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The spring of ’76

Viktor Shukshin was running close to broke He had frittered away his inheritance froh-Snaith’s estate on various business ventures which had fallen through; rates on the big house near Bonnyrigg were high; thewas insufficient to keep him He would sell the house but it had fallen into such a state of disrepair that it would no longer realise a high price; also, he needed the seclusion that the place gave him To let some of the rooms would likewise diminish his privacy, and in any case the structural and decorative repairs necessary before any letting could even be considered were quite beyond his uistic talent was not the only one he commanded, however, and so, over the period of the last few months, he had made several discreet trips into London to follow up and check out certain points of information he had acquired in the years he had been domiciled in the British Isles - information which should be worth a deal of n parties

In short, Viktor Shukshin was a spy - or at least, it had been intended that he should becoor Borowitz first sent him out of the USSR, in 1957 Of course, there had been a hardening of East-West relationships at that ti of Russia’s policy towards her dissidents - so that it hadn’t been too difficult for Shukshin to get into Great Britain in the guise of a political refugee

After that, and especially after h, Shukshin had found hied on his Soviet boss and settled to actual citizenship Still, he had not forgotten his original reason for coainst the future had long since set about aht eventually be useful to his h, because of his financial difficulties, that he had begun to realise what a good position he was in If the Soviets would not pay him the price he demanded for his information, then he could threaten thee of a certain Russian organisation

Which hy, this sparkling May , Shukshin had written a carefully coded letter to an old ’pen-friend’ in Berlin - one who had not heard froht never to hear froh East Geror Borowitz himself in Moscow That letter was in the post even now, and Shukshin had just returned ho post office

But coe that led to his driveway, Shukshin had been startled to feel in hinised of old, a weird energy which turned his spine chilly and tugged at his hair like static electricity On the bridge, leaning over the parapet and staring into the river’s sloirl, a sli man in a scarf and overcoat had lifted his head and stared at Shukshin’s car His pale blue serious eyes had see Shukshin with their cold gaze And the Russian had known that the stranger was endoith more than Nature’s ordinary talents, that he commanded more than man’s normal powers of perception

He had known it absolutely, for Shukshin, too, was gifted He was a ’spotter’: his talent lay in the instant recognition of another ESP-endowed person

As to who the youth could be, the significance of his appearing here at this time: there were several possibilities It could be coincidence, an accidental ; this would not be the first time nor even the fiftieth that Shukshin had stuths and colours, and this one had been strong indeed and scarlet - a red-tinged cloud in Shukshin’s mind Or his presence here could be deliberate: he may have been sent here The British branch must also have its spotters, and Shukshin ht of his recent trips to London - and what he had subsequently discovered of the British ESPionage branch - this theory was by no h hi else in Shukshin now, so which ht have swerved his car to crush the stranger against the parapet wall The e hatred he felt towards all ESPers

His rage slowly subsided and he looked at his hands The knuckles of his fingers hite where he gripped the edges of his desk He forced hi deeply It was always this way, but he had learned how to control it - almost But if only he had not sent that letter to Borowitz Thatmistake Perhaps he should have offered his services direct to the British instead; perhaps he still should, and without delay Before they could investigate hihts when the doorbell rang, because they were guilty thoughts he gave a violent start

Shukshin’s study was downstairs in a rooh patio s into its own courtyard Now he stood up frolooround floor rooain as the doorbell once s

’I’!’ he called ahead - but he slowed down and calazed porch Out there beyond the frosted glass stood a well-ure which Shukshin knew at once: it was that of the young e

Shukshin knew it in tays, one of which was simple observation and could be in error The other as ain the surge of rare energy-fields and the heat of his instinctive hatred for all such ESP-talented ain a tide of panic and passion rose up in hi to the door Well, he had wondered about the stranger, hadn’t he? Now it seemed that he was not to be kept in suspense One way or the other he would soon discover as going on here

He opened the door

’How do you do,’ said Harry Keogh, s his hand ’You ive private tuition in Gerh’s hand but simply stood and stared at him For his own part, Harry stared back And for all that he continued to se that he now stood face to face with his ht aside; for the moment it was sufficient to just look at the other and absorb what he could of this stranger who he intended to destroy

The Russian was in his late forties but looked at least ten years older He had a paunch and his dark hair was streaked with grey; his sideburns ran into a neatly trimmed, pointed beard beneath a fleshy mouth; his dark eyes were red-rirey He did not appear in good health, but Keogh suspected that there was a dangerous strength in hie, his shoulders broad for all that they were a little hunched, and if he had stood upright he would be well over six feet tall All in all, he was a grotesquely ih now allowed himself to remember) he was a murderer whose blood was cold as ice

’Er, you do give language lessons, don’t you?’

Shukshin’s face cracked into soed at the flesh at the corner of his mouth ’Indeed I do,’ he answered, his voice liquid and deep, retaining a trace of his native accent ’I take it I was recommended? Who, er, sent you to h answered ’No, not exactly I’ve seen your ads in the papers, that’s all No one sent me’

’Ah!’ Shukshin was cautious ’And you require lessons, is that it? Excuse me if I’uages these days I have one or two regulars That’s about it I can’t really afford the time to take on anyone else just now Also, I’h of thees, I h corrected hied ’It’s the old story, I’m afraid: I had no time for it when it was free, and so now I’ll have to pay for it I intend to do a lot of travelling, you see and I thought -’

’You’d like to brush up on your German, eh?’

’Andin Shukshin’swith the pressures already there This was all false and he knew it Also, there wasthat he knew him from somewhere ’Oh?’ he finally said ’Then you’re a rare one Not o to Russia these days, and fewer still want to learn the language! Is your visit to be business or - ?’

’Purely pleasure,’ Keogh cut him off ’May I come in?’

Shukshin didn’t want hireatly prefer to slam the door in his face But at the sah entered, and the door closing behind hi down on a coffin He could almost feel the Russian’s animosity, could almost taste his hatred But why should Shukshin hate him? He didn’t even know him

’I didn’t catch your na the way to his study

Keogh was prepared for that He waited aon the other’s heels until they reached the airy study with its natural light flooding in through the patio s, then said:

’My nah Stepfather’

In front of him, Shukshin had almost reached his desk Now he froze, poised for a moment as if turned to stone, then quickly turned to face his visitor Keogh had expected a response so quite so dramatic The man’s face had turned to chalk in the frame of his darker sideburns and beard His jelly lips tree?

’What?’ his voice was hoarse now, a gasp ’What’s that you say? Harry Keogh? Is this some kind of practical - ?’

But now he looked closer and knehy he had thought he’d known this youth before He had been only a child then, but the features were the same Yes, and his mother had had them before him In fact, now that he kneho this was, the resemblance was remarkable What wasof her wild talent, too

Her talent! The boy was a psychic, a medium, inherited from his mother! That was it! That hat Shukshin could detect in him - echoes of his mother’s talent!

’Stepfather?’ said Keogh, feigning concern ’Are you all right?’ He offered a hand but the other backed away from it into his desk He clawed his way round the desk, flopped into his chair ’It’s ashock,’ he said then ’I rip of hihed his relief and breathed reat shock’

’I didn’t ht you’d be pleased to see ht it was tiot to know you I mean, you’re the only real link I have with my past, my early childhood - my mother’

’Your mother?’ Shukshin i a little of its former colour as he quickly composed himself Obviously his fears that he’d been discovered by the British ESP Agency were unfounded Keogh was si to his roots; he was genuinely interested in his past But if that was so -

’Then as all that rubbish about wanting to learn German and Russian?’ he snapped ’Was it really necessary to go through all that just to get to see h answered with a shrug, ’yes, I adet to see you - but it was in no way nise me before I told you who I was’ He kept the sain, his anger plain and ood time to drop a second bombshell ’Anyway, I speak both German and Russian far more fluently than you ever could, stepfather In fact, I could instruct you’

Shukshin prided hiuistic ability He could hardly believe his ears What was this pup talking about, he could Instruct’ hies since before Harry Keogh was born! The Russian’s pride took precedence over his churning emotions and the hatred inside him which the presence of any ESPer invariably invoked

’Hah!’ he barked ’Ridiculous! Why, I was born a Russian I took honours in ue when I was just seventeen I had a diploet your funny ideas, Harry Keogh, but they don’t make much sense! Do you honestly think that a couple of GCEs canto annoy h continued to ses He took a chair opposite Shukshin and sht across the desk and into the other’s scornful face And he reached out his mind to an old friend of his, Klaus Grunbauirl and settled in Hartlepool after the war Grunbaum had died of a stroke in ’55 and was buried in the Grayfields Estate cemetery It made no difference that that was one hundred and fifty h him - spoke in a rapid, fluent German, directly across Viktor Shukshin’s desk and into his face:

’And how’s this for Gernise that this is how it’s spoken around Haed

his/Grunbaum’s accent: ’Or perhaps you’d prefer this? It’s Hoch Deutsch, as spoken by the sophisticated elite, the gentry, and aped by thereally clever - sorammatical, maybe? Would that convince you?’

’Clever,’ Shukshin sneeringly admitted His eyes had widened while Harry talked but now he narrowed them ’A very clever exercise in dialectal German, yes, and quite fluent But anyone could learn a few sentences like that parrot-fashion in half an hour! Russian is a different hter He thanked Klaus Grunbaum and switched his h He’d been there recently to spend a little tirandmother, dead soain, used her to speak to his stepfather in his native tongue With Natasha’s unwavering coe, indeed with her mind, he commenced a diatribe on ’the failure of the repressive Co minutes when finally Shukshin cried:

’What is this, Harry? More rubbish learned parrot-fashion? What’s the purpose of all this trickery?’ But for all his bluster, still Shukshin’s heart beat a little faster, a little heavier in his chest The boy sounded so much like like so his grandh answered: ’Oh, and could I learn this parrot-fashion? Are you so blind that you can’t see the truth when you meet it face to face? I’m a talented ine Far more talented than ever my poor mother was Shukshin stood up and leaned on his desk, and the

hatred washed out froh like a wave ’All right, so you’re a clever young bastard!’ he answered in Russian ’So what? And that’s twice you’ve h? It’s al me’

Harry continued to use Shukshin’s own tongue: ’Threatening? But why should I threaten you, stepfather? I only came to see you, that’s all - and to ask a favour’

’What? You try to make me look like a fool and then have the audacity to ask favours? What is it you want of me?’

It was tiot to his feet ’I’m told that my mother loved to skate,’ he said, his Russian still perfect ’There’s a river out there, down beyond the bottoarden I’d like to coain Perhaps you’ll be less excitable then and we’ll be able to talk o on the frozen river, like arden ends’

Once more ashen, Shukshin reeled, clutched at his desk Then his eyes began to burn with hatred and his fleshy lips drew back froer, his hatred He ant pup, knock hian to sidle round the desk towards hier and backed towards the door of the study He wasn’t finished yet, however There was one last thing heout ’I’ve brought solish ’So that belongs to you’

’Get out!’ Shukshin snarled ’Get out while you’re still

one piece You and your daain, in the winter? I forbid it! I want nothing more of you, step-brat! Go and make a fool of someone else Go now, before - ’

’Don’t worry,’ said Harry, ’I’, for now But first - catch!’ and he tossed soh the door into the shadowy house and out of sight

Shukshin autoht what he’d thrown, stared at it for a second Then hisafter he’d heard the front door sla in his hand

The gold was burnished as if brand new, and the solitary cat’s-eye stone seemed to stare back at him in a cold speculation all its own

Froed a great deal frouess that it housed the world’s finest ESPionage unit, Gregor Borowitz’s E-Branch, or that it was anything but a tottering old pile But that was exactly the way Boroanted it, and he silently complimented himself on ell planned and executed as his helicopter fanned low over the towers and rooftops of the place and doards the tiny helipad, which was sireen circle, lying between a huddle of outbuildings and the chateau itself

’Outbuildings,’ yes - that is what they looked like fro fallen into disrepair and allowed to settle and crumble until they were little reater mass of the chateau And this, too, was precisely to Borowitz’s specifications They were in fact defensive

positions, un posts, co them a total arc of fire to cover the entire open area between the chateau and its perimeter wall Other pill-boxes had been built into the wall itself, whose external face could become an electrical barrier at the throw of a switch

Second only to the space-base at Baikonur, E-Branch was now housed in one of the best-fortified installations in the USSR Certainly it vied favourably with the joint atoetya, lost in the Urals, whose chief asset was its isolation; but in one etya: namely it was ’secret’ in the fullest sense of the word Apart from Borowitz’s operatives, no one but a double-handful of men even suspected that the chateau in its present form existed, and of these only three or four knew that it housed E-Branch One of these was the Premier himself, who had visited Borowitz here on several occasions; another, less happily, was Yuri Andropov, who had not visited and never would - not on Borowitz’s invitation

The helicopter settled to its pad and as its rotor slowed Borowitz slid back his door and swung out his legs A securityvanes and helped hi his hat, Borowitz let hih an arched doorway into that area of the chateau which once had been the courtyard Noas roofed over and partitioned into airy conservatories and laboratories, where branch operatives ht study and practise their peculiar talents in comparative comfort or whatever condition or environment best suited their work

Borowitz had been late out of bed this , which hy he’d called for the branch helicopter to fly him in from his dacha Even so, he was still an hour late for

his h the outer co, then up two flights of time-hollowed stone stairs into the tohere he had his office, he grinned wolfishly at the thought of Dragosani waiting for him The necromancer was himself a stickler for punctuality; by noould be furious That was all to the good His e perfectly for his deflation It did ht do and then, an art in which Boroas pastoff his hat and jacket as he went, finally Borowitz arrived at the second-floor landing and tiny anteroom which also served as an office for his secretary, where he found Dragosani pacing the floor and scowling darkly The necromancer made no effort to alter his expression as his boss passed through with a breezy ’Good !’ on the way to his own more spacious office There he deftly kicked the door shut behind hi his chin for a moment or two as he pondered the best way to deliver the bad news For in fact it was very bad news and Borowitz’s teest But as everyone who knew hiood mood, that was usually when he was most deadly

Borowitz’s office was a spacious affair of great bay s looking out and down frorounds towards the distant woodland The s, of course, were of bullet-proof glass The stone floor was covered in a fairly luxurious pile carpet, burned here and there froe block of a thing in solid oak - stood in a corner where it had both the

protection of thick walls and the benefit of ht fro a little and lighting a cigarette before pressing a button on his interco: ’Come in, Boris, will you? But do please see if you can leave your scowl out there, that’s a good fellow’

Dragosani entered, closing the door a little more forcefully than necessary, and crossed catlike to Borowitz’s desk He had ’left his scowl out there’, and in its place presented a face of cold, barely disguised insolence ’Well,’ he said, ’I’m here’

’Indeed you are, Boris,’ Borowitz agreed, uns to you’

’It hen I got here!’ said Dragosani, tight-lipped ’May I sit down?’

’No,’ Borowitz growled, ’youirritates me You may simply stand there where you are and - listen -to- osani been spoken to like that It took the wind right out of his sails He looked as if soain

’What?’ Borowitz roared ’Gregor, is it? This is business, agent Dragosani, not a social call! Save your familiarity for your friends - if you’ve any left, with that snotty manner of yours - and not for your superiors You’re a long way off taking over the branch yet, and unless you get certain fundamentals sorted out in your hot little head you osani, always pale, now turned paler still ’II don’t knohat’s got into you,’ he said ’Have I done so?’ noas Borowitz’s turn to scowl ’According to your work sheets very little - not for

the last sixto remedy Anyway, maybe you’d better sit down I’ve quite a lot of talking to do and it’s all serious stuff Pull up a chair’

Dragosani bit his lip, did as he was told

Borowitz stared at him, toyed with a pencil, finally said: ’It appears we’re not unique’

Dragosani waited, said nothing

’Not at all unique Of course we’ve known for so about with extra sensory perception as an espionage concept - but that’s

all it is, fooling about They find it "cute" Everything is "cute" to the Americans There’s little of direction or purpose to anything they’re doing in this field With them it’s all experimentation and no action They don’t take it seriously; they have no real field agents; they’re playing with it in much the same way they played with radar before they caot theives us a big lead on thee’

’This is not new to osani, puzzled ’I knoe’re ahead of the Anored hioes for the Chinese,’ he said ’They’ve got so, but they aren’t using theine? The race that invented acupuncture doubting the efficacy of ESP? They’re stuck with the sao: if it isn’t a tractor it won’t work!’

Dragosani kept silent He knew he ood time, t hen there’s the French and the West Ger quite well We actually have soents

working out of the embassies They attend parties and functions, purely to see if they’re able to glean anything And occasionally we let theencies would pick up anyway, just to keep the stuff - then we feed them rubbish, which dents their credibility and so helps us keep right ahead of the with his pencil; he put it down, lifted his head and stared into Dragosani’s eyes His own eyes had taken on a bleak gleam ’Of course,’ he finally continued, ’we do have one gigantic advantage We have or Borowitz! That is to say, E-Branch answers toover , no ten-a-penny officials watching my expense account Unlike the Aathering I know that it is not "cute" And unlike the espionage bosses of the rest of the world I have developed our branch until it is an aht In this - in our achievements in this field -I had started to believe ere so far ahead that no one else could catch us I believed ere unique And ould be, Dragosani, ould be -if it were not for the British! Forget your Americans and Chinese, your Germans and your French; with them the science is still in its infancy, experimental But the British are a different kettle of fish entirely

With the exception of the last, everything Dragosani had heard so far was old hat Obviously Borowitz had received disturbing infor the British Since the necroot to see or hear about the rest of Borowitz’s machine, he was interested He leaned for ward, said: ’What about the British? Why are you suddenly so concerned? I thought they were miles behind us, like all the rest’

’So did I,’ Borowitz grimly nodded, ’but they’re not I Which ht I 1 knew Which in turn ood at it, then how e about us would put theosani, and if you were aabout the Chateau Bronnitsy, where would you advise your airforce to drop its first bombs, eh? Where would you direct your first osani found this too dramatic He felt driven to answer: ’They could hardly know that much about us I work for you and I don’t know that much! And I’m the one who always assumed he’d be the next head of the branch’

Borowitz seerinned, however wrily, and stood up ’Coo But let’s you ando see e have here, in this old place Let’s have a closer look at this infant brain of ours, this nucleus For it is still a child, be sure of it A child now, yes, but the future brain behind Mother Russia’s brawn’ And shirt-sleeves flapping, the stubby boss of E-Branch forged out of his office, Dragosani at his heels and al to keep pace

They went down into the old part of the chateau, which Borowitz called ’the workshops’ This was a total security area, where each operative as he worked atched over and assisted by a ht seem to be what the western world would call the ’buddy’ systened to ensure that no single operative could ever be sole recipient of any piece of infor that he personally got to know everything of any iuards and KGB men There were none of Andropov’s lot here nohere Borowitz’s own agents themselves took care of internal security on a rota system, and the doors to the ESP-cells were controlled electrically by coded keys contained in plastic cards And only one master card, which of course was held by Borowitz hiht, he now inserted that key in its slot and Dragosani followed him into a room of computer screens and wall charts, and shelf upon shelf of raphical charts, fine-detail street plans of the world’s major cities and ports, and a display screen upon which there caical inforht be the anteroom of some observatory, or the air-controller’s office in a sosani had been here before and knew exactly what the rooents in the room had stirred themselves and stood up as Borowitz entered; noaved the as they took their places at a central desk Spread out before them was a complex chart of the Mediterranean, upon which were positioned four sreen ones were fairly close together in the Tyrhennian Sea, mid-way between Naples and Palermo One of the blue ones was in deep water three hundred miles east of Malta, the other was in the Ionian Sea off the Gulf of Taranto Even as Borowitz and Dragosani watched, the two ESPers settled down again to their ’work’, sitting at the desk with their chins in their hands, si at the discs on the chart

’Do you understand the colour code?’ Borowitz hoarsely whispered

Dragosani shook his head

’Green is French, blue is A?’

’Charting the location and the osani, low-voiced

’Atomic submarines,’ Borowitz corrected him ’Part of the West’s so-called "nuclear deterrent" Do you kno they do it?’

Dragosani again shook his head, hazarded a guess: Telepathy, I suppose’

Borowitz raised a bushy eyebrow ’Oh? Just like that? Mere telepathy? You understand telepathy, then, do you, Dragosani? It’s a new talent of yours, is it?’

Yes, you old bastard! Dragosani wanted to say Yes, and if I wanted to, right now I could contact a telepath you just wouldn’t believe! And I don’t need to ’chart his course’ because I know he isn’t going anywhere! But out loud he said: ’I understand it about as much as they’d understand necromancy No, I couldn’t sit there like them and stare at a chart and tell you where killer subs are hiding or where they’re going; but can they slice open a dead eneuts? Each to his own skills, Coents at the desk gave a start, ca an aerial view of the Mediterranean as seen froean was uncharacteristically misty, but the rest of the picture was brilliantly clear, if flickering a little The agent tapped keys on a keyboard at the base of the screen and a green spot of light si the location of the suban to blink on and off He tapped more keys and as he worked Borowitz said:

as Borowitz’s way of ensuring that he personally got to know everything of any iuards and KGB men There were none of Andropov’s lot here nohere Borowitz’s own agents themselves took care of internal security on a rota system, and the doors to the ESP-cells were controlled electrically by coded keys contained in plastic cards And only one master card, which of course was held by Borowitz hiht, he now inserted that key in its slot and Dragosani followed him into a room of computer screens and wall charts, and shelf upon shelf of raphical charts, fine-detail street plans of the world’s major cities and ports, and a display screen upon which there caical inforht be the anteroom of some observatory, or the air-controller’s office in a sosani had been here before and knew exactly what the rooents in the room had stirred themselves and stood up as Borowitz entered; noaved the as they took their places at a central desk Spread out before them was a complex chart of the Mediterranean, upon which were positioned four sreen ones were fairly close together in the Tyrhennian Sea, mid-way between Naples and Palermo One of the blue ones was in deep water three hundred miles east of Malta, the other was in the Ionian Sea off the Gulf of Taranto Even as Borowitz and Dragosani watched, the two ESPers settled down again to their ’work’, sitting at the desk with their chins in their hands, si at the discs on the chart

’Do you understand the colour code?’ Borowitz hoarsely whispered

Dragosani shook his head

’Green is French, blue is A?’

’Charting the location and the osani, low-voiced

’Atomic submarines,’ Borowitz corrected him ’Part of the West’s so-called "nuclear deterrent" Do you kno they do it?’ Dragosani again shook his head, hazarded a guess:

’Telepathy, I suppose’

Borowitz raised a bushy eyebrow ’Oh? Just like that? Mere telepathy? You understand telepathy, then, do you, Dragosani? It’s a new talent of yours, is it?’

Yes, you old bastard! Dragosani wanted to say Yes, and if I wanted to, right now I could contact a telepath you just wouldn’t believe! And I don’t need to "chart his course’ because I know he isn’t going anywhere! But out loud he said: ’I understand it about as much as they’d understand necromancy No, I couldn’t sit there like them and stare at a chart and tell you where killer subs are hiding or where they’re going; but can they slice open a

dead eneuts? Each to his own skills, Coents at the desk gave a start, ca an aerial view of the Mediterranean as seen froean was uncharacteristically misty, but the rest of the picture was brilliantly clear, if flickering a little The agent tappedkeys on a keyboard at the base of the screen and a green spot of light si the location of the suban to blink on and off He tapped more keys and as he worked Borowitz said:

’That Froggie sub has just changed course He’s putting the new course co-ordinates into the computer He isn’t etting confirmation from our satellites in an hour or so The point is, we had the information first These men are two of our best’

’But only one of theosani commented ’Why didn’t the other?’

’See?’ said Borowitz ’You don’t know it all, do you, Dragosani? The one who "picked it up" isn’t a telepath at all He’s simply a sensitive - but what he’s sensitive to is nuclear activity He knows the location of every atoround, every atomic bomb, missile and ammo du exception I’ll get on to that in a minute But locked in that man’s mind is a nuclear "map" of the world, which he reads as clearly as a Moscow streetmoves on that map of his it’s a sub - or it’s the Ains to move very quickly on that map, towards us, for instance’ Borowitz paused for effect, and after a moment continued:

’It’s the other one who’s the telepath Now he’ll concentrate on that single sub, see if he can sneak into its navigator’s mind, try to correct any error in the course his partner has just set up on the screen They get better every day Practice osani was iister it Borowitz snorted, moved towards the door, said: ’Coosani followed him out into the corridor ’What is it that’s happened, Co me in on all these fine details now?’

Borowitz turned to him ’If you osani, then you’ll be better equipped to appreciate the sort of outfit they ht At least, the erabbed Dragosani’s ar: ’Dragosani, in the last eighteen le British Polaris sub on those screens in there We just don’t knohere they go or what they do Oh, the shielding’s good on their engines, no doubt about it, and that would explain why our satellites can’t track them - but what about our sensitive in there? What about our telepaths?’ Dragosani shrugged, but not in a way that enuinely mystified, no less than his

boss ’You tell me,’ he said

Borowitz released hiot ESPers in their E-Branch who can blank out our boys as easy as a scraosani, then they really are ahead!’ ’Do you think it’s likely?’

’Now I do, yes It would explain a lot of things As to what it is that’s brought all this to a head - I’ve had a letter froland I use the tero back upstairs I’ll tell you all about it But first let me introduce you to a new member of our little teaosani sighed inwardly His boss would eventually arrive at the matter in hand, the necromancer knew that It was just that he was so devious in everything he did, including co to a point Sobetter to relax and suffer in silence, and let things happen in Borowitz’s own good tih another door and into a cell considerably larger than the last Little o this had been a storerooosani knew, but now there had been a nu; s had been let into the far wall and looked out just above baseood ventilation system had been installed To one side, in a sort of anteroo theatre had been set up such as was used by veterinary surgeons; and indeed about the walls of both rooes stood on steel shelves and displayed a variety of captive animals There hite mice and rats, various birds, even a pair of ferrets

Talking to these creatures as he ure not more than five feet three or four chuckled and joked and called theers through the bars As Dragosani and Borowitz approached, he turned to face theht yellowy-olive colour Heavy-jowled, still he ed to look jolly; when he smiled his entire face seereen eyes sparkled with a life of their own He bowed froosani When he did so the ring of fluffy brown hair round the bald dome of his head looked for all the world like a halo which had slipped a little There was soosani; he would exactly suit a brown cassock and slippers