* * * * * I coughed and said: "Rena, will you make a bargain?" She stared drearily. "Bargain?" "I have a room at the Umberto. If I get you out of here, will you go to my room and wait for me there?" Her eyes narrowed sharply for a second. She parted her lips to say something, but only nodded. "Your word, Rena? I don't want to turn you in." She looked helplessly at the purple spilled pool on the floor, and wistfully at the sack that held her father. Then she said, "My word on it. But you're a fool, Tom!" "I know it!" I admitted. I hurried her back up the ramp, back toward the violence upstairs. If it was over, I would have to talk her out of the clinic, somehow cover up the fact that she had been in the vaults. If it was still going on, though-- It was. We blended ourselves with the shouting, rioting knots. I dragged her into the main waiting room, saw her thrust through the doors. Things were quieting even then. And I saw two women hastening toward her through the fight, and I do not think it was a coincidence that the steam went out of the rioters almost at once. I stayed at the clinic until everything was peaceful again, though it was hours. I wasn't fooling myself. I didn't have a shred of real reason for not having her arrested. If she had information to give, I was not the type to trick it out of her--even if she really was waiting at the Umberto, which was, in itself, not likely. If I had turned her in, Defoe would have had the information out of her in moments; but not I. She was an enemy of the Company. And I was unable to betray her. VII Dr. Lawton, who seemed to be Chief Medical Officer for Anzio Clinic, said grimly: "This wasn't an accident. It was planned. The question is, why?" The expediters had finished driving the rioters out of the clinic itself, and gas guns were rapidly dispersing the few left outside the entrance. At least thirty unconscious forms were scattered around--and one or two that were worse than unconscious. I said, "Maybe they were hoping to loot the clinic." It wasn't a very good lie. But then, I hadn't had much practice in telling lies to an officer of the Company. Lawton pursed his lips and ignored the suggestion. "Tell me something, Wills. What were you doing down below?" I said quickly, "Below? You mean a half an hour ago?" "That's what I mean." He was gentle, but--well, not exactly suspicious. Curious. I improvised: "I--I thought I saw someone running down there. One of the rioters. So I chased after her--after _him_," I corrected, swallowing the word just barely in time. He nodded. "Find anything?" It was a tough question. Had I been seen going in or coming out? If it was coming out--Rena had been with me.