“Who you?”
“Union Carbide.”
“Esplain you bug.”
“Estro maquina, man. Go crazy like.”
“Jus’ now?”
“N. Jive now. But d’yeth hours back, craz-eee. We lookin’ ever since for Guess-cat. Ax him what happen. Maybe pasar again? Can fix?”
“Poder fix. Not now. I tell ‘m. Wait you. Out.”
He pulled himself up from the floor and out by retro.
Poulos said matter-of-factly, “Dr. Guess had his seizure ten hours ago.”
“How much do you know, Greek?”
“Everything the young lady whispered to you. I have sharp ears.”
“Then Guess affects the Extro as much as it affects him.”
“You have reached the correct conclusion.”
“The Extro sent the messages to Harry and Valentine.”
“To be sure. Via the electronic network.”
“Are we being overheard now?”
“Probably. Perhaps words and thoughts, both.”
“We’re bugged.”
“In a novel way, yes, so long as Dr. Guess is conscious and in possession of his senses. However, he is not the only one assisting the computer.”
“What?”
“The Group has a vendetta on its hands: a private war.”
“For God’s sake, Poulos. Who? What? Why?”
“I don’t know. I surmise that it is another member of the Group.”
“The hell you say.”
“But I do say. A renegade Moleman.”
“Impossible!”
“Nothing is impossible.”
“A Moleman turning on his own kind?”
“He or she. Yes. Why are you astonished? The Group has feuds and revenges of record. This is merely another such case.”
“What led you to your conclusion?”
“The faux messages to Houdini and Valentine.”
“They were sent by the Extro.”
“True, but how did it know of their existence and capacities? How did it know where to reach them?”
“It could have — It — No, you’re right. Then the Chief must have told it.”
“Using what for data? He has been a member of the Group less than a week. He has met or heard of half a dozen at the most; certainly not Houdini and Valentine. He could not possibly have the knowledge to impart to the Extro.”
“My God! My God! I think you’re right. You must be. One of our own. But why say he’s against us?”
“Because he has joined the Extro which is a proven hostile.”
“Dear God! A renegade.”
“And a most powerful enemy of many years and much experience. He or she is a match for any of us.”
“You have no idea of who it might be?”
“None whatever.”
“His motivation?”
“Hatred, for some reason or other.”
“For all of us or just some?”
“Impossible to say.”
“How does he communicate with the Extro?”
“Nothing could be simpler. Pick up the nearest phone of any sort and speak into it. The network will convey the message to the Extro, provided the switchboard is conscious.”
“This could be a disaster for the Group, Poulos. I’m on the verge of scuttling.”
“But why, Guig? It is a monumental challenge of much fascination, the first for us in many years.”
“Granted, but where does it leave us?”
“En route to Ceres. Not scuttling, merely ensuring the safety of Guess and his capsule. Then we’ll return to the fight.”
Harry and Jimmy weren’t even listening. They were involved in an intense professional conversation using words like watts, amperes, megahertz, frequency, inductance. In my past crooks talked nitroglycerine and diamond drills. Progress. They broke off when Poulos and I finished and looked at us.
“When?” Jimmy asked softly.
“When the redskin is ready. He’s the one you’ve got to get in.”