Through it all Greg stared in admiration. "We've got a genius among us, that's all," he said finally. "And I always thought you were the timid one...." "But what else could I do?" Tom said. "You know what they say about grabbing a tiger by the tail ... once you get hold, you've got to hold on." "Okay," Greg said, "but the next time I make a crack about your retiring nature, remind me to stick my foot in my mouth." "I'll do it for him," Johnny Coombs rumbled. Tom nodded toward the open grill. "The only thing I don't see is how you knew I was back there." Johnny grinned. "We were busy taking down the grill when you came along. We'd found three microphones in this place, and figured they might have one behind the grill. And then we heard somebody breathing back there ... we thought they'd posted a guard back there, just to snoop us." "Well, I'm glad you didn't hit him any harder...." Johnny started to say something, then stopped, cocked his head toward the door. There were footsteps in the corridor outside; they came closer, stopped by the door. "Quick," Johnny hissed, "back inside!" There was no time to look for other concealment. Tom leaped across the room, jumped up into the shaft again, and Greg slammed the grate up into place just as the hatchway door swung open. Merrill Tawney walked into the room, with two burly guards behind him. * * * * * For the first few seconds, Greg was certain that they were lost. He stood with his back to the ventilator grill, frozen in his tracks as the fat little company man came in the room. He tried to keep his face blank, but he knew he wasn't succeeding. He saw the puzzled frown form on Tawney's face. The company man motioned the guards into the room, peered suspiciously at Greg and Johnny. "Am I interrupting something, by any chance?" "Nothing at all," Johnny blurted. "We were just talking." "Talking." Tawney repeated the word as if it were some strange language he didn't quite understand. He looked at the guard. "Let's just check them." While one guard patted down their clothes, the other withdrew a stunner, held it on ready. Tawney prowled the lounge. He glanced at the food on the table, then reached under the chair cushion and withdrew the disconnected microphone, looked at the loose wires, and tossed it aside. "They're clean," the guard said. Tawney's face was a study of uneasiness, but he clearly could not pinpoint what the trouble was. Finally he shrugged, turned on the smile again, although his eyes remained watchful. "Well, maybe you won't mind if I join in the talking for a while," he said. "You've been comfortable? No complaints?" "No complaints," Greg said. "Then I presume we're ready to talk business." He looked at Greg. "You said you were ready to bargain," Greg said, "but I haven't heard any terms yet." "Terms? Very simple. You direct us to the lode, we give you half of everything we realize from it," Tawney said, smiling.