There was a faint popping noise as the door closed and the copter-cab swiftly and silently darted away. Stunned by the swiftness of events, Lindsay was utterly incapable of resistance when his decorative tormentor thrust him into another vehicle. As they took off he said, "I suppose this is the prelude to another a.s.sa.s.sination try."
"Night soil!" said a familiar voice. "What the h.e.l.l do you think I just saved you from, boss?"
Lindsay uttered one word--a word which, he thought later, was singularly revealing as to his native flair for diplomacy. He said, briefly and succinctly, "_Huh?_"
"Listen, my fine unfeathered Martian friend." She sounded like a primary school teacher addressing an overgrown and somewhat backward pupil.
"Somebody fired a gla.s.s bullet at you from that cab."
"How do you...?" he began helplessly.
For answer she turned on the copter-cab light, revealing the back of a uniformed chauffeur, and showed him her handbag. There was a slight tear in one side of its begemmed surface and, when she shook it, bits of gla.s.s fell to the floor. "Careful," she warned when he reached for the bag. "It was probably packed with poison." Then, "Can you think of a better shield than diamonds?"
He said, "_Ulp!_" Unquestionably, now that she had revealed herself, this glittering creature was his slovenly office Nina. Seeking desperately to recover what had at best been a shaky boss-secretary relationship, he said, "Where are you taking me?"
"Out of the city, boss," she informed him. "We really are going to my place in Biloxi. You"re much too hot a property to be allowed to wander around loose. Two tries in less than twenty-four hours."
"Then Maria..." he said, wonderingly.
Nina picked his thought up crisply. "We don"t know whether your little playmate put the finger on you consciously or not. But she did it. Some of that sweet little crew she pals around with are desperate. They don"t believe they can lick the computers and their only hope is to foment incidents that will lead to an interplanetary war. Nice kids!"
"But why pick on me?" he asked. "From what Maria said tonight I"m their one hope of beating the machines."
Nina shook her head at him sadly. "And you"re the best brain our Martian cousins could send us. Here it is in words of one syllable. Maria"s mob wants war. They believe they can light the powder train by arranging the a.s.sa.s.sination of a Martian Plenipotentiary.
"Meanwhile your speech yesterday and your fouling up Doc Craven"s computer this afternoon, and whatever you did at the tennis tonight, have the Computer crowd screaming for your recall before you upset their little red wagon." She paused, added, "Naturally Maria"s crowd wants to have you killed before you become a mere private citizen of Mars. Once you"re removed from office you aren"t important enough to cause a war."
"Good G.o.d!" said Lindsay as the double pattern became apparent. Then, curiously, "And just whom do you represent, Nina?"
She eyed him steadily, mockingly for a moment. Then she said, "Let"s just say for now that I represent the Model"s Union. We don"t want any wartime austerity wrecking our pitch. Will that do?"
"I guess it will have to," he said. Then, plucking a diamond-and-emerald necklace from among the half-dozen about her throat, "You certainly didn"t give poor Anderson much for his money."
"Stop it!" she snapped. "Do you want my eyes to swell up again? In a way what happened tonight was all your fault. Fernando and I were going to keep close tabs on you but you fouled me up with your beastly remark about my business at Doc Craven"s and then put poor Fernando out of commission by getting mixed up in that riot at the Colosseum. I barely made the Pelican in time."
He thought of giving Nina the receipt from Zoffany"s in his pocket, decided not to take the chance. So he said, "Is Fernando working for the Model"s Union too?"
"Stop trying to be funny," she told him. "Night soil! You make me so d.a.m.ned mad. Letting that little tramp Maria nail you."
"At the time there wasn"t much alternative," he said. Then, eyeing her closely, "How come you"re mixed up in UW politics? I thought models were strictly for fun and games."
Nina said matter-of-factly, "I won top model rating when I was seventeen. I still hold it and I"m twenty-six now. A girl can get tired of being and doing the same thing--even in my profession. Besides, I"ve got brains. So I try to use them."
"How come you decided to be my secretary?"
"We drew lots and I lost," she informed him.
The copter dropped by searchlight to a flagged terrace in front of a dark cottage just off the beach. "Thanks, Bob," said Nina. "Tell the boys to stand by with their guard beams up." Then, to Lindsay, "Come on, boss, let"s get out of this heap."
She walked swiftly toward the cottage, pressed something. Soft lights came on, revealing a charming simulated wood dwelling in the fine antique Frank Lloyd Wright tradition. She ushered him into a delightfully gay bathroom looking out on the water, said, "Wait here while I get this armor off."
Lindsay felt a slight qualm as he considered what being a top model at seventeen must mean. And then he thought, Why not? Certainly he had no claim on Nina"s morals. He doubted if anyone had a claim of any kind on her.
She emerged, looking unexpectedly like a young girl in simple clout and cup-bra, which exposed most of her gorgeously tanned body. Her hair, innocent of jewels like the rest of her, was clubbed back simply with some sort of clip. She lit a cigarette and said, "Now--how the h.e.l.l are you fouling up the computers?"
"I"m not," he told her promptly. "At least not in the case of the tennis match. I just happened to know something about Pat O"Ryan the people who fed facts to the computer didn"t."
"That goon Pat!" she said. "He"s so d.a.m.ned dumb."
"You know him well?" he asked with a trace of jealousy.
"I know him." She dismissed it with a flick of her cigarette. "It"s a good thing you knew _judo_ too, boss. But what did you do to him that fouled up the match?"
"While he was out cold I gave him a shot of whiskey to bring him "round," Lindsay told her. "He didn"t know about it and I didn"t tell him when he informed me about his grain-alcohol allergy. So for once the computer didn"t get full facts. And I had them."
For the first time Lindsay basked in a smile of approval from Nina. She said, "And then you had to mess me up at Doc Craven"s so I couldn"t sit in on the match."
"I"m sorry about that," he said sincerely. "You might brief me so I don"t do it again."
"Well...." She hesitated. "I don"t want to set myself off. It"s not uncommon among us--models. You see, we"re proud of our careers, not like the two-credit wh.o.r.es who wear gla.s.ses and harnesses. And it hurts us when someone refers to our work as business. You see, there"s nothing really commercial about it. So when you--"
"But how the devil was I to know you were a model?" he asked her.
"I know," she said illogically. "But it still made me mad." Then, frowning, "But if the computer was wrong because of incomplete knowledge at the Colosseum, what was wrong at Doc Craven"s?"
Lindsay said, "I"m d.a.m.ned if I know."
"We"ve _got_ to know, with the president ready to put Giac to work."
"I meant to tell you about that," said Lindsay.
"Don"t worry," Nina informed him. "Your table at the Pelican was wired."
"Why are you against computers?" Lindsay asked her.
She dropped her smoke in a disposal-tray, said, "Never mind why--let"s just accept the fact that I am. And not for Fernando Anderson"s reason either. He just wants power."
"And what do you want?"
"Me?" Her eyebrows rose in surprise. "Why, I just want to have _fun_!"
She extended her arms and flapped her hands like birds. Then, again reverting to seriousness, "I wish you"d tell me everything that went on at Doc Craven"s yesterday. Dammit, _his_ office wasn"t wired."
Lindsay went through it, as nearly word for word as he could, then did it again when no answer was quickly forthcoming. Nina listened, her perfect forehead marred by a frown. Finally she said, "Let"s take a dip. It"s almost dawn."
She removed what clothing she wore and Lindsay did likewise. They felt the refreshing caress of the cool Gulf water on their skins--but that was all the caressing there was. Nina, unlike Maria, was all business despite the near-blatant perfection of her charms. Back in the bathroom she said, "The only thing I can think of is that stigmata business. Why should you imagine a mark on your mother"s forehead?"