The car filled with heat and smoke and the stink of burning metal came through their masks. Finally he had a man-sized opening and he stuck his head out cautiously. A blaster bolt from down the hall gashed the door above his head and he recoiled. "Burn a hole through the back while I keep them busy," he ordered and he felt reflected heat from behind him as he filled the hall outside with flame. A few minutes later he heard Slan whisper from close behind him, "Everything is clear on the other side and Larhana is on guard. As soon as I finish this we can get out of here." Alternating his attention between the hall and Slan, Savage watched him set a block charge booby-trap with practiced efficiency. Then he was finished and they stepped over the trip-wire and out of the levitor. * * * * * They ran across the room and as they went through the door a blaster roared behind them. Slan screamed and fell, only his momentum carrying him around the angle of the door jamb. Savage whirled to return the fire and then the block charge erupted and was thrown against a desk. Protected by the wall Larhana was already at Slan's side as Savage picked himself up. Vainly she was trying to staunch the flow of blood from the clean-cut stumps that were all that remained of Slan's legs. Savage quickly took two pieces of Plastograft from his kit and with them sealed the stumps as Slan ground out between clenched teeth, "You've got to get Czako." He struggled to get up, but fell back into Larhana's arms, sweat glistening on his face. "We'll take care of you first," Savage said. "Get Czako," Slan gasped. "Take the stairs.... Room five leads to office.... Armored door, use block charge.... Three blocks.... Hurry, hurry...." His voice trailed off to nothingness and he died. Larhana's green eyes were blazing as they cautiously traversed the offices. At the forty-fifth floor Savage tried the door. It opened and then the frame splintered under the impact of a heavy needle gun. They dropped to the floor, leaving the door ajar. He held his heat gun and blaster together and quickly shoved them through the opening toward the unseen gun and pressed the studs. They roared and a scream answered. Still on the floor, he twisted his weapons around and bathed the hall with flame in the other direction. Then he scrambled to his feet and with her dancer's agility Larhana followed him. Behind the flame of his weapons they ran down the scarred hall and found office five. Savage took no chances; he used the blaster on the door and his heat gun was on as they went in. The room's furnishings were reduced to charred ruins, as were the three guards, but after the draperies and papers were consumed there was nothing left to burn. "Keep your eyes on the door while I get the charges ready," Savage ordered. He went to the armored door set into the opposite wall and carefully taped on the block charges. Then he set and connected the igniter.