Chenkov squirmed, making Malenkov gasp and choke. Chenkov subsided. "What's your question?" "I want to know the location of your storage areas for atomic weapons." "N-never!" Malenkov gasped, his voice breaking. Tedor started counting. "One, two, three, four, five--" "Wait!" This was Chenkov. "There's no need making a martyr of yourself, Georgi. You tell me, what good would the information do them? They'll never get a chance to use it." "Y-yes. Don't move, Vladimir. You're choking me. I see what you mean. Very well, this is the information. We have three atomic storehouses, one in the Urals at--" The information memorized, Tedor forced a gag of drapery material into Chenkov's mouth and one into Malenkov's. With Dorlup he left the study. "But why did they give us the information so readily?" the solidio writer demanded. "That's simple. Evidently, they've already removed their atomic weapons from the storage areas, possibly to airfields. They aren't familiar enough with time-travel, though. We'll simply go back a dozen hours and blast those three locations. If Russia doesn't have atomic power for a sneak attack, she won't be able to attack at all. First stop is the Lubianka prison, however." They found Lubianka Street after getting a vehicle from the Kremlin motor pool, the motor officer's eyes bulged when Malenkov and his personal body guard came down for the car themselves. They rushed inside the prison, where the warden demanded, stuttering: "Is--is this an inspection, C-comrades? We are r-ready at any t-time, of course, and honored, even, but sometimes, once in a while, you see--" "Forget it," Tedor cut him short. "You have a woman prisoner, Anna Myinkov? Bring her to us, quickly." "At once." The warden was gone less than ten minutes, returning with a muscular, sexless female jailor who prodded Laniq ahead of her. Laniq stared at them dully, without hope. "Thank you," said Tedor to the warden. "We'll take her." Dorlup-Malenkov smiled and the warden bowed out. In the street, Laniq's spirit had returned. "Don't tell me Malenkov himself is going to be around for the execution?" They didn't say anything. Tedor wanted to be in the car before they revealed themselves to her. "You'll have to catch me first!" cried Laniq. Tedor had been holding her loosely by the arm and she suddenly tried to pull away. When his grip tightened, she turned on him furiously, raking his face with her nails, kicking, biting butting with her head. Tedor pinned her arms to her sides while she cried in rage. "Cut it out, Laniq. I'm Tedor. Tedor!" "Te-dor? Tedor? Oh, Tedor...." Laniq fainted in his arms. They drove south with her to the time-conveyor. * * * * * They were twelve hours into the past, materializing abruptly on the field of the first atomic area.