been Puerto Rican."
All Spanish accents sounded alike to Sam, but he knew from experience that, in the Western Hemisphere, dialects differed so sharply that it made the linguistic differences between a Maine farmer and a Mississippi cotton grower seem trivial by comparison. He did not, however, think that the accent was Puerto Rican. Most probably this fellow's dialect had no equal anywhere on this Earth.
"Where did these others go?" Sam asked him. "After you took over, that is." The fellow was certainly being very cooperative after the demonstration, but neither Sam nor Bill was likely to loose those bonds. The eyes still said it.
"We left them in the rest area just east of Asheville. There were many cars and trucks there since the highway through the mountains was supposed to be difficult to go through because of snow and ice. They must have used some of them."
"How did you and your men get to the rest area?"
"We came in one of the big trucks we have used for many deliveries and it was then driven away by our people."
Sam nodded. Everything checked out pretty well so far. He turned to Bill. "I assume you're monitoring everybody in and out, even in ones and twos, from any stations and substations along the line. They will want to exit, and even if we miss thebig boy there shouldn't be much trouble in spotting our Ginzu-like friends."
Markham chuckled. "Sam, we do what we can, but do you know how many stations and substations there are on the Asian continent? Almost everybody there looks right for the area, and if they have fake clearances and a lot of patience there's no way we can stop them short of shutting down. We have extra monitors and we're scrutinizing everybody who wants out very hard, but there's only so much we can do. Even if we caught a couple, and we might, they're likely to wind up like that pair down the hall. Give it up, Sam. We got the boy back safe and sound. That's about the best we can hope for, all things considered."
Sam suddenly sat up. "Bond!" he exclaimed, feeling stupid.
"Huh?"
"Where was Bond? The whole thing was supposedly to get him and keep him from revealing a key illegal switch point, right? But Dash has no memories of a tall Englishman at all, let alone one with bandages and the like, and we heard nothing about him from this fellow, either."
Markham looked suddenly struck. "You're right," he replied. "Sam-that means they either didn't take him with them or that there was another group that split right at the start from the main body."
"That frostbite always bothered me," Sam told, him. "It's possible to get that bad fairly quickly, but not all that likely. The one thing that frostbite did was keep him immobile and inside the house. Macklinberg examined him, of course, but like most doctors he takes one look, it looks like theclassic case-of which he's seen hundreds or thousands-and we get instant diagnosis."
"You think he was in on it, then? A fraud? It wouldn't be that hard to fake and fool even a doctor under those circumstances for just the reasons you say. So they'd have an inside man, right? Maybe one who could report and help entry and make sure there wasn't a trap inside. That's bad, Sam. It means we have one of our own who went over to the other side."
"It's more interesting than that, Bill," the detective replied. "It means that all this was the object of the exercise from the beginning. If Bond isn't for real, and if he was an inside man, then the whole object was to get to us. The pieces are starting to fall into place, Bill, but I still need more information."
"You're beginning to make me feel like Watson again."
Sam smiled. "It's just the same old game. Taking all the disparate pieces of the puzzle all spilled out in random order on the table and putting them together into a coherent whole. The problem isn't solving the puzzle, the problem is when you don't have all the pieces yet."
Brandy was improving rapidly, now with full upper body control and able to at
All Spanish accents sounded alike to Sam, but he knew from experience that, in the Western Hemisphere, dialects differed so sharply that it made the linguistic differences between a Maine farmer and a Mississippi cotton grower seem trivial by comparison. He did not, however, think that the accent was Puerto Rican. Most probably this fellow's dialect had no equal anywhere on this Earth.
"Where did these others go?" Sam asked him. "After you took over, that is." The fellow was certainly being very cooperative after the demonstration, but neither Sam nor Bill was likely to loose those bonds. The eyes still said it.
"We left them in the rest area just east of Asheville. There were many cars and trucks there since the highway through the mountains was supposed to be difficult to go through because of snow and ice. They must have used some of them."
"How did you and your men get to the rest area?"
"We came in one of the big trucks we have used for many deliveries and it was then driven away by our people."
Sam nodded. Everything checked out pretty well so far. He turned to Bill. "I assume you're monitoring everybody in and out, even in ones and twos, from any stations and substations along the line. They will want to exit, and even if we miss thebig boy there shouldn't be much trouble in spotting our Ginzu-like friends."
Markham chuckled. "Sam, we do what we can, but do you know how many stations and substations there are on the Asian continent? Almost everybody there looks right for the area, and if they have fake clearances and a lot of patience there's no way we can stop them short of shutting down. We have extra monitors and we're scrutinizing everybody who wants out very hard, but there's only so much we can do. Even if we caught a couple, and we might, they're likely to wind up like that pair down the hall. Give it up, Sam. We got the boy back safe and sound. That's about the best we can hope for, all things considered."
Sam suddenly sat up. "Bond!" he exclaimed, feeling stupid.
"Huh?"
"Where was Bond? The whole thing was supposedly to get him and keep him from revealing a key illegal switch point, right? But Dash has no memories of a tall Englishman at all, let alone one with bandages and the like, and we heard nothing about him from this fellow, either."
Markham looked suddenly struck. "You're right," he replied. "Sam-that means they either didn't take him with them or that there was another group that split right at the start from the main body."
"That frostbite always bothered me," Sam told, him. "It's possible to get that bad fairly quickly, but not all that likely. The one thing that frostbite did was keep him immobile and inside the house. Macklinberg examined him, of course, but like most doctors he takes one look, it looks like theclassic case-of which he's seen hundreds or thousands-and we get instant diagnosis."
"You think he was in on it, then? A fraud? It wouldn't be that hard to fake and fool even a doctor under those circumstances for just the reasons you say. So they'd have an inside man, right? Maybe one who could report and help entry and make sure there wasn't a trap inside. That's bad, Sam. It means we have one of our own who went over to the other side."
"It's more interesting than that, Bill," the detective replied. "It means that all this was the object of the exercise from the beginning. If Bond isn't for real, and if he was an inside man, then the whole object was to get to us. The pieces are starting to fall into place, Bill, but I still need more information."
"You're beginning to make me feel like Watson again."
Sam smiled. "It's just the same old game. Taking all the disparate pieces of the puzzle all spilled out in random order on the table and putting them together into a coherent whole. The problem isn't solving the puzzle, the problem is when you don't have all the pieces yet."
Brandy was improving rapidly, now with full upper body control and able to at
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