Houston grinned. "Yeah, sure. How're we doing with Sir Lewis?"
"Seems to be headed in the right direction," Arthmore said, suddenly
dropping the Cockney accent. "This is the route I'd take if I were
headed for Upper Berkeley Mews. He probably hasn't told the driver to
change addresses--maybe he won't."
"The victims never do," Houston said. "He probably is actually headed
toward Number 37 Upper Berkeley Mews."
"Yeah. Nobody's perfect," said Arthmore.
* * * * *
Forty-five minutes of steady progress through the streets of Greater
London brought Sir Lewis Huntley to Upper Berkeley and to the short
dead-end street which constituted the Mews. By the time the dapper
baronet stepped out of the machine and paid his driver, the whole area
was surrounded by and filled with the well-armed, silent, and careful
agents of the Psychodeviant Police.
Number 37 was an old concrete-and-steel structure of the George VI
period, faced with a veneer of red brick. It had obviously been
remodeled at least once to make the facade more modern and more
fashionable; the red-violet anodized aluminum was relatively fresh and
unstained. It wouldn't have taken vast wealth to rent a flat in the
building, but neither would an average income have been quite enough.
Houston looked out of the window of Arthmore's cab and glanced at the
tiers of windows in the building. Presumably, the man they were looking
for was up there--somewhere.
_So you occupy a station in the upper middle-class_, thought Houston. It
checked. Every bit of evidence that came his way seemed to check
perfectly and fit neatly into the hypothesis which he had formed. Soon
it would be time to test that theory--but the time had not yet come.
"Stand by and wait for orders, Houston," said the speaker in Houston's
ear. "We've got men inside the building."
Sir Lewis Huntley opened the sparkling, translucent door of Number 37
Upper Berkeley Mews and went inside.
Arthmore pulled the cab over to the curb a few yards from the entrance
and the two men waited in silence. All around them were other men, some
in private cars, some walking slowly along the street. All of them were
part of the net that had gathered to catch one man.
_Poor fish_, Houston thought wryly.
There was no noise, no excitement. Five minutes after Sir Lewis had
entered the front door, it opened again. A man whom Houston had never
seen before stepped out and gestured with one hand. At the same time,
Houston's speaker said: "They've got him. Hit him with a stun gun when
he tried to get out through the fire exit."
An ambulance which had been waiting at the entrance of the Mews pulled
up in front of Number 37, and a minute or so later a little clot of men
came out bearing a stretcher, which was loaded into the ambulance.
Immediately after them came another man who had a firm, but polite grip
on the arm of Sir Lewis Huntley.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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