"I leave the details to you," I said. He pulled out into the traffic
and I got the pillow settled under me and closed my eyes. I'd need all
the rest I could get on this trip. I'd heard that compared with the
Denver Records Center, Fort Knox was a cinch. I'd find out for sure
when I got there.
* * * * *
The plan I had in mind wasn't the best I could have concocted under
more leisurely circumstances. But with every cop in the country under
orders to shoot me on sight, I had to move fast. My scheme had the
virtue of unlikeliness. Once I was safe in the Central Vault--supposed
to be the only H-bomb-proof structure ever built--I'd put through a
phone call to the outside, telling them to watch a certain spot; say
the big desk in the President's office. Then I'd assemble my matter
transmitter and drop some little item right in front of the assembled
big shots. They'd have to admit I had something. And this time they'd
have to start considering the possibility that I wasn't working for the
enemy.
It had been a smooth trip, and I'd caught up on my sleep. Now it was
five A.M. and we were into the foothills, half an hour out of Denver.
I ran over my lines, planning the trickiest part of the job ahead--the
initial approach. I'd listened to a couple of news broadcasts. The FBI
was still promising an arrest within hours. I learned that I was lying
up, or maybe dead, in the vicinity of Key West, and that the situation
was under control. That was fine with me. Nobody would expect me to pop
up in Denver, still operating under my own power--and wearing a new
suit at that.
The Records Center was north of the city, dug into mountainside.
I steered my chauffeur around the downtown section, out a street
lined with dark hamburger joints and unlit gas stations to where a
side road branched off. We pulled up. From here on, things might get
dangerous--if I was wrong about how easy it was all going to be. I
brushed across the driver's mind. He set the brake and got out.
"Don't know how I came to run out of gas, Mr. Brown," he said
apologetically. "We just passed a station but it was closed. I guess
I'll just have to hike back into town. I sure am sorry; I never did
that before."
I told him it was okay, watched as he strode off into the pre-dawn
gloom, then got into the front seat and started up. The gate of the
Reservation surrounding the Record Center was only a mile away now. I
drove slowly, feeling ahead for opposition. There didn't seem to be
any. Things were quiet as a poker player with a pat hand. My timing was
good.
* * * * *
I stopped in front of the gate, under a floodlight and the watchful eye
of an M.P. with a shiny black tommygun held at the ready. He didn't
seem surprised to see me. I rolled down the window as he came over to
the car.
"I have an appointment inside, Corporal," I said. I touched his mind.
"The password is 'hot-point'."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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