and I lead mine.”
An Linh heard herself reply, “I’ll have to think about this. I can’t make a decision right away.”
“I understand.”
“I have a very jealous boyfriend,” she blurted.
Who wants to bring a Worldnews camera team into my laboratories, Nillson told himself.
“I’m sure you can explain this to him,” he said.
“Then you’ll accept Father Lemoyne and allow us to tape?”
“How could I refuse such a request?”
“Thank you.” It was all she could think to say.
“My pleasure.” Nillson smiled. “After lunch, I’ll have my legal people work out the details with you.”
He turned his attention to the salad, while contemplating the possibilities of the future. An Linh would bring her boyfriend and his camera crew into the labs and they would snoop around for weeks. They would find nothing about the astronaut. Nothing at all. Everyone who had been involved in the matter or even heard that the man had been revived would be moved to other locations. Vanguard would get a very sympathetic documentary out of Worldnews and he would get a woman to carry his son. And undoubtedly he would get the lovely Oriental girl into his bed in the bargain. How could she refuse? He pictured her naked, just a little frightened when she realized what he had in store for her. No, more than a little frightened. He felt tiny beads of perspiration dotting his upper lip as he contemplated the fear he would see in those long-lashed almond eyes.
He watched her eating while he dabbed at his lips with his napkin. If only I could grow a mustache, a full handsome Viking’s mustache!
The communicator on his wrist chimed delicately.
“What is it?” he snapped.
The voice from the communicator was a thin, weak piping. “An urgent message, sir. Private.”
Nillson forced himself not to frown. To An Linh, he said softly, “Would you excuse me for a moment?”
“Of course.”
He got up from the table and went through the open portal to his desk. Taking up the phone handset, he growled, “This had better be important.”
The face that appeared on the screen set into the desktop was Archie Madigan’s. His normal grin had vanished. He looked worried.
“She took Stoner aboard the jumpjet.”
Nillson lowered his voice. “They’re headed for Maine, then?”
No reply for the span of a heartbeat, then, “That’s what she wants you to think. She switched planes at the refueling stop in Nebraska. Two people who look like her and Stoner will go to the house in Maine, but it won’t be them.”
Nillson felt anger flaring hot inside him. “Where’s she going, then?”
“We’re not certain….”
“Then find out, damn you! Find out quickly!”
“Yessir.”
He slammed the phone back into its cradle. His breath snorted out of him in furious gasps. She’s taken him off to some secret hideaway, has she? The bitch! I knew she’d run off with him. After all I’ve done for her, she’s still got the hots for her childhood sweetheart. Well, she’ll regret it. They’ll both regret it. By the time I get finished with them they’ll both be happy to be dead.
Then he looked up and saw An Linh staring at him from the dining room.
CHAPTER 12
Everett Nillson had lived with fear all his life. Fear, and anger.
As he replaced the phone in its cradle, watching An Linh’s eyes following him, he struggled within himself to keep his fury from boiling out, to keep himself under control. From childhood he had fought this battle. Never let the anger show. He knows that the anger is born out of fear.
“You must never be afraid,” he heard his father’s booming voice. “Fear is a sign of cowardice, and I will not have a coward for my son!”
Nillson had been born to great wealth. Vanguard Industries had been his father’s creation, and from long before he had been old enough to understand, he had been told, by his mother, his governess, his tutors, and especially by his father himself, how Lars Nillson had fought
An Linh heard herself reply, “I’ll have to think about this. I can’t make a decision right away.”
“I understand.”
“I have a very jealous boyfriend,” she blurted.
Who wants to bring a Worldnews camera team into my laboratories, Nillson told himself.
“I’m sure you can explain this to him,” he said.
“Then you’ll accept Father Lemoyne and allow us to tape?”
“How could I refuse such a request?”
“Thank you.” It was all she could think to say.
“My pleasure.” Nillson smiled. “After lunch, I’ll have my legal people work out the details with you.”
He turned his attention to the salad, while contemplating the possibilities of the future. An Linh would bring her boyfriend and his camera crew into the labs and they would snoop around for weeks. They would find nothing about the astronaut. Nothing at all. Everyone who had been involved in the matter or even heard that the man had been revived would be moved to other locations. Vanguard would get a very sympathetic documentary out of Worldnews and he would get a woman to carry his son. And undoubtedly he would get the lovely Oriental girl into his bed in the bargain. How could she refuse? He pictured her naked, just a little frightened when she realized what he had in store for her. No, more than a little frightened. He felt tiny beads of perspiration dotting his upper lip as he contemplated the fear he would see in those long-lashed almond eyes.
He watched her eating while he dabbed at his lips with his napkin. If only I could grow a mustache, a full handsome Viking’s mustache!
The communicator on his wrist chimed delicately.
“What is it?” he snapped.
The voice from the communicator was a thin, weak piping. “An urgent message, sir. Private.”
Nillson forced himself not to frown. To An Linh, he said softly, “Would you excuse me for a moment?”
“Of course.”
He got up from the table and went through the open portal to his desk. Taking up the phone handset, he growled, “This had better be important.”
The face that appeared on the screen set into the desktop was Archie Madigan’s. His normal grin had vanished. He looked worried.
“She took Stoner aboard the jumpjet.”
Nillson lowered his voice. “They’re headed for Maine, then?”
No reply for the span of a heartbeat, then, “That’s what she wants you to think. She switched planes at the refueling stop in Nebraska. Two people who look like her and Stoner will go to the house in Maine, but it won’t be them.”
Nillson felt anger flaring hot inside him. “Where’s she going, then?”
“We’re not certain….”
“Then find out, damn you! Find out quickly!”
“Yessir.”
He slammed the phone back into its cradle. His breath snorted out of him in furious gasps. She’s taken him off to some secret hideaway, has she? The bitch! I knew she’d run off with him. After all I’ve done for her, she’s still got the hots for her childhood sweetheart. Well, she’ll regret it. They’ll both regret it. By the time I get finished with them they’ll both be happy to be dead.
Then he looked up and saw An Linh staring at him from the dining room.
CHAPTER 12
Everett Nillson had lived with fear all his life. Fear, and anger.
As he replaced the phone in its cradle, watching An Linh’s eyes following him, he struggled within himself to keep his fury from boiling out, to keep himself under control. From childhood he had fought this battle. Never let the anger show. He knows that the anger is born out of fear.
“You must never be afraid,” he heard his father’s booming voice. “Fear is a sign of cowardice, and I will not have a coward for my son!”
Nillson had been born to great wealth. Vanguard Industries had been his father’s creation, and from long before he had been old enough to understand, he had been told, by his mother, his governess, his tutors, and especially by his father himself, how Lars Nillson had fought
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