Toba, as heavy and dark as the departing night, his cheek resting on his right palm, grinned at her.
"Gods! Don't you ever sleep?" she said.
"Not with a lady who has strangled over a hundred lovers once they'd dropped off beside her."
Her eyes narrowed.
"Then you knew! All along you knew! You led me on!"
'"Thank God and amphetamine, yes!"
She smiled and stretched.
"You are very fortunate. Actually, I don't normally wait for them to drop off. I generally choose a certain moment and they come and go at the same time, so to speak. You were going to get it now only because I was distracted by architecture then. However..."
She reached out and manipulated the control unit. Silently, the barge began to move.
She turned onto her other side.
"Look how the light hits the Manhattan ruins! I just adore ruins!" She sat up suddenly and raised an oblong rectangle of carved and polished wood. She held it at arm's length and stared through it. "That group right there... Isn't that a fine composition?"
Toba raised himself and leaned forward, his chin brushing her left shoulder.
"It's—uh—interesting."
She held a small camera in her left hand, sighted through it, through the frame, leaned forward, leaned back, pressed a button.
"Got it."
She deposited the frame and the camera off to her right
"I could spend my life viewing picturesque ruins. In fact, I do. Most of the time. They're always best from the water. Did you ever notice that?"
"Now that you mention it..."
"You were too good to be true, you know? Dressed in rags, poking through junk at the water's edge, unscrubbed and unlettered, a product of civilization's decay—just as I drifted by. You conned me. What are you? An archaeologist?"
"Well..."
"....nd you knew about me. Keep your right arm up like that, but raise your head."
She rolled over onto her stomach, raised her own right arm, and clasped his hand.
"All right. Mister Toba. Start pushing as if your life depended on it. Maybe it does."
"Hey now, lady-"
His arm began bending backward. He tightened his grip, strained. It halted for a few moments. He clamped his jaw, leaned left
Suddenly he was slammed back, his arm pinned to the deck.
She smiled down at him.
"Want to try it with your left?"
"No, thanks. Look, I believe everything I've heard about you... You have—uh—exotic tastes and you're strong enough to satisfy them. I've got to admire anybody who gets what they want. This was the only way I knew to meet you, though. I've got a once-in-a-lifetime offer you can't afford to miss."
"Does it involve a good ruin?"
"You'd better believe it!" he said quickly.
"... And a good man?"
"One of the best!"
She seized his hand and jerked him to his feet
"Quick! Look at the sunlight on that broken tower!"
"Sure is something!"
"Whats his name?"
"Dorakeen. Red Dorakeen."
"That sounds familiar..."
"He's been around a lot"
"Is he picturesque?"
"Need you ever ask?"
"I could use a new barge, with some ivory inlay work..."
"Say no more. Hey! Sunlight through what's left of that bridge!"
"Quick! The camera! —You're a very lucky man, Toba." "Don't I know it!
One
When he saw the tiny dot in the rearview mirror blossom and gleam. Red Dorakeen cursed softly.
"What is the matter?" came a husky voice from the dashboard.
"Huh? I didn't know I'd left you on."
His right hand moved toward the control knob, then dropped back.
"You didn't. I activated the circuit myself."
"How'd you manage that?"
"Remember the service job I won from you in that card game last month? There was sufficient credit remaining to have them install some extra circuits. I'd decided it was time to expand my horizons."
"You mean you've been eavesdropping on me for an entire month?"
"Yes. You talk to yourself a lot. Ifs fun."
"We'll have to do something about that."
"You could stop playing cards with me. —I repeat, what is the matter?"
"Police car. Coming up fast. May go right on by. May not, too."
"I'll bet I can knock him out. Want to fight?"
"Hell, no. Sit tight. Flowers. Certain things take time, that's all."
"I do not understand." "I am in no hurry. If I fail, I try again. Or I try
something else."
His eyes returned to the mirror. The shining, teardrop-shaped vehicle was large now in the passing lane and still gaining, though it seemed that it might
have slowed.
"I still do not understand." He struck a wooden match with his thumbnail and
relit his cigar. "I know. Don't worry about it—and stay out of any
discussions that might arise."
"Acknowledged."
He glanced to the side. The vehicle had come abreast of him and was pacing him now. He sighed.
"Stop me or go on, damn you!" he muttered. "We're both too big to play games!"
As if in response, a siren wailed. A globe reared itself above the shining roof and began to blink like a hot
eye.
Red turned the steering wheel and drew off onto the Road's shoulder. Again, the sky began to pulse, dark and light, darker and lighter. When the vehicle came to a complete halt, a morning sun hovered just above the horizon to his right, the grasses were pale with frost, birds were singing. The shining vehicle pulled off ahead of him. Both its doors opened and two gray-tunicked officers descended and moved in his direction. He turned off the ignition and sat perfectly still. He exhaled a large cloud of smoke.
The driver of the other vehicle came up beside his door. His companion moved toward the rear of the truck. The first man looked in. He smiled faintly.
"I'll be damned!" he said. "Hi, Tony."
"Didn't know it was you. Red. Hope you're not up to anything too gross." Red shrugged.
"Oh, a little of this, a little of that."
"Tony," came a voice from the rear. "You'd better take a look at this."
"Uh ... I'll have to ask you to step down. Red." "Sure."
He opened the door and climbed out. "What is it?" Tony asked, moving back. "Look."
He had undone a corner of the tarp and raised it. He now proceeded to unfasten it further.
"I recognize those! They're C Twenty rifles, called M-1s."
"Yeah, I know. See what's back here? Browning Automatic Rifles. And this is a case of hand grenades. Lots of ammo, too."
Tony sighed, turned.
"Don't tell me. Let me guess," he said. "I know right where you are going. You still believe the Greeks should win the Battle of Marathon and you want to give them a hand."
Red grimaced.
"What makes you guess that?"
"You've been caught at it twice before."
"And you just pulled me over—part of a random sampling?" "That's right."
"You trying to say that no one tipped you off?" The officer hesitated and glanced away. "That's right" Red grinned around the cigar.
"Okay. You've got me with the goods. What are you going to do?"
"The first thing we are going to do is confiscate the stuff. You can give us a hand loading them into our van."
"Do I get a receipt?"
"Damn it, Red! Don't you know the seriousness of what you're doing?"
"Yep." "Admitted, nothing will happen to us if you can pull
it off. You will create another branch in the Road, though. Or another exit."
"What's wrong with that—really?"
"Who knows who might start traveling it from that point."
"A lot of weird fish travel it already. Tony. Look at us."
"But you're a devil we know. Everybody knows you. Why do you want that other goddamned branch anyway?"