“It is really so simple that Igor could understand it. Take bonds out room, no out building.”

He was flushed with rage; I was making a big mistake in taunting him at this stage. I hurried to make amends.

“It can be done, I can get the bonds out of the vault, and eventually out of the building, that I can assure you. It is just that it will take more time. You’ll have your bonds, do not fear. But not on the morning after the theft. I toured that building and checked every entrance. They are all locked from the outside. So I would need an accomplice outside to open the door. And there would have to be a truck waiting there as well to carry away the loot.”

“There is a possibility that could be arranged.”

“But not easily. The street gates for vehicles are locked at night as well. There is no nighttime traffic. The truck would be too easy to see, the risk too great. But there is another way the job can be done with no risk at all. And I can do it alone, so no one else will need to be involved. And I must give you all credit for the plan. It is a variation of the scam you used to rob your own bank. You have a genius for this sort of thing.”

He preened a bit; there is a rule that no egotist can recognize false flattery.

“If I were not a genius I would not be the richest man in the galaxy. Go on.”

“Follow closely. Before I empty the bond vault I go to storeroom number eight zero three. This is where the stationery supplies are kept. Bureaucracies thrive on paperwork so, as you can well imagine, this is a very large room. I will go to the rear of the stacks, which won’t be touched for months-if not years-and remove a volume of paper equal in size to the bonds to be stolen.”

“Why?”

“Stay with me for a bit longer. After opening the bond vault I stack the paper in the middle of floor, then I remove the bonds. Next I put a time-fused thermite bomb-I do love thermite-on the piles of paper. Next I place, a stroke of genius if I may say so, some of the stolen bonds, half-burned and scorched, about the rom. As though the heat of the flame blew them there …”

“Let me finish! “ Chaise shouted enthusiastically. “You take the stolen bonds to the stationery storage room! Where you bury them in the back, in the empty space were you took the paper earlier! Then you leave the building at the usual time in the morning-and the thermite goes off after you are gone. You leave the bond room locked?”

“Of course.”

“Then there is a mystery. Did the bonds light spontaneously? Who piled them up? What happened? A sealed-room mystery? Investigation and suspicion. Theft not considered at the time. Certainly not a theft that leaves the bonds still in the building.”

“May I add a few facts to your masterful reconstruction?” I smarmed. He nodded condescendingly. “Orders for stationery are forwarded from the various departments to the central ordering room. Which sends it to the supplier. Who brings the ,supplies once a week.” He leaned forward expectantly as I played out my story for all it was worth.

“The next delivery will be in three day’s time. The driver, accompanied by one of the building guards, takes it directly to the storage room. But this time I will be the driver. After delivering the stationery the guard will fall asleep. The bonds will be loaded onto the handcar, the sleeping guard left in their place. Exit the building. The crime of the century.”

He sighed and leaned back in his chair, smiling, contemplating this perfect crime. Igor came in and Chaise grabbed one of the beers, opened it and took an immense swig. Then looked at me speculatively. “You can do this?”

“I can. But I’ll need some more equipment.”

“Give me the list. You will have it before you leave tonight.”

“Fine. Now I am going to get something to eat, then get me some sleep.”

He did not try to stop me. Knowing that he had absolute power over me as long as Angelina was his prisoner. I slowly strolled the streets among the wage slaves hurrying to work. Entered the now familiar environs of the mechomart and buried myself in its depths. If I were being followed I wanted to lose my tail. I entered the first office building I came to. Up the elevator alone. Down the stairs and out the rear door-did this sort of thing a number of times until I was sure I wasn’t being followed. Only then did I go and buy a cheap telephone. After I first threw mine away. Chaise had had the entire night to bug this phone-and to plant more of his bugs on me.

“Waiter. Come here,” I said as soon as Bolivar answered it. “Let me remember what I ate the last time I was here. Yes, a bearburger and some beer.”

I hung up and strolled away. And dropped the phone in the nearest waste receptacle. Hoping that Bolivar would catch on that I was still probably bugged, and letting him know I would be at the restaurant we had met in before. I knew I had not been followed. But I also knew that I was undoubtedly still bugged.

I moved about, never staying in one place very long-in case there was a tracker on one of my bugs. It was on my third pass that I saw Bolivar sitting in a corner booth. I made a wide circle, then went back and moved as quickly as I could to the restaurant. I came up behind him and held up a card when he turned. Which read:

SEARCH ME FOR BUGS

Which he instantly did-after one shocked look at my face. Whipping out the detector and passing it down my body. Three coins, the usual, but one of my metal fly buttons turned on the red light as well. Chaise was getting trickier all the time. I tore off the button and handed it to Bolivar along with the coins. He took the insulated pouch from his pocket and tipped all the miniature transmitters into it, then sealed it shut.

“They’re shielded now and can’t transmit,” Bolivar said. “I barely recognized you-great makeup. And I have some good news. Bolivar has found Kaia’s house.”

“But you are Bolivar!”

“James, Dad. You’ll never get it right.”

“Is she there?”

“We don’t know. But it is a very big place, and there is a prime-class robot in the house.”

Prime class. Intelligent and expensive. We would have to be very careful before we tackled it.

“While you and Bolivar were holidaying in Swartzlegen I finally cracked into the local government files in Sunkistbythe-Sea. I had to do it physically.”

“You’ve lost me.”

“I mean that their anti-hacking programs were unbeatable without leaving signs of forced entry. So I did a little burglary one night and stole some office machines as a cover. Since I had planted a transceiver inside their main computer bank. The computer is now wide open. I left Bolivar tracking down the construction details in the government files. Planning permission and such should tell us everything about the house that we need to know.”

“I’ve had a long night,” I said and punched for the drinks menu. I ordered double eye-openers for both of us. “Let me tell you all about it.”

“Wow!” he said when I had finished, took too big a slug of his drink and started coughing. I slapped him on the back, which worked. “That is the most ambitious caper I have ever heard of,” he wheezed.

“Thank you. I am proud of it. But I am afraid that I was a little untruthful to my employer about one detail.”

“Which is?… ”

“The stationery delivery will be in two day’s time-not three.”

He instantly assessed the importance of this fact. And smiled broadly.

“You plan to get the bonds out-and keep them!”

“Exactly. But before we even consider doing that we have to be absolutely sure that your mother is safe. And I have another assignment for you. This is not a casual disguise that I am wearing-I look like an employee of the depository named Iba. I’m worried about him. Chaise says that he left on a spacer yesterday, got paid off.”

“And you think differently? That is not Kaia’s way.”