THE LARGE BLOND ANDROID sprinted, hopped atop Bozwell’s desk, and then came hurtling at Jake.
Jake meantime bicycled backwards, drew his stungun, and dropped to the floor.
The heavy mechanical man sailed clean over him to slam into a costume trunk.
The lid of the trunk popped open; bright crimson and gold plumes and swirls of silvery ribbon came spewing out to shower the android.
Bounding upright, Jake fired at him.
The blond andy snarled, made an attempt to catch hold of Jake. But he suddenly stiffened, disabled. He gave out a series of staccato gagging noises, falling over sideways. He toppled a stack of cartons and they came falling down all around him as he smacked out flat on the office floor.
Turning, Jake saw that the other android was kneeling over the fallen Marj, wide legs straddling her. He was using both of his powerful hands to choke her.
Not hesitating, Jake aimed his stungun and fired again.
The large android jerked to an upright position, hands leaving the woman’s throat. His arms went back, elbows jabbing at the air. He ceased to function, dropping over with a thud.
“I’m warning you,” shouted Bozwell, who was huddled behind his desk, gripping a lazgun in both fat hands. “Get your arse out of my office.”
Jake kicked out suddenly, sending the desk slamming back into the agent. Bozwell was shoved against the wall, his gunhand hit against a panel and he let go of his weapon.
Lunging, Jake grabbed him and dumped him down into his chair. “Stay there,” he suggested.
He backed up, eyes on Bozwell, and crouched beside Marj. “You okay?”
In a thin, raw voice she managed to reply, “More or less.”
Nodding, Jake snatched up the fallen lazgun. He thrust his own stungun away and walked close to the seated Bozwell. “Where’s my son?”
“I don’t even know your frigging name, let alone the current whereabouts of your—”
“I’m Jake Cardigan. My son’s name is Dan.” He swung the lazgun up and poked it hard into the fat man’s middle. “I want to know where Dan and Nancy Sands were taken.”’
“I never heard of her either. So you—”
“Look at me,” requested Jake in a level voice. “I ran out of patience about ten minutes ago. Tell me where my son is.”
“All right, all right.” The agent was sweating, running his tongue over his upper lip. “You don’t have to act like a frigging maniac.”
“Who hired your mercenaries?”
“Outfit calls itself Excalibur.”
“What were your instructions?”
“To get Nancy Sands and your boy away from the Tek Kids,” answered Bozwell. “Anybody who stood in the way, we should kill.”
“How’d they know Nancy was at Buckingham Palace?”
“They had people hunting for the girl since she ran off. Somebody figured Danny might lead them to her, so they put a tail on him. They followed the kid and he did lead them to her.”
Jake asked, “Where are they now?”
“I’m not exactly sure.”
He poked the gun barrel deeper. “Make a good guess.”
“Up in the Caribbean Colony satellite,” answered the perspiring fat man. “The Excalibur bunch, they have a hideout there. I also hear maybe Bennett Sands is lying low at the Colony, too. That’s where your kid must be.”
Jake placed the lazgun on the desk. He drew out his stungun. “Thanks for your help.” He squeezed the trigger and Bozwell slumped into a coma that would last for a full day or more.
“We’ll have to get up to that satellite as soon as we can,” he said, turning back to Marj.
She was standing, leaning against a heavy trunk, but her face was pale. “Maybe you’ll have to make that trip without me,” she said, rubbing at the red welts on her throat. “I feel—”
Her eyes drifted shut and she fell forward into Jake’s arms.
Marj lived in a cottage in Maida Vale. Her bedroom had a one-way plastiglass wall that gave a view of the small, night-filled garden outside.
She was sitting up on her circular bed. “I’m fine now, really,” she assured Jake. “And, listen—I’m sorry, Jake, that I sidetracked you.”
Jake occupied a lucite chair near the bed. “All part of the courteous Cosmos service,” he told her, grinning. “We always see ailing social workers safely home—especially after they’ve been wrestling with androids.”
She smiled, touching her fingertips to her throat. “I know you must want to get up to the Caribbean Colony right away.”
“Sure, but I couldn’t have left you lying around on Bozwell’s office floor.”
“Are you going to tell Scotland Yard that Bennett Sands is probably up there?”
“Eventually,” he answered. “First, though, I have to get Dan safely away from there.”
“You’re planning to hit the Colony alone?”
Jake nodded. “I want to look around before I make a move. I figure I ought to be able to pass for a tourist.”
“For a while anyway,” she said. “There are several resort hotels there, three or four large casinos, and a great many simulated beaches. Hundreds of tourists go there every day.”
“Seems likely that some of the major Teklords must control the place.”
“Yes, that’s near certain. Since they aren’t especially fond of you, and since Sands doesn’t much care for you either, Jake, you’re going to have to be damn careful once you get there.”
“Soon as you’re feeling better, I’ll head over to the London Spaceport and unobtrusively book passage on the earliest shuttle for the Caribbean Colony.”
“Oh, I’m perfectly well right now.” Marj edged off the bed and stood. “In fact, I don’t know why I fainted at all.”
Leaving his chair, he moved to her side. “Better sit down.”
“No, I ... She hesitated, frowning. Then, reaching out, she took hold of him. “That’s ... funny.”
“What’s wrong, Marj?”
“I suddenly feel very unsteady,” she told him in a weak voice. “I saw some zigzags of colored light, too.”
He guided her back to her bed, set her on it, and then sat close beside her. “Let me phone a medic to—”
“No, there’s no need for a doctor, really.” She put her arms around him, resting her cheek against his chest. “I hate to admit this, since I’m somebody who braves the worst gang areas of London, but tonight I’m feeling frightened.”
Jake gently stroked her back. “Everybody feels like that sometimes.”
“You too?”
“Sure.”
Raising her head, she looked into his eyes. Then, leaning, she kissed him. After a moment she asked, “Could you ... stay with me tonight?”
“Guess I’d better,” he said quietly.