Science fiction; Spy stories; Telepathy -- Fiction; United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation -- Fiction
And then he thought of one more sane telepath. But the knowledge
didn't make him feel any better.
It was, of course, the spy.
How many more are going to turn up? Malone wondered.
"Oh, that's about all of us," the Queen said. "There is one more, but
she's in a hospital in Honolulu, and your men won't find her until
tomorrow."
Boyd turned. "Do you mean you can foretell the future, too?" he asked
in a strained voice.
Lady Barbara screamed: "Keep your eyes on the wheel and your hands on
the road!"
"What?" Boyd said.
There was a terrific blast of noise, and a truck went by in the
opposite direction. The driver, a big, ugly man with no hair on his
head, leaned out to curse at the quartet, but his mouth remained open.
He stared at the four Elizabethans and said nothing at all as he
whizzed by.
"What was that?" Boyd asked faintly.
"That," Malone snapped, "was a truck. And it was due entirely to the
mercy of God that we didn't hit it. Barbara's right. Keep your eyes on
the wheel and your hands on the road." He paused and thought that
over. Then he said: "Does that mean anything at all?"
"Lady Barbara was confused by the excitement," the Queen said calmly.
"It's all right now, dear."
Lady Barbara blinked across the seat. "I was--afraid," she said.
"It's all right," the Queen said. "I'll take care of you."
"This," Malone announced to no one in particular, "is ridiculous."
Boyd swept the car around a curve and concentrated grimly on the road.
After a second the Queen said: "Since you're still thinking about the
question, I'll answer you."
"What question?" Malone said, thoroughly baffled.
"Sir Thomas asked me if I could foretell the future," the Queen said
equably. "Of course I can't. That's silly. Just because I'm immortal
and I'm a telepath, don't go hog-wild."
"Then how did you know the FBI agents were going to find the girl in
Honolulu tomorrow?" Boyd said.
"Because," the Queen said, "they're thinking about looking in the
hospital tomorrow, and when they look they'll certainly find her."
Boyd said: "Oh," and was silent.
But Malone had a grim question. "Why didn't you tell me about these
other telepaths before?" he said. "You could have saved us a lot of
work."
"Oh, heavens to Betsy, Sir Kenneth," Her Majesty exclaimed. "How could
I? After all, the proper precautions had to be taken first, didn't
they? I told you all the others were crazy--_really_ crazy, I mean.
And they just wouldn't be safe without the proper precautions."
"Perhaps you ought to go back to the hospital, too," Barbara said, and
added: "Your Majesty," just in time.
"But if I did, dear," Her Majesty said, "you'd lose your chance to
become a Duchess, and that wouldn't be at all nice. Besides, I'm
having so much _fun_!" She trilled a laugh again. "Riding around like
this is just wonderful!" she said.
_And you're important for national security_, Malone said to himself.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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