"--disappeared from his Chicago home early this morning. Mr. Dartmouth
is president of Dartmouth Bearing Corporation, currently engaged in the
manufacture of munitions for Defense, and producing much of the
machinery being used in the Moon-rocket in Arizona. Police are following
all possible leads, and are confident that there has been no foul play.
"On the international scene, the Kremlin is still blocking--" Shandor
snapped off the radio abruptly, his forehead damp. Dartmouth
disappeared, and with him the files--why? And where to go now to find
them? If the idea that was plaguing him was true, sound, valid--he'd
_have_ to have the files. His whole body was wet with perspiration as he
reached the landing field.
The trip to the Library of Congress seemed endless, yet he knew that the
Library wouldn't be open until 8:00 anyway. Suddenly he felt a wave of
extreme weariness sweep over him--when had he last slept? Bored, he
snapped the telephone switch and rang PIB offices for his mail. To his
surprise, John Hart took the wire, and exploded in his ear, "Where in
hell have you been? I've been trying to get you all night. Listen, Tom,
drop the Ingersoll story cold, and get in here. The faster the better."
Shandor blinked. "Drop the story? You're crazy!"
"_Get in here!_" roared Hart. "From now on you've _really_ got a job.
The Berlin Conference blew up tonight, Tom--high as a kite. _We're at
war with Russia--_"
Carefully, Shandor plopped the receiver down on its hook, his hands like
ice. Just one item first, he thought, just one thing I've got to know.
_Then_ back to PIB, maybe.
He found a booth in the Library, and began hunting, time pressing him
into frantic speed. The idea was incredible, but it _had_ to be true.
He searched the micro-film files for three hours before he found it, in
a "Who's Who" dating back to 1958, three years before the war with
China. A simple, innocuous listing, which froze him to his seat. He read
it, unbelievingly, yet knowing that it was the only possible link.
Finally he read it again.
David P. Ingersoll. Born 1922, married 1947. Educated at Rutgers
University and MIT. Worked as administrator for International Harvester
until 1955. Taught Harvard University from 1955 to 1957.
David P. Ingersoll, becoming, in 1958, the executive president of
Dartmouth Bearing Corporation....
* * * * *
He found a small, wooded glade not far from the Library, and set the
'copter down skillfully, his mind numbed, fighting to see through the
haze to the core of incredible truth he had uncovered. The great, jagged
piece, so long missing, was suddenly plopped right down into the middle
of the puzzle, and now it didn't fit. There were still holes, holes that
obscured the picture and twisted it into a nightmarish impossibility. He
snapped the telephone switch, tried three numbers without any success,
and finally reached the fourth. He heard Dr. Prex's sharp voice on the
wire.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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