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IT couldn&039;t have been three minutes since Phil&039;s capture, yet it see for years He was sitting apprehensively on a stool in a long low room to which he had been conducted by two s - obviously a cut above co addressed as Harris and Hayes Along one of the long sides of the roo onto a balcony of so darkness Harris and Hayes stood behind Phil while Billig paced in front of him

Just now the voice that was like a tape played at triple speed, but not so high-pitched, was saying, "Have you ever pictured 10,000,000 concretely? Think of it this way: a yacht on the Amazon, bubble-dome cabin, your private copter, a blonde, a brunette, and a redhead, yourself absolutemicrocosm Doesn&039;t it appeal to you?"

"But I didn&039;t take the green cat," Phil replied quickly - Billig&039;s speed was catching "I don&039;t knohere it is"

"What do you want then?" Billig demanded "Or like most people, are you afraid to say? Tell "

Phil opened his

"Hit hi ordered, "and don&039;t be all day about it!"

Pain bounced like a steel ball back and forth inside Phil&039;s skull at Harris&039; dispassionate swipes At the last one Phil felt his head go nulassy Harris&039; bank cashier face swa&039;s s produced the gun he&039;d been carrying when Phil was caught He informed Phil, "I propose to cut your limbs off, one by one The bea too fast"

All Phil&039;s glazed mind could think was how ludicrous the word "li&039;s head persisted in circling Phil like a s Suddenly Phil stuck out an arin with this Don&039;t hurt the leaves"

Billig lowered the gun "You hit him too hard," he told Harris, "or else he likes it There are other kinds of pain Where&039;s Brimstine? I told him he had only two ers rippled through Phil&039;s pockets and tossed Billig coht hand pocket, Phil had a belated rabbed his arurine of Mitzie Ro rattled softly to Hayes, "I&039;d swear this is Mary what&039;s-her-nairl who used to do strip-tease dolls for us She always had a touch and now it&039;s got better" He fingered the doll delicately, studying the reactions in Phil&039;s face "Do you want her?" he asked suddenly "Would it pain you to see her hurt?" Hethe doll&039;s head off, then quickly set it on a table beside him and threw up his hands "Whereis Bri into the rooreat hurry "I&039;ve located Jack And we&039;ve caught the girl the three hep-jerks blabbed about She lined herself up with the dress-display robots and ht have passed herself off as one, but she sneezed"

Mitzie was marched into the room, her hands twisted behind her by Dora, whose face wore a disdainful smile that now seehter had lost her evening cape and her long dark hair hung half over one eye She held her chin up, as one who has struggled, found it no use, yet not really submitted She saw Phil and looked away froht had wiped out the proble observed, looking up fro," he said, walking toward Mitzie, "would you care to be featured in coast-to-coast living ads, or sit for a line of ultra deluxe dress display robots; would you like to be a handie star, airl Friday and be in on everything interesting that goes on in the world; would you take 10,000,000? Just tell us what you&039;ve done with the green cat"

Mitzie answered the five-second barrage with a shrug of her upper lip "Darling, I&039; assured her "This is a lifetiirl" And he made as if to caress her shoulder affectionately, but instead whipped around to catch Phil&039;s reaction

Jack Jones ran into the roolanced at Phil as if he didn&039;t know hi sardonically

"What are you standing around for?" Billig demanded "Get to work Hayes, I want those three hep-jerks in here"

Phil tried to squirrip And then Jack&039;s fingers were digging at nerves and pain was not a steel ball but a fiery plant&039;s red hot roots and h every crevice between the cells of his body He heard hi, "Romadka! Romadka!" The pain lessened and he babbled swiftly, "Dr Ro out of the roo The catwhipped at hiasped weakly He nodded at Jack Jones "He can tell you about him"

"I never heard of the man," Jack asserted instantly

"You did," Phil ht You reen cat"

Jack shook his head curtly "He&039;s

Across the roo, "Benson says Greeley &039;s acting cool as they come, still confident the raid will start when he said"

"Well, don&039;t freeze!" Billig rapped exasperatedly at Jack "Get back to work on him"

As the sly at Mitzie

"Dr Anton Roreat psychoanalyst This hysteric you&039;re wasting ti, why didn&039;t you say so before?" Billig asked her joyfully "Dora, let go of her wrists at once!" The violet blonde co, it escapedassured Mitzie as he glided towards her, his feet , it&039;s very clear to me now: this hysteric, as you accurately describe him, stole the cat on your father&039;s orders and handed it to your father, whom I can see you don&039;t like and who probably forced you to co Now just tell us where your father is, or where you think he is, darling, and you&039;ll have, not one, but all of those things I mentioned to you a half le a banana-vending robot," Mitzie snapped at him "You&039;re as stupid and conceited and unbalanced as allclever has been done, a man must have done it My father&039;s a rotten analyst, but you could use a few sessions with hiet anywhere if you talk that way," Billig assured her laughingly "Realize it, darling, you&039;re a friends and ishers" And he took her arht hand was a blurred are and Billig sashayed back with four bright red lines on his left cheek

"Grab her, Dora!" Billig ordered The violet blonde willingly wrapped her arms around Mitzie&039;s waist and elbows Mitzie avoided noticing it Meanwhile, Billig was rapid firing, "I assumed she was disarrabbed Mitzie&039;s right hand around the knuckles with one of his big paws and began to jerk off the needle-fanged thio Phil to offer topaced back toward Mitzie "Darling," he said, and for once the words came slow, "you&039;re really wonderful, you&039;re just the sort of char vixen the sadisto-hackers dreaht I&039; to have to reverse roles"

Phil&039;s ainst Moe Briain and despite the weakness of his pain-threaded ,out, "Don&039;t you touch her!"

Naturally Jack tripped hiht him by the collar al, and slammed him back onto the stool

At that moment, Hayes and four or five other uard costued up Carstairs, Llewellyn and Buck into the far end of the roo down his forehead, looked steadily at Mitzie

"Thank you for this, Mitz," he said rather quietly

Llewellyn and Buck each nodded his head

"You take it for granted I skunked on you?" Mitzie asked None of the three acted as if they&039;d heard the question

Phil, watching Billig, noted a very slight shiver, sh the bossin particular

"Take those boys down to the co his slashed cheek turned away "I&039;ll phone you orders about theuards juh to reach Carstairs, "Thanks again, darling That was a nice job"

Carstairs had tiive her one last deadly look before he was hurried out with the others

"Co to have a little show Darling, would you like to take otten that love tap If you proo of you" Mitzie made no reply but Dora unwrapped her ar entreated, starting for the balcony Mitzie didn&039;t look at him, but she walked at his side He didn&039;t try to touch her Theylooked back over his shoulder

"Hurry up, everybody," he ordered exasperatedly "Stop acting slow-motion!"

Brimstine, Dora and Harris quickly fell in behind theht up the rear with Phil

"I had to do that," Jack whispered in Phil&039;s ear "I couldn&039;t take it and trust you to fake reactions well enough to fool Billig But for God&039;s sake, don&039;t spill anything more about Romadka I know you&039;re Juno&039;s lover Well, Ro him here His friends are at the house They&039;ll kill Mary and Sacheverell - Juno and Cookie, too - if he gets caught"

As Phil was trying to formulate some sort of answer to this, they followed the others onto the balcony Its railing was split by a gateway, from which a metal stairway projected down and out into the darkness, its first dozen treads gli and darted down the stairs, taking the stopped hi what I want," he explained softly, "and five tied her Won&039;t you ever understand it&039;s speed I need?"

Bri Mitzie, as now no h a duller darkness "She can&039;t see the steps any irl&039;s good"

Billig shrugged and stepped to a control panel in the railing He picked up a phone, then paused thoughtfully as if he weresure it was a full fifteen seconds since he had spoken to Hayes and not asaid, and then whispered rapidly He paused for aunbelievably slow in catching on "Of course, of course!"

Then Billig touched a button and blinding light transfore, its floor some thirty feet below the balcony There were all sorts of lines and signs indicating which way cars should move and park, only there weren&039;t any cars There were also a dozen open gateways in the gray walls, eight of them marked "Exit" The silvery stairs dohich Mitzie had flown touched the center point of the garage&039;s vast floor A few paces away from that, Mitzie stood tiny and stock-still, as if blinded by the light

So up

"Ladies and gentle said to Dora, Brimstine, Harris, and Jack, but mostly to Phil, "this is the place where people park their cars while they watch the wrestling bouts But now the wrestling&039;s over and the cars are gone" He delicately touched his cheek, where the four furrows had al "So noe can have the place for our little show Mr Gish, I irl&039;s beauty and life -"

But Phil, whose arripped hard by Jack fro Mitzie so intently She seemed to come out of her daze suddenly Dark, close bars shot down and blocked it, as they did all the other gateways Phil could see He looked at Billig and saw his dark fingers lifting from buttons He looked back at Mitzie and saw her hesitate and then run back toward the silvery stairs Billig touched another button and the stairs retracted, telescoping upward Mitzie stood on the gray floor all alone