"You're a liar!" Marvak snapped. "I'm not a liar," Fradin whispered. "Either or else," Marvak said, bringing up his gun until it pointed right at the little inventor's forehead. Fradin had something that a man could call courage. He looked that gun in the eye. His face went a shade whiter, but his eyes did not drop. "I'm afraid it will have to be else," he said. As he spoke the words, he seemed to stiffen himself until he stood very straight. He looked like a soldier standing at attention. "But if you shoot me you may find it difficult to operate my invention." Marvak's finger tightened around the trigger. His face was cold with rage, his grey, killer eyes looked like icicles. "Don't shoot him, you fool!" I hissed. "Then you'll never find out what you want to know." I was stalling for time, stalling for anything, stalling for a chance to jump that gun. I was standing beside Fradin, but the gun covered both of us. "Shut up!" Marvak snarled at me. The gun went off. He had shot Fradin. It was cold blooded murder. But as he had shot the little scientist, he had taken his eyes off me. I started to jump. The gun instantly swung to cover me. I saw Marvak's face, with no mercy in it. The gun froze me motionless. Fradin didn't fall. There was a look of surprise on his face, but he didn't fall. Then I saw what had happened. Marvak had shot him in the shoulder instead of through his head. "That's just a sample," Marvak said, "to show you that I mean business. You're not badly hurt, but the next one will go through your knee-cap. I understand that a bullet through the knee is very painful. Now are you going to tell me what I want to know or are you going to need further persuasion?" Blood was running down Fradin's coat. He was clutching his shoulder with the other hand, trying to stop the flow of blood. His face was very white. And now there was fear on it, fear that had not been there when he first faced Marvak's gun. I got the fleeting impression that it was not fear of the spy nor of the weapon, but of something else. I also got the impression that it was a terrible fear, a soul-consuming fear, a bleaching, whitening, shuddering fear, a fear greater even than the fear of death.... "All right," the little inventor whispered. "You win. I'll show you what you want." "That's better," Marvak said, in a satisfied tone. "I don't mind saying that if I make a cleaning on this, I'm quite willing to cut you and the reporter in on it." He was lying. The only way he would cut us in would be to cut our throats. Both Fradin and I knew it. "I'm afraid," the inventor said, "that your shot has injured my arm so badly that I will have to ask you to help me." "Okay," Marvak said. "But remember I have an excellent knowledge of electrical apparatus, so don't try any tricks, like electrocuting me by accident." "There won't be any trickery involved here," the little inventor whispered through bloodless lips. * * * * *