The Mercenaries Read online

Espionagecenter. He had returned just as Farida Khouroglu was finishing themicrofilm copies of Kato's ingeniously-concocted pseudo-data. Thesecopies were distributed at noon, while the Team was lunching, along withcarbons of the original type-script.

  He was the first to leave the table, going directly to the basement,where Alex Unpronounceable and the man who had got his alias from theworks of P. G. Wodehouse were listening in on the telephone calls goingin and out through the Team-center switch-board, and making recordings.For two hours, MacLeod remained with them. He heard Suzanne Maillard andsome woman who was talking from a number in the Army married-officers'settlement making arrangements about a party. He heard Rudolf vonHeldenfeld make a date with some girl. He listened to a violentaltercation between the Team chef and somebody at Army Quartermaster'sHQ about the quality of a lot of dressed chicken. He listened to a callthat came in for Adam Lowiewski, the mathematician.

  "This is Joe," the caller said. "I've got to go to town late thisafternoon, but I was wondering if you'd have time to meet me at theRecreation House at Oppenheimer Village for a game of chess. I'm callingfrom there, now."

  "Fine; I can make it," Lowiewski's voice replied. "I'm in the middle ofa devil's own mathematical problem; maybe a game of chess would clear myhead. I have a new queen's-knight gambit I want to try on you, anyhow."

  Bertie Wooster looked up sharply. "Now there; that may be what we're--"

  The telephone beside MacLeod rang. He scooped it up; named himself intoit.

  It was Ahmed Abd-el-Rahman. "Look, chief; I tail this guy to OppenheimerVillage," the Arab, who had learned English from American movies,answered. "He goes into the rec-joint. I slide in after him, an' heain't in sight. I'm lookin' around for him, see, when he comes bargin'outa the Don Ameche box. Then he grabs a table an' a beer. What next?"

  "Stay there; keep an eye on him," MacLeod told him. "If I want you, I'llcall."

  MacLeod hung up and straightened, feeling under his packet for his.38-special.

  "That's it, boys," he said. "Lowiewski. Come on."

  "Hah!" Alex Unpronounceable had his gun out and was checking thecylinder. He spoke briefly in description of the Polish mathematician'sancestry, physical characteristics, and probable post-mortemdestination. Then he put the gun away, and the three men left thebasement.

  * * * * *

  For minutes that seamed like hours, MacLeod and the Greek waited on themain floor, where they could watch both the elevators and the stairway.Bertie Wooster had gone up to alert Kato Sugihara and Karen. Then thedoor of one of the elevators opened and Adam Lowiewski emerged, withKato behind him, apparently lost in a bulky scientific journal he wasreading. The Greek moved in from one side, and MacLeod stepped in frontof the Pole.

  "Hi, Adam," he greeted. "Have you looked into that batch of data yet?"

  "Oh, yes. Yes." Lowiewski seemed barely able to keep his impatiencewithin the bounds of politeness. "Of course, it's out of my line, butthe mathematics seems sound." He started to move away.

  "You're not going anywhere," MacLeod told him. "The chess game is over.The red pawns are taken--the one at Oppenheimer Village, and the onehere."

  There was a split second in which Lowiewski struggled--almostsuccessfully--to erase the consternation from his face.

  "I don't know what you're talking about," he began. His right handstarted to slide under his left coat lapel.

  MacLeod's Colt was covering him before he could complete the movement.At the same time, Kato Sugihara dropped the paper-bound periodical,revealing the thin-bladed knife he had concealed under it. He steppedforward, pressing the point of the weapon against the Pole's side. Withthe other hand, he reached across Lowiewski's chest and jerked thepistol from his shoulder-holster. It was one of the elegant little .32Beretta 1954 Model automatics.

  "Into the elevator," MacLeod ordered. An increasing pressure of Kato'sknife emphasized the order. "And watch him; don't let him get rid ofanything," he added to the Greek.

  "If you would explain this outrage--" Lowiewski began. "I assume it isyour idea of a joke--"

  Without even replying, MacLeod slammed the doors and started theelevator upward, letting it rise six floors to the living quarters.Karen Hilquist and the aristocratic black-sheep who called himselfBertie Wooster were waiting when he opened the door. The Englishman tookone of Lowiewski's arms; MacLeod took the other. The rest fell in behindas they hustled the captive down the hall and into the big sound-proofeddining room. They kept Lowiewski standing, well away from any movableobject in the room; Alex Unpronounceable took his left arm as MacLeodreleased it and went to the communicator and punched the all-outletsbutton.

  "Dr. Maillard; Dr. Sir Neville Lawton; Dr. ben-Hillel; Dr. vonHeldenfeld; Mlle. Khouroglu," he called. "Dr. MacLeod speaking. Come atonce, repeat at once, to the round table--Dr. Maillard; Dr. Sir NevilleLawton--"

  * * * * *

  Karen said something to the Japanese and went outside. For a while,nobody spoke. Kato came over and lit a cigarette in the bowl ofMacLeod's pipe. Then the other Team members entered in a body. EvidentlyKaren had intercepted them in the hallway and warned them that theywould find some unusual situation inside; even so, there was a burst ofsurprised exclamations when they found Adam Lowiewski under detention.

  "Ladies and gentlemen," MacLeod said, "I regret to tell you that I haveplaced our colleague, Dr. Lowiewski, under arrest. He is suspected ofbetraying confidential data to agents of the Fourth Komintern.Yesterday, I learned that data on all our work here, includingTeam-secret data on the Sugihara Effect, had got into the hands of theKomintern and was being used in research at the Smolensk laboratories. Ialso learned that General Nayland blames this Team as a whole withdouble-dealing and selling this data to the Komintern. I don't need togo into any lengthy exposition of General Nayland's attitude toward thisTeam, or toward Free Scientists as a class, or toward theresearch-contract system. Nor do I need to point out that if he pressedthese charges against us, some of us could easily suffer death orimprisonment."

  "So he had to have a victim in a hurry, and pulled my name out of thehat," Lowiewski sneered.

  "I appreciate the gravity of the situation," Sir Neville Lawton said."And if the Sugihara Effect was among the data betrayed, I canunderstand that nobody but one of us could have betrayed it. But why,necessarily, should it be Adam? We all have unlimited access to allrecords and theoretical data."

  "Exactly. But collecting information is the smallest and easiest part ofespionage. Almost anybody can collect information. Where the spy reallyearns his pay is in transmitting of information. Now, think of thealmost fantastic security measures in force here, and consider how youwould get such information, including masses of mathematical data beyondany human power of memorization, out of this reservation."

  "Ha, nobody can take anything out," Suzanne Maillard said. "Not evenone's breakfast. Is Adam accused of sorcery, too?"

  "The only material things that are allowed to leave this reservation aresealed cases of models and data shipped to the different developmentplants. And the Sugihara Effect never was reported, and wouldn't go outthat way," Heym ben-Hillel objected.

  "But the data on the Sugihara Effect reached Smolensk," MacLeod replied."And don't talk about Darwin and Wallace: it wasn't a coincidence. Thisstuff was taken out of the Tonto Basin Reservation by the only personwho could have done so, in the only way that anything could leave thereservation without search. So I had that person shadowed, and at thesame time I had our telephone lines tapped, and eavesdropped on allcalls entering or leaving this center. And the person who had to be thespy-courier called Adam Lowiewski, and Lowiewski made an appointment tomeet him at the Oppenheimer Village Recreation House to play chess."

  "Very suspicious, very suspicious," Lowiewski derided. "I receive a callfrom a friend at the same time that some anonymous suspect is using thephone. There are only five hundred telephone conversations a minute onthis reservation."

  "Immediately
, Dr. Lowiewski attempted to leave this building," MacLeodwent on. "When I intercepted him, he tried to draw a pistol. This one."He exhibited the Beretta. "I am now going to have Dr. Lowiewskisearched, in the presence of all of you." He nodded to Alex and theEnglishman.

  * * * * *

  They did their work thoroughly. A pile of Lowiewski's pocket effects wasmade on the table; as each item was added to it, the Pole made somesarcastic comment.

  "And that pack of cigarettes: unopened," he jeered. "I suppose