Criminals -- Fiction; Police -- Fiction; Science fiction; Short stories
Grinning, slowly Lonnie's lower lip crept out and up to squeeze its
mate. Then, because it was always better to be sure, he donned the suit
to try it against a variety of experimental backgrounds, indoors and
out.
Over at Pol-Anx, the servo-tracer went to sleep; the desk sergeant
yanked the creaking joints of his bunioned feet down off Jason's desk;
on the bench in Gov-Park, Jason's communico squeaked briefly and Jason
and his four men rose to emergency alert.
Two hours later, the Wold Tiara still coruscating in the Fane's blaze of
light, the servo-tracer picked up its placid humming. Jason's communico
squeaked again and Jason's men relaxed while Jason himself clutched his
head with both hands and whispered bitter things.
At the same time, Lonnie, whistling cheerfully, drew his legs out of the
suit, shook it straight and hung it back on the wall. He was sure now.
As sure as he was that the little biochemist and his wife and quintet of
daughters would not want for neo-hyperacth or anything else any longer.
He giggled a little, thinking of Jason crouched on the bench, glaring
vacantly, utterly unconscious of Lonnie passing across the grass so
close beside him.
At his own convenience, Lonnie selected his night; a full-moon night
because his now-invisible grid suit didn't require dark. He picked a
fairly early hour, too, because what matter if a few yawps gawked as the
Tiara vanished? And that one of those yawps would be Jason, stodgily on
his bench, gave Lonnie an extra fillip. Perhaps it was just for this
he'd let Jason plug along on a cold trail all these years.
So that night, wearily from his bench in Gov-Park, Jason looked up at
Friday the 13th's full moon swimming amiably through its own reflected
night-brightness. His brain, tired of its everlasting shuttle between
worries, presented him with a disconnected memory-fact: "As cited by
Zollner," Jason found himself quoting a forgotten textbook, "the Moon's
reflectivity is point one seven four ... Nuts!" Angrily, he broke off,
thumbed the button of his communico, growled into the microphone on his
lapel, "Report."
"Adams," came promptly back. "West Entry. Nothing."
"McGillis. Patrolling rear wall. All clear in both directions as far as
I can see. An' I can see both ends of the Fane in all this moonlight,
Chief."
"Holland. At Raichi House. Nothing."
"Johnson. East Entry. More of the same." Then, "Say, Jase, how about it?
These double shifts are getting me."
"What's the matter with you, now?"
"My feet hurt, Jase. Neither one of us is as young as we used to be,
remember. How about knocking off?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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