Some derelict, sleeping in the alley, who had paid with his life for being in the wrong spot the wrong time. But his death had bought Neel a little more time. He turned and looked into the barrel of a gun.
Shock after shock had destroyed his capacity for fear. There was nothing left that could move him, even his own death. He looked quietly — dully — at the muzzle of the gun. With slow determination his mind turned over and he realized that this time there was nothing to fear.
"It's me, Adao," he whispered. "You'll be all right now."
"Ahh, it is you…" The voice came softly out of the darkness, the gun barrel wavered and sank. "Lift me up so I can get at this door. Can't seem to stand too well anymore."
Neel reached down, found Costa's shoulders and slowly dragged him to his feet. His eyes were adjusting to the glare above them now, and he could make out the gleam of reflected light on the metal in Costa's fingers. The UN man's other hand was clutched tightly at his waist. The gun had vanished. The metal device wasn't a key, but Costa used it like one. It turned in the lock and the door swung open under their weight. Neel half carried, half dragged the other man's dead weight through it, dropping him to the floor inside. Before he closed the door he reached down and felt a great pool of blood outside.
There was no time to do a perfect job, the hard footsteps were coming, just a few yards away. His sleeves were sodden with blood as he blotted, then pushed rubble into the stain. He pulled back inside and the door closed with only the slightest click.
"I don't know how you managed it, but I'm glad you found me," Costa said. There was weakness as well as silence in his whisper.
"It was only chance I found you," Neel said bitterly. "But criminal stupidity on my part that let you walk into this trap."
"Doii't worry about it, I knew what I was getting into. But I still had to go. Spring the trap to see if it was a trap."
"You suspected then that Hengly was—" Neel couldn't finish the sentence. He knew what he wanted to say, but the idea was too unbearable to put into words. Costa Ijad no such compunction.
"Yes. Dear Hengly, graduate of the University and Practitioner of Societies. A traitor. A warmonger, worse than any of his predecessors because he knew just what to sell and how to sell it. It's never happened before. . but there was always the chance. . the weight of responsibility was too much… he gave in—" Costa's voice had died away almost to a whisper. Then it was suddenly loud again, no louder than normal speaking volume, but sounding like a shout in the secret basement.
"Neel!"
"It's all right. Take it easy—"
"Nothing is all right — don't you realize that I've been sending my reports back so the UN and your Societies people will know how to straighten this mess out? But Hengly can turn this world upside down and might even get a shooting war going before they get here. I'm out of it, but I can tell you who to contact, people who'll help. Hold the k-factor down…"
"That wouldn't do any good," Neel said quietly. "The whole thing is past the patch and polish stage now. Besides I blew the whole works up. My records, your—"
"You're a fool!" For the first time there was pain in Costa's voice.
"No. I was before — but not anymore. As long as I thought it was a normal problem I was being outguessed at every turn. You must understand the ramifications of Societies. To a good operator there is no interrelationship that cannot be uncovered. Hengly would be certain to keep his eyes open for another field check. Our kind of operation is very easy to spot if you know where — and how — to look. The act of getting information implies contact of some kind, that contact can be detected. He's had our location marked and has been sitting tight, buying time. But our time ran out when you showed them we were ready to fight back. That's why I destroyed our setup, and cut our trail."
"But. . then we're defenseless! What can we possibly do?"
Neel knew the answer, but he hesitated to put it into words. It would be final then. He suddenly realized he had forgotten about Costa's wound.
"I'm sorry… I forgot about your being hurt. What can I do?"
"Nothing," Costa snapped. "I put a field dressing on, that'll do. Answer my question. What is there left? What can be done now?"
"I'll have to kill Hengly. That will set things right until the team gets here."
"But what good will that accomplish?" Costa asked, trying to see the other man in the darkness of the cellar. "You told me yourself that a war couldn't be averted by assassination. No one individual means that much."
"Only in a normal situation," Neel explained. "You must look at the struggle between planets as a kind of celestial chess game. It has its own rules. When I talked about individuals earlier I was talking about pieces on a chessboard. What I'm proposing now is a little more dramatic. I'm going to win the chess game in a slightly more unorthodox way. I'm going to shoot the other chess player."
