It was nearly two-thirty in the morning when Travis came down the deserted halls of the fourth floor suite of offices and knocked softly on the Major’s door, then slipped inside when he heard the muffled command to enter.
The Major sat behind his desk, looking as fresh and tireless as if he had just risen from a long night’s sleep. His suit and tie were still immaculate. Sometime since the shattering loss of his home, he had taken time to shave. Travis shook his head wearily as he sat down, rubbing at the stubble on his own jaw. He felt rumpled, strung out, and ready for a shower and bed.
“No sign of them, I presume,” the Major said.
“None.”
“That’s no great surprise.” He leaned back, his reflection clearly mirrored in the polished expanse of the empty desk top, and his hands came up to form a fingertip steeple.
“Major, I haven’t had much chance before now to say this, but I’m sorry about your home.”
The older man shrugged. “Houses can be rebuilt.” Then in a musing tone he continued slowly. “In a way, it has value, for it’s revealed a flaw in Eric Lloyd that could prove very helpful to us. Eric is a man of principle and has a rather highly charged sense of fairness.”
“Your wife, you mean?”
“Yes. He could have taken her hostage or even killed her and done me great harm. But he didn’t. If he won’t go for the jugular when he has the chance, that gives us a decided advantage.”
Travis shook his head dubiously. “Maybe.”
To Travis’s surprise, the Major smiled. “Actually, in addition to Eric’s high principles, we have another strong advantage.”
“What?”
“Joe Jensen.”
“Joe Jensen?”
“Yes.”
“Do you mean—”
“Yes. Joe came to me a couple of days ago. He and Rod Loopes are old friends. Rod had called him and offered him a chance to join Eric. Joe played along with them. Said he wanted time to consider it. Then he came directly to me.”
“Well, well, well,” Travis breathed in admiration as he leaned back in his seat.
“I told him to go along with anything up to serious injury of our people. If it comes to that, he’s to get out.”
“And Shirley?”
“Yes. Her too. We figured that having Joe ask her to join him was a natural for Eric to swallow.” He groaned. “I didn’t expect her to send that message over the wrist computers. But on the other hand, I gave her the same instructions as Joe. I suppose it’s worth it. I think Eric has bought their authenticity.”
“Have you heard anything from them?”
“Not yet. It’s still too early. I told them to watch for a chance to use the radio, call in to us when they can. If we could find that base camp…But they are to risk calling only if they can bring us to Eric or if something critical is going to happen. I don’t want the others without him.”
“Well, well, well,” Travis said again, his spirits suddenly soaring.
“I thought you’d be pleased. I think you can understand why I didn’t tell you earlier. I wanted your reaction to be completely natural.”
“Of course.” Travis sat back, unable to believe that the tide had just turned in their favor. “So the Trojan horse is inside the enemy camp.”
“Yes, but the battle isn’t won yet. I—” At that moment, a soft knock came at the door. “Oh good, that’s Dr. Gould now. Come in.”
The short, balding man entered, still clad in the brown suit he had worn at the conference the night before, his face lined with weariness. They exchanged greetings, and, as Dr. Gould sank into the chair with a groan, the Major sat back down. “What did you and Max decide?”
“Yes, he says he can do it. In fact, he brought a unit that will fit inside her wrist computer nicely. We’re ready any time you are.”
Travis started. Her wrist computer? But the Major broke into his thoughts.
“Do you remember Max Grant from our Research and Development Department in Mount Pleasant?” the Major asked.
“Yes.”
“I sent the chopper for him last night. He and Wayne have been working on an idea.”
“Good.”
The Major rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Well, you may not think so when you hear it.”
“Oh? Why not?”
“It has to do with Nicole.”
“Nicole?”
“Yes. First of all, let me say that my hope is that with the help of Joe and Shirley, we can find Eric and put an end to the whole matter. But if not…” He took a deep breath. “Travis, I think Nicole has gone over with them too.”
For a long moment Travis stared back at the Major. “Why do you think so?” he finally said softly.
The Major held up the fingers on one hand and began to tick them off with the index finger of his other. “First her ‘miraculous’ escape. She says she hit Eric over the head and fled, yet she had the presence of mind to take the packhorse, the radio, matches, and so on, so she could signal us for the rescue.”
“Don’t underestimate Nicole’s resourcefulness.”
“I don’t. But the whole thing looks a bit too pat.”
“Then why did she come to the stadium without a uniform? Why did she insist on running to Mount Pleasant to see her aunt? If she was with Eric, she would have come right back to us. Why did she tell me she was going to resign from the Guardians?”
“All excellent questions, and I must admit they threw me too. But number two, why did she suddenly change her mind when she felt so strongly about it? And third, why all of a sudden is she so cooperative, almost eager to please?”
“I—”
But the Major went on, swiftly overriding his answer. “When I called her in after the meeting last night, why did she agree to continue in Central Monitoring during the period of martial law? If she’s so squeamish about what happened to Dr. Cameron, why is she willing to stay on now when we are threatening maximum Punishment Modes all over the place?”
“So she won’t be implanted.”
“Maybe,” the Major agreed. “Yes, that’s a possibility. But I still wonder. I think Eric let her go in the mountains. She wasn’t completely convinced then, but she was wavering. She wanted time to think. After talking to you Saturday night, she finally decided. Or maybe Eric or one of his men finally got to her and convinced her to join them.”
“What do you want to do?” Travis asked.
“Put another Trojan horse inside the gates. Only this time even the horse won’t know it.”
“How?”
“Two things. First, we want an electronic bug on Nicole’s person. If she is teamed up with the rebels, that will be the quickest way to know it.”
Travis took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “And second?”
Dr. Gould leaned forward and turned to look at Travis. “In the early stages of our research, even before Termination, Dr. Denison and I experimented with different kinds of implantations, and—”
“No!” Travis shouted. “No implantation! It will destroy her!”
“Hear him out, Travis,” the Major said gently.
“It was crude by our standards today. We took a tiny radio receiver with two stubby little electrodes and inserted it under the skin at the base of the spinal column. A patient would be put under observation. If he misbehaved, we triggered a signal that pumped an electrical charge into the spinal cord. Intense pain resulted as long as the signal was maintained. But it was very unwieldy and impractical because the person had to be kept under twenty-four-hour observation, and only outward behavioral symptoms could be punished. That’s when we started developing an internal, automatic control system implanted in the brain.”
“There is no automatic punishment response in this system, Travis.” The Major waved his hand. “She won’t even know it’s there. Unless we push the button, she’ll never have any pain.”
“You insert a radio receiver in her back, and she doesn’t even know it?”
“Yes. I’ll explain how in a moment.”
“Why the implantation?” Travis demanded, obviously wavering. “Bugging her wrist computer will lead us to Eric, if—” he paused, his eyes bitter, “—if she’s really with them. So what’s the purpose of implanting her?”
The Major looked away, unable to meet Travis’s demanding stare. “We think something may be developing between Eric and Nicole, Travis. I’m sorry, and I sincerely hope we’re wrong. But if we’re right and somehow he cuts her wrist computer and she slips away to him, the implantation will give us leverage. We’ll have a hold on Eric. We can trigger intense pain from virtually any distance.”
Travis was silent for almost a full minute, his face drawn. Finally he nodded. “How can you implant her without her knowing it?”
The Major smiled. “We have arranged for a minor accident to happen tomorrow in the Monitoring Room.”