He ducked into the alleyway where he had caught Shifaz. His memory of it had been right. There was a small hole in one of the building walls, partly covered with cracked plaster, and barely visible in the darkness. The gloom of the Kazlak scarcely varied with night or day, as the enormous labyrinth of covered passages and building walls was pierced with only a few ventilation holes. Cressets at the main intersections burned constantly, their smokeless flames lighting the streets poorly. He wondered idly how he had managed to remember the way to this place, let alone the little hole in the wall, as he stuffed the micro-files into its dark interior. He finished, turned to leave, and was out on the main tunnel before he became aware of the IC ground cars closing in upon him. The Corporation was really on the beam, their spies everywhere. But they didn't know his abilities. He visualized and pushed. They were going to be surprised when he vanished--but he didn't vanish. The expression of shocked surprise was still on his face as the stat gun blast took him squarely in the chest. * * * * * He was tied to a chair in Fred Kemmer's office. He recognized it easily, although physically he had never been inside the room. His head hurt as a polygraph recorder was strapped to his left arm, and behind him, beyond his range of vision, he could sense another man and several machines. In front of him stood Fred Kemmer with an expression of satisfaction on his face. "Don't start thinking you're smart," Kemmer said. "You're in no position for it." "You've tried to kill me three times," Albert reminded him. "There's always a fourth time." "I don't think so. Too many people know." "Precisely my own conclusion," Kemmer said, "but there are other ways. Brainwashing's a good one." "That's illegal!" Albert protested. "Besides--" "So what?" Kemmer cut him off. "It's an illegal universe." Albert probed urgently at the IC man's mind, hoping to find something he could turn to his advantage, but all he found were surface thoughts--satisfaction at having gotten the spy where he could do no harm, plans for turning Albert into a mindless idiot, thoughts of extracting information--all of which had an air of certainty that was unnerving. Albert had badly underestimated him. It was high time to leave here, if he could. Albert visualized an area outside Vaornia, and, as he tried to push, a machine hummed loudly behind him. He didn't move. Mistake, Albert thought worriedly, I'm not going anywhere--and he knows I'm scared. "It won't do you any good," Kemmer said. "It didn't take too much brains to figure you were using hyperspace in those disappearing acts. There's an insulating field around that chair that'd stop a space yacht." He leaned forward. "Now--what are your contacts, and who gave you the information on where to look?"