Abduction -- Fiction; Science fiction; Short stories; Time travel -- Fiction; Western stories
As the guard struck the match, Brek leaned forward to light his
cigarette--and, at the same time, he put his hand on the other's
shoulder. Automatically, a little device in his palm silently and
painlessly injected hypnotene into the man's blood stream.
After a moment, Brek said: "How do you feel, Sam?"
Sam blinked slowly. "Just fine."
"You'll do anything I tell you--won't you, Sam?"
"Why sure, Ed. Whatever you say."
Brek grinned savagely. "You won't hear any noise from the house."
"No noise from the house," Sam agreed.
"No matter what happens, you won't hear anything out of the ordinary,
or see anything out of the ordinary. This will seem just like any other
night to you."
Under the influence of the drug, Sam nodded in agreement.
"And you won't remember what I just said. All you'll remember is that I
bummed a light and went on."
Again Sam nodded.
"Well, so long, Sam."
"So long, Ed," said Sam tonelessly.
The same process, with variations, was repeated with the rest of the
guards. When he was finished, Brek fired his gun into the air and
strode boldly up to the front door. He rapped.
"Who is there?" asked a voice from within.
"Ed Calhoun, Boss. We just killed another prowler. You want to take a
look at him?"
A pause. Then, "Are you sure he is dead?"
"Bullet through his head," Brek said.
"What does he look like?"
"Ordinary. Might be an Indian."
The door opened, and Sager stepped straight into a right upper-cut
which bowled him back through the opening. Brek charged in after him,
but the man lay limp, his eyes closed.
Brek stood over him for a moment, debating what to do. Then he heard
footsteps on the stairway.
_Dori._
She stared at him, no recognition in her eyes. A chill of horror ran
through him as he saw what Dori had become.
"Who are you?" Her voice was dull, uncaring.
He walked over to her and looked at her eyes. Burning fury rose in him.
Using hypnotene, Sagginer had made Dori only the shell of the girl he
had loved.
"Who are you?" she asked again. "I do not know you."
"You once did," he said tightly. "You--"
He felt a sudden blow on the back of his neck, and his knees sagged.
Sager had been feigning unconsciousness, and now had returned to the
struggle at a moment when Brek was unprepared.
A fist smashed into his side, and he ducked away, blinking away
the pain. He turned and advanced toward Sagginer, while Dori moaned
wordlessly in the corner.
Sagginer jumped forward and drove a fist toward Brek's jaw, but Brek
countered and felt knuckles crash through the time-jumper's teeth.
As Sagginer rocked, Brek hit him below the heart, and he grunted and
folded up.
This time Brek made sure of the job. He continued pummelling Sagginer's
senseless body until he was out of breath, then stood up and looked at
Dori.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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