"Hello, George; come on in."
"We want to talk to you, Jack." Lunt's voice was strained, empty of warmth
or friendliness. "At least, these men do."
"Why, yes. Sure."
He backed into the room to permit them to enter. Something was wrong;
something bad had come up. Khadra came in first, placing himself beside
and a little behind him. Lunt followed, glancing quickly around and
placing himself between Jack and the gunrack and also the holstered
pistols on the table. The third trooper let the two strangers in ahead of
him, and then closed the door and put his back against it. He wondered if
the court might have cancelled his bond and ordered him into custody. The
two strangers--a beefy man with a scrubby black mustache, and a smaller
one with a thin, saturnine face--were looking expectantly at Lunt.
Rainsford and van Riebeek were on their feet. Gus Brannhard leaned over to
refill his glass, but did not rise.
"Let me have the papers," Lunt said to the beefy stranger.
The other took a folded document and handed it over.
"Jack, this isn't my idea," Lunt said. "I don't want to do it, but I have
to. I wouldn't want to shoot you, either, but you make any resistance and
I will. I'm no Kurt Borch; I know you, and I won't take any chances."
"If you're going to serve that paper, serve it," the bigger of the two
strangers said. "Don't stand yakking all night."
"Jack," Lunt said uncomfortably, "this is a court order to impound your
Fuzzies as evidence in the Kellogg case. These men are deputy marshals
from Central Courts; they've been ordered to bring the Fuzzies into
Mallorysport."
"Let me see the order, Jack," Brannhard said, still remaining seated.
Lunt handed it to Jack, and he handed it across to Brannhard. Gus had been
drinking steadily all evening; maybe he was afraid he'd show it if he
stood up. He looked at it briefly and nodded.
"Court order, all right, signed by the Chief Justice." He handed it back.
"They have to take the Fuzzies, and that's all there is to it. Keep that
order, though, and make them give you a signed and thumbprinted receipt.
Type it up for them now, Jack."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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