Now Gaylord came through the doorway, intent and striding. Looking neither to right nor left, he crossed the narrow strip between inner door and outer. Ahead of him, the heavy portal to the street swung wide. Swiftly, I darted in behind him; flipped my tunic-sash up and then down in a wide loop that snapped it tight around his neck. Gaylord jerked back in mid-stride. He started to cry out. Savagely, I wrenched the sash-noose tighter. The cry cut off unuttered. When my victim would have struggled, I dragged him back off balance and rammed a knee into his spine. Rizal's controller made small, choking sounds. His eyes began to bulge, his face to darken. Jerking him back into the offset niche between the double doors, out of view, I spoke into his ear: "Calm down, you fool! I don't want to kill you." His eyes rolled wildly, trying to glimpse me. He stopped struggling. Warily, I loosened the noose ... waited while he sucked in air in great, chest-filling gulps. But not for too long. Before he could stop shaking or have time really to think, I said, "Gaylord, we're going upstairs. If anyone tries to stop us, you're the one who'll get it." * * * * * I shoved him forward as I finished, and the inner doors opened. The sash a deadly bond between us, we crossed the lobby. Into the shaft-lift, then. My prisoner shot me an uncertain glance, half hate and half fear. "I don't see why you had to do it this way. I'd have met you at that thil-shop like you said." "Maybe." I shrugged. "That's not the question." "Not the question--?" "We're getting out on whichever floor Kruze has taken over." A panicky stiffening. "Oh!" "Come on, come on! Which floor is it?" "Seven." "Good enough." I punched the button and we zoomed upward. "There'll be a guard on duty, of course. You might think about how you're going to get us past him." Gaylord looked a little green. The lift slowed. Jerking my sash from Gaylord's throat, I snapped it back in place about my waist and, as we halted, shoved my unwilling accomplice out of the cage ahead of me. There were two guards in the anteroom instead of one. The first, beetle-browed and heavy-jawed, slumped dozing in a chair. His companion, slimmer and trimmer, sat straighter than was necessary but without a coat, playing a miniature sokkol wheel against himself. "Visitor for Controller Kruze," Gaylord croaked as the non-sleeping guard looked up. He made as if to stride past the pair to the door beyond. But as he did so, his head went forward just a fraction, and his left shoulder dropped. The next item on the agenda would be a simultaneous yell of warning and spin to one side, out of my reach. He might as well have put it on a placard. I leaped first, by a split second. When the yell came, and the spin, I was already in position to catch Gaylord's arm as he whirled by. It changed his course a bit. He crashed bodily into the dozing, bull-necked guard, and they went down together.