He couldn't detect anything. The sixtieth floor covered a lot of space; if whoever was inside was too far away, their thoughts would be too faint to pick up unless Houston stepped up his own power, and he didn't want to do that. Cautiously, he reached out a hand and eased open the door. The hallway was brightly lit, but there was no one in sight. The unaccustomed light made Houston blink for a moment before his eyes adjusted to it; the hallways and landings below had been pitch dark, forcing him to use a penlight to find his way up. He stepped into the hallway, closing the door behind him. Now he could hear voices. He stopped to listen. The conversation was coming from an office down the hall--if it could be called a conversation. There would be long periods of silence, then a word or two: "But not that way." "Until tomorrow." "Vacillates." There were three different voices. Houston moved on down the hall, his stun gun ready. A few yards from the door, he stopped again, and, very gently, he sent out another thought-probe, searching for the minds of those within, carefully forging his way. * * * * * And, at that crucial instant, a voice spoke in his ear. "Houston! What's going on? You haven't said a thing for two full minutes!" "I'm all right!" Houston snapped. Only the force of long training and habit kept him from shouting the words aloud instead of keeping them to a subvocal whisper. "All right or not," said the other, "we're coming in in seven minutes, as ordered. Meanwhile, there's a news bulletin for you; the British division has picked up another Controller--a woman named Dorrine Kent. Two in one night ought to be a pretty good bag." For a moment, Houston's mind was a meaningless blur. _Dorrine!_ And then another voice broke through his shock. "Dear me, sir! Calm yourself! You're positively fizzing!" Houston jerked. Standing in the doorway of the office was Norcross Lasser, with a benign smile on his face and a deadly-looking .38 automatic in his hand. Behind him stood John Sager and Loris Pederson, their faces wary. "Please drop that stun gun, Mr. Cop." * * * * * In those few moments, Houston had regained control of himself. He realized what had happened. The interruption of his thought-probe had startled him just a little, but that little had been enough to warn the Controller. He wondered which of the three men was the actual Controller. He began to lower his weapon, then, suddenly, with all the force and hatred he could muster, he sent a blistering, shocking thought toward the man with the gun. Lasser staggered as though he'd been struck. His gun wavered, and Houston fired quickly with his stun gun. At the same time, Lasser's automatic went off. The bullet went wild, and the stun beam didn't do much better. It struck Lasser's hand, paralyzing it, but it didn't knock out Lasser.