“Exactly. Find out who did leave the planet yesterday. And look at all the news reports as well.”

“Good as done. Any way that I can report to you?”

“I doubt it. I think it is best if we stay away from each other. If Chaise gets any hint that I am seeing you we are in deep doodoo. I’ll phone you again, early, about this time tomorrow. After the bond operation.”

“Take care of yourself,” he said. He looked worried.

“I always do,” I said, putting more enthusiasm than I felt into my words. I was more than a little stressed out.

He passed me the shielded bag and I shook out the bugs and put them into my pocket. He took back the bag and we waved good-by in silence. I made my way back to the warehouse and a bit of a rest.

I thought. Igor looked at me when I came in, then turned away. Chaise glared at me and had other ideas. “I don’t like you wandering around the city alone.”

“What harm can I get into?”

“I don’t trust you, diGriz. You are too smooth.” He pointed to the parcels on the table. “Here are all the items you will need for tonight’s operation.”

“Good.”

He reached into his bag and took out his handgun. “I want you to sit very still while Igor puts the handcuffs on you.”

There was absolutely nothing that I could do. The big thug came from behind me: the gun pointed unwaveringly. The cuffs clicked into place. And if this wasn’t bad enough he locked myankles together with another pair. Chaise put the gun away and smiled.

“Get some sleep,” he ordered. “You have a big night ahead of you.”

They both looked on as I struggled to my feet, then turned and hopped to my cot, fell heavily onto it. Struggled about until I was lying on my back. Looked down at the handcuffs and knew why Chaise had smiled. I couldn’t use a picklock on these. They had a combination lock inset so deeply that I couldn’t have turned it, even if I could have reached it by twisting my fingers around. I tried. It couldn’t be done.

I was tired enough to sleep deeply despite the cramped position. I woke a bit when I heard voices, fell asleep again almost instantly. It wasn’t until I felt Igor’s hot breath on my cheeksmelled it as well-that I awoke fully. He was bent over and trying to work the combination lock. I opened my hands ready to throttle him, when I saw Chaise in the doorway, gun pointed.

“Bring him in here where you can see better.”

Igor grabbed me by the ankles and dragged me off the bed. I threw myself sideways so I landed on my shoulder instead of my head. He hauled me, bumping and cursing into the other room. Then sat on me while he opened both pairs of cuffs.

“Is this the way you treat a loyal employee?” I said as I pushed myself up from the floor and sat down in the chair.

“Igor will take you to the depository now,” he said. “I will be right behind you in my car. All of the way. I ‘will also be close by when you come out in the morning. If I have any suspicion at all that you have not done exactly what you described, you can be perfectly sure that you will never see your wife again.”

I couldn’t trust myself to answer him. He took my silence as assent. He looked at his watch. “Time to go. Take your lunch box. All the equipment you will need is inside it, under that repulsive food.”

The same drive to the same corner. The same walk to thefront door of the repository. The only difference was the black car that drove silently behind me, waited across the street from the entrance.

I was happy to leave it behind. My contact lens stayed in place this time. My palm unlocked the door and I walked in.

“Hey you. Iba, I’m talking to you.”

“Bowb off,” I said sullenly, not looking at the speaker. What had gone wrong?

“Come here. Got something for you.” I had to stop and look at him. At the newspaper he was holding out to me. “Some guy gave me this for you. Gave me five credits too, can you believe that? Nothing special, I looked at, just today’s paper. Almost threw it away.” He dropped it to the floor and walked off.

Newspaper? Who? Certainly not Chaise. It could only have been James. But why?

I could not look at it now. The inside guard was staring at me suspiciously as it was. “Bowb off,” I called after the retreating back. Scooped up the paper and hurried to my waiting charges.

As they surged into pseudolife I opened the newspaper. Quickly looked through it. I didn’t have the time to read it now-no, wait. On the last page a tiny semicircle had been torn off the edge of the paper. Next to advertisement for a Doit-Yourself hernia repair kit. That couldn’t be it. I looked at the other side, at the small news item there.

DROWNING SUICIDE IN CENTRAL PARK LAKE

I felt suddenly very cold. Scanned the report quickly.

Person unknown … ragged clothing … water in lungs … no identification.

And then the last line.

Disfiguring scar on face.

There would no need to check the passenger lists now. Iba had missed his connection. He had known too much about Kaia’s business.

So I knew exactly what was in store for me as well.

For the first time I was glad that this job was so brainless. My thoughts trudged in endless circles looking for a way out, but not finding it. I could steal the bonds, that was the easiest part. But after I had committed the theft, I would then be handcuffed again. Locked up for two days before the supposed delivery to bring out the bonds. Yet the delivery would be a day earlier. Should I admit that? If I did I would be forced to get the bonds and bring them to him. After that I would quickly join Iba in the lake. Or worse.

The robots chuntered along their appointed courses and I was barely aware of them. Only if one of them stalled in a feedback cycle did I remember what I was supposed to be doing and shock it back into action. Then I would sink back into the insolvable circle of my thoughts.

Enough! I was driving myself slightly around the bend with my brain also locked an endless feedback cycle. It was time to do something. Time for the robbery. I turned off all the robots, except for the one I needed, to keep them from wandering. Then I manhandled the bins off the largest wheelbot and jolted it into following me. To the stationery supply room, where the door wasn’t even locked. Only the dim night-lights lit my way through this mausoleum of bureaucracy. Printed forms stacked almost to the ceiling, envelopes and reams of paper. We passed it all by and moved deeper into the cavernous room. There was dust on the floor here, dry and musty darkness. The very last access way just at the back wall was my goal. The air was dusty as well, the forms dry and brown-edged. They would burn fine. I loaded the robot high with them, stopping only to sneeze a few times. Finally done, and one last sneeze, and I was out of the paper room with my faithful robot grinding along after me. It then waited with metallic patience while I burgled the bond room.

I shorted out the electronic door lock, then accessed the door frame alarms and neutralized them as well. Then came the only tricky part; sliding the infrared generator in front of the receiving lens without breaking the beam. Slowly forward, angled square on, only too aware of the sweat that was trickling down my face. There!

And no alarms.

After that it was just a lot of physical work that I had to do myself. I piled the paper forms in the center of the room, spreading them out so they would burn all the better. By the time I got around to loading the bearer bonds onto the wheelbot I was breathing hard. One last task. I grabbed up a handful of the bonds-worth over a million altogether-what a waste! And took them far down the hall away from any fire detectors. I lit them, one by one, with my lighter. Let them singe a bit before I put them out. When they were satisfactorily charred I went back and sprinkled them tastefully about the room. Then, the very last thing, I twisted the dial and set the thermite bomb. It would go off an hour after I left the building, a few minutes before the day workers arrived. They were going to have a far livelier time today than they expected.