Текст книги "The Final Affair"

Автор книги: David McDaniel

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CHAPTER TWO

“Little Sirrocco, How Do You Do?”

All nightclubs look alike during the day. Chairlegs bristled from tabletops and the garish decor seemed tawdry in the merciless glare of a couple of thousand-watt lamps in standing birdcages in opposite corners.

The faint chemical smell of cedar sweeping compound mingled with stale smoke and sweat left from the night before, and there was a tang of ammonia in the cool air somewhere. FM jazz was piped into the sound system, like a ghostly combo on the empty stage.

Napoleon and Illya looked around the place, having found the front door open, the checkstand deserted and the cashier’s desk unguarded with the cash drawer gaping empty. Behind a partition to the left they heard a telephone ring and a voice answer it; following the clue they found an office and a balding man saying, “– and the last show starts at 1:15. Thank you.”

He hung up the phone and looked up at Napoleon and Illya. “One of these days I’ll get a gadget to answer that. What can I do for you gentlemen?”

“Is little Sirrocco here?”

“What for? You don’t look like fuzz.”

“We’re family friends,” said Napoleon. “You can tell her we work for her Uncle.”

“Tell her yourself. She’s back in the dressing room, unless she left without me hearing her —cleaning up after rehearsal. I can buzz her.”

“Tell her we’re coming. Where’s her dressing room?”

“Around behind the stage on your left. Green door with a gold star on it. Not the one with the gold crescent —some wiseacre put that on the men’s john.” He reached for a box with buttons on it as they left.

The corridor curved around behind the stage, and a door was open ahead of them. Inside, a girl sat at a dressing table doing things with her long blonde hair. She saw Solo in the mirror as he looked cautiously around the doorframe.

“Come on in and close the door,” she said. “This place is safe to talk. —I can fill you in on the situation as it’s developed.” Her voice was soft and husky, but her speech was crisp and precise.

Illya closed the door behind them as Napoleon pulled a couple of folding chairs from a corner and sat down straddling one with his arms folded across its back.. “Okay. Mr. Waverly said you could bring us up to date on Harry Stevens and his current project.”

“Good,” she said. “That proves who you are. I was pretty sure. See, something came up, and we’ve got a pickup for you to make in the next couple of days. You are Solo and Kuryakin, by the way?”

“None genuine without this signature,” said Napoleon, gracefully flipping out his gold identification card. Illya’s appeared beside it -Sirrocco looked at each a moment and then returned to her mirror and her comb.

“Okay. How much did Mr. Waverly tell you about Harry’s condition?”

“The fundamentals. He’s running on a constant posthypnotic and you see him once a week.”

“Yeah. And when he reports in we can set him onto a specific track -which can get pretty complicated. You Know all about the KEG?”

“As much as anyone outside of Thrush.”

“Somebody named Simpson back in New York was asking about anything that fired along with the fireball, like for sighting or ranging, and Harry found out there was such a thing. It’s like a laser, but not in the visible spectrum, and Harry said it ionizes a path in the air and the plasmoid runs down it. This came up day before yesterday when he came over to my place to report. So we set him to get one of those things and bring it to us. You’ll pick it up.”

“pick it up? Why doesn’t he bring it to you next week?”

“New York didn’t want to wait. Harry can drop it off at a bar in North Beach. It’s all been arranged.”

“Just a minute,” said Illya. “I thought Harry didn’t know he was working for anyone but Thrush. You just gave me the impression that Harry was going to steal this —whatever it is —and drop it off at a place in North Beach for us to pick up.”

“That’s right. But he won’t know you’ll be there, and he won’t know why he’s doing it, and he’ll forget he did it afterwards. So it’s all okay.

Didn’t they explain it to you?”

Napoleon stared at her reflection in the mirror, and his eyebrows rose.

“I don’t know exactly how it works. myself.” she admitted. “Dr. Grayson can tell you. But when Harry gets this thing. he’ll signal me at my place around six-thirty or seven, before I leave for work. I’II let you know when I hear, and you’ll plan to be at this place in North Beach. He’ll leave it in his booth and you’ll pick it up.”

“How big is it?” asked Illya.

“About three inches long and maybe as big around as a pencil.”

“And what does it do?”

“Well, it’s some kind of a laser crystal. But instead of light it lases gamma radiation. Not a whole lot —I think they said it’d just give you a quarter-inch-wide sunburn —but enough to ionize the air it goes through so the plasmoid, being electrically charged, follows the track. That’s as close as I remember. Does it seem reasonable?”

“Completely,” said Illya. “And Mr. Simpson wants the real thing so he can study its atomic crystalline structure, shoot some neutrons through it and see what it’s made of. I wonder what they use to drive it.”

“Anyway, after Harry leaves, you go to the booth. pick up the thing and come home. And that’s it. Nobody should be tailing him. and you can just stay out of sight if they are.”

“Tailing him? I thought he was above suspicion.”

“In this Satrapy. nobody’s above suspicion. I think Baldwin watches himself. Harry’s been followed a couple of times. even though they have absolutely nothing on him. He tests clean. He loves Thrush like a mother.”

“He must, if they let him get at something this important.”

“Well, he doesn’t have much rank, but he’s in the copying section. He’s cleared for just about everything, and his clearance gets him into places.

See —there’s only one KBG, and that’s at their test site down near Gilroy.

But there are replacement parts for everything, even parts nothing can go wrong with, like the laser crystal. And Harry can wander into Top Secret Storage and pick one up and it won’t be missed for months.”

“And all this time he’s loyal to Thrush,” said Napoleon.

“Uh-huh. That’s what makes things a little touchy. You don’t dare do anything that might disturb him while he’s around. See —he doesn’t really Know what he’s doing. But he can do everything right as long as he doesn’t stop to think about it, and he won’t as long as nobody calls his attention to it.”

“It doesn’t sound healthy,” said Napoleon.

“It isn’t,” said Illya. “But you’d be surprised how many people 90

around like that most of the time.”

“No, I wouldn’t. On the other hand, natural conditions are usually stabler than artificial ones.”

“That’s right,” said Sirrocco. “He’d freak out. And we don’t want that to happen. Dr. Grayson might be able to put him back together again, but some cracks might show. See, all I’m trained to do is cue him into a trance, debrief him into a recorder, play a tape of Dr. Grayson telling him what we want him to notice and reiterating his basic programming, wake him up, pat him on the back and send him home happy. Since I’m the only field contact he has, it’s part of my job to keep an eye on his emotional balance.

They say he has a chance of coming out of all this with his head in one piece, if nothing jiggers him badly.”

“That’s slightly reassuring,” said Solo. “I hope he doesn’t have a family.”

“No,” said Sirrocco. “Just me. And I’m not supposed to get involved. This is purely professional.”

“Uh-huh.” “Partly for my own curiosity,” said Illya, “and partly on the grounds that knowledge is more useful than ignorance, what can you tell us about Harry’s condition? You mentioned he’d signal you when he got the gamma laser —how does he do this?”

“He calls my home phone, and rings once ”

A pair of electronic bird calls sounded softly, and Napoleon said, “I’ll get it.” He unclipped what looked like a fat silver ballpoint pen from inside his coat, twisted one end to extend a short antenna, and reversed the point to reveal the microphone/speaker. “Solo and Kuryakin here.”

“As soon as you have finished your briefing, please report back to the local office. This is of overriding priority.”

“I —ah —think we’re just about done here,” said Napoleon reluctantly.

“Is this new development going to supersede our present assignment?”

“We don’t know yet. Apparently it1s much bigger. Mr. Waverly is on his was from New York right now by courier jet; if you can manage to get here by six you can meet him and get right to business.”

“Good. Should we arrange to have dinner sent in?”

“We’ll take care of that. Off the record, I haven’t the least idea what this could be —but the tone of his voice sounded as if you could be at this all night once you got started.,”

“Thanks. We’ll check in by six. Solo out.”

Little Sirrocco finished sorting her hair. mist-green eyes darting back and forth from her own reflection to Solo’s and Illya’s as she tucked it through a band and tossed it over her shoulder.

“I gather they may have to send in the second team,” she said. “Good luck, fellas, but I guess that’s war.”

“We may still be here to handle the pick-up.” said Illya. “If the drop is on for tonight. you’ll still check in and they’ll have to send someone.

We might be out in time, and I would like very much to observe this progralTTT1ing in operation.”

“Okay.” she said. standing and slinging a rough leather bag over her shoulder. “If I see you again. that’s cool. and if I don1t. hang in there.”

She fumbled in the bag until she found a pair of opaque plastic glasses, and gestured with them towards the door. “I have to head home now to wait for a phone call.As she locked the dressing room behind her she called up the corridor.

“Hey. Spiros!”

A faint -Yeah?” came from beyond the stage wall.

“I’m checking out —see you about eight. These two guys are leaving with me.”

“Okay,” answered the distant voice. “Why don’t you use the call box?

All the money I paid to put it in and you gotta yell!”

“I already locked my door. G’bye,” she called, and pushed the panic bar of the fire exit, opening into an airshaft with golden afternoon sunlight spilling in at the top and filtering down over trash cans and sooty brick walls.

“You parked off Grant? Go out that way. I catch a cable at the top of the hill.”

“Can we give you ”

“Thanks, no. You go check in. I get around okay on my own.” And with a swirl of her hair and a flicker of hip, she was gone.

“Miss Sirrocco needn’t have heard about this,” said Mr. Waverly, “but no harm is done. You will not be abandoning your assignment immediately at any rate —for that matter, the entire operation centered around Stevens may shortly become obsolete.”

“You mean he may be relieved – or he may be killed?”

“Not precisely. He may be out of a job. For that matter. we all may have things a bit easier in the near future.”

They looked at him, then at each other. “I beg your pardon?”

Mr. Waverly smiled. “I believe it would not be too rash to say that we are now preparing to strike the most damaging blow ever delivered to the very heart of Thrush. If you fulfill your duties well in the next few weeks, we may have an opportunity to cripple the organi5ation —if not to destroy it completely.”

They stared.

“A long-range project was begun some three years ago,” he continued.

reaching for his humidor. “while you were short-circuiting a nasty situation in the Middle East. I’m sure you remember that week.”

“Clearly,” said Illya.

“You went there from England after meeting that Rainbow chap.”

“That business about the robbery was never settled either, was it?” said Napoleon. “That whole affair seemed unresolved. I always felt, we were off our stride.”

“We did well enough in the war afterwards. I thought.” said Illya.

“Your work there was most satisfactory,” their commander said. “But your final report from London, filed between assignments. included information which correlated with some anomalous data we’d received from other sources and made me willing to invest some effort to take advantage of the revealed situation.” His pipe now packed. he searched for a match. “If you have nothing pressing. I would like to explain at length.

“Here we have Thrush Central. housing the Ultimate Computer and in constant communication by remote terminal with every Satrap in the world.

And over here, several thousand miles away. is a complete duplicate set of hardware, with most of the files copied on its tapes, warmed up and waiting with a staff of forty or fifty sitting around playing cards. And thirdly, yet another full set of staff and equipment is en route from one location to another. where they will re-assemble and activate their own Thrush Central, with consideration of several constantly changing factors, probably including a random variable generated within the Computer itself, on a given signal.

everyone in the second, or standby, Central assumes their stations and all availab1e communications channels are utilized at high speed to transfer every remaining bit of information from the first set of machinery into the second.

Simultaneously, all functioning channels are switched to the second site, which then becomes Thrush Central, and the third unit goes to standby status.

“This accomplished, the first group packs up everything —Section Three tells me ail their equipment is modularized and containerized. loathsome neologisms.” He sucked at his pipe and sweet blue clouds rose around him.

“They load into trucks, onto railroad cars, aircraft or boats like a traveling theatrical troupe and are carried to another location, also chosen by the Computer, where they set up, realign and test the entire system, and signal that they are ready to assume standby status.

“Sometime after this, the active Central transfers control to the third full unit, which went on standby when the second took over. At this point the first would become the standby unit while the second broke down and moved to another location. Do you follow me so far?”

“This is more or less what Johnnie Rainbow outlined to us, sir.” said Napoleon.

“With the omission of the fact that the second unit already has all basic data and programs, copied into its storage banks when it went to standby,” Illya added. “Takes much less time to update, since they only have to copy the active files.”

“Our best estimates are that Central can perform a complete transferal without dropping a decimal in well under sixty seconds in an emergency situation.

Since any of the three units is capable of carrying the full operating load of Thrush indefinitely, it can sustain activities until the one in transit is ready to resume standby operation. Presumably, if a unit were actually discovered and destroyed, it would take some time to replace the staff and hardware, but they could easily field a new functional unit within two or three weeks.”

-Because all we can capture is the physical machinery which houses the information and the programs,N said Illya. “The software can skip to anywhere in the world at the speed of light and leave us with blank iron oxide for all our trouble..

Napoleon raised an eyebrow. “You sound positively metaphysical,” he said.

“This is the spirit of the machine, and it is not bounded by physical laws.”

“Oh, but it is,” said Illya. “Like any spirit, it’s not much without a body to work. through. All we have to do is capture all of its bodies, which are comparatively valueless, or prevent it from departing the ones we do capture. Remember, you were the one who suggested the metaphor.”

–I’m sorry. But I believe Mr. Waverly hadn’t quite got~ to the core of his story. Thrush Central is as shifty as Percy Blakeney. [X) you mean you have it located?”

“Not exactly. You see, something as large as Thrush Central requires several things in whatever site it may inhabit —besides open space and privacy, there must be electrical power9 supplies of water9 ready access to routes of escape by land, sea or air, and preferably enough innocent citizens coming and going in their immediate vicinity to cloak their own movements…this sort of thing. We had quite a search for qualified locations, and found a few that looked very likely indeed.

“Now I would be the last to demean Thrush security. We could not stake out a location and expect Thrush to move into it; any concealed transmitter would betray itself by its own emissions. Section Eight wasn’t fazed by the challenge, as you might nave guessed —they created a self-contained recording device which was indetectable in operation. totally shielded, signal-activated, with a capacity of nearly 1500 hours in two dozen multiplex channels.

lovely device. There were planted in a number of locations identified as likely sites for Thrush Central, in such ways as to evade detection by sounding. stress analysis. fluoroscopy or magnetic anomaly.

“The recording device was sensitive to speech sounds. of course; it also monitored a wide range’ of frequencies and was designed to pick up certain types of signal flow by induction. The actual detection and storage techniques used are, I am told, quite sophisticated.

“The site was monitored circumspectly, by observation of water and electric power consumption; when both rose significantly to a six-week plateau and then dropped again, we waited a short period and then moved in to retrieve our bug.”

“You mean it has already worked?” asked Illya.

“So far, yes. The original recording has been undergoing extensive analysis for over a month, and our own computer staff now feels capable of establishing cO1T1Tlunication with the Ultimate Computer, given two more things, which we hope you will be able to secure for us.”

“Following which,” said Napoleon. “you expect to be able to tap directly into Thrush’s brain?”

“Literally.”

“I’m staggered,” said Illya. “What is it we need?”

“My decision to act was spurred by the information that the San Francisco Satrap is about to have his obsolescent terminal replaced by a newer model.

With Mr. Stevens’ help, we should be able to divert the old terminal to our own uses. Even so, we will also need one piece of information to go with it. Since all communication is routinely scrambled, an active terminal is maintained in synchronization with the Ultimate Computer. Any attempt to engage through an unsynchronized terminal would set off a flock of alarms and the self-destruct mechanism in the terminal itself. Nevertheless, since humanity is fallible, occasionally interlock is lost. And a provision has been made for such an eventuality: there is a maintenance access code which, properly entered, allows re-establishment of synchronization and identifies its user as a qualified entity for access to operational systems as well as to all data files.”

“You promised.” said Napoleon, “that we wouldn’t have to have anything to do with Ward Baldwin.”

“I said you would not be expected to contact him. Now it is even more imperative that he remain unaware of your presence. In all your activities, wherever you might be observed, avoid attracting any attention.” .

“Of course. All we have to do is hijack his old terminal and run our man on a string into the middle of his operation. I’m even afraid to ride a cable car —I have the feeling the grip-men report to him.”

–I h”ave a false beard you could borrow if it would make you feel any better,”

Illya suggested.

“You would have a false beard,” said Napoleon.

“All your operations will be carried out circumspectly,” Mr. Waverly said.

“You will meet with Dr. Grayson a little later this evening; she will brief you on Mr. Stevens’ current condition and precisely what your job will entail.

She’ll be here at 7:30; we have time for dinner. I’ve taken the liberty of ordering it sent up, since I expect you will want to go over what we’ve already learned from our bug on Central.” He handed each of them a fat manila folder, and they settled back to study.

CHAPTER THREE

“Hold My Hand.”

“First, Mr. Solo, I hope you understand that an individual under a posthypnotic suggestion~ does not necessarily wander about glassy-eyed like a somnambulist. Properly implanted, such a suggestion would not only be indetectible, the subject himself would probably be unaware of its presence.”

“Until it went into effect,. said Napoleon.

“No,” said Dr. Grayson. “Not necessarily even then. The human subconscious is capable of fantastic feats of self-justification. If it lacks a valid reason for a course of action. it can supply a false one so smoothly the conscious mind never notices. Competently handled by a stage hypnotist, a man may feel it is perfectly reasonable to get down on all fours and bray like a donkey.”

She was a handsome woman, perhaps forty, with a gentle throaty voice and short auburn hair. She sat with Napoleon and Illya in a quiet conference room down a side corridor in U.N.C.L.E.‘s San Francisco office, detailing all they would need to know to react appropriately in any situation they might encounter with Harry Stevens. This included an outline of what he could be expected to do.

“About thirty minutes past midnight you will go to a bar in North Beach called ‘The Blue Angel.’ Shortly before one. Harry will come in, wearing a dark brown corduroy jacket. He will go to the last vacant booth on the left.

Do not make any attempt to contact him. At 1:12 by the wall clock he will get up and leave. The gamma laser will be wrapped in two paper napkins, tucked down between the seat and the wall on the side facing the door. If Harry is not being watched. one of you will retrieve the laser rod. the other will follow Harry and cue him into a cooperative state by showing him your U.N.C.L.E. communicator and saying the key word, Basingstoke. Understand. he must be allowed to complete his full program in the bar and leave before you interfere with him; it could be dangerous to break him in the middle of a cycle, even though it is necessary that he be intercepted tonight..

“Basingstoke?” Illya asked.

“A sufficiently uncommon name. especially coupled with the sight of your transceiver. It won’t induce a trance state. but he will become quite docile and suggestible. Bring him to the Pell Street entrance before 1:30. I’ll be waiting there to take him over and implant the suggestion to seek out the specific Maintenance access code Mr. Waverly wants so urgently. I will also see he is returned home safely before dawn.”

“You understand, of course, this will be your action only if you are satisfied he is not under surveillance. If there is any indication he is being followed. you will make no move at all. Mr. Waverly wants him re-programmed as soon as possible, but not to the extent of jeopardizing his cover. We do have an alternate plan, somewhat less graceful. to get to Harry.”

“But we still pick up the laser,” said Illya.

“As soon as you feel it is safe,” she said. “If the drop is also under observation, forget it. I presume you are aware of the priority of this new assignment”

“Yes,” said Napoleon noncommittally. “But I’d guess if he was being followed they’d be suspicious enough of him that his usefulness would be in question anyway.”

“Not necessarily,” said Illya. “According to all reports. he’s been doing a good job inside Thrush; they might just have a standard security team on him.

They keep track of everyone as a matter of policy. But any attempt to contact him would not only blow his entire scene and his invaluable position, it would mean his life. Remember, Harry himself is not really aware of what he’s doing —is he, Dr. Grayson?”

“Not on all levels, no. He shouldn’t notice a few oddities and blank spaces and inconsistencies —remember what I said about the human mind’s capacity for self-justification. He may only feel vaguely that something is wrong, somewhere…”

Harry had the vague feeling that something was very wrong somewhere. He’d given in to some questionable impulses in the past, but nothing as foolish as this. He’d resisted the thought for days —yet every time he passed the Physics Lab storage room he remembered his one glimpse of that exquisite gleaming cylinder resting in red velvet, its perfect mirror-bright surface catching every light in the lab. Such a beautiful thing! It had caught his eye as he stood at the next table. and as he recognized it he had felt a surge of sudden desire such as a lesser man might feel for a woman. That slim glistening rod snagged his thoughts like a loop of flypaper.

He only intended to sneak into the locked storeroom and find the flat black case so he could see the gamma laser again, to compare its divine reality with the image he carried in his mind, but it was late afternoon before the.

opportunity presented itself. Operations closed down at five. and the Research section was deserted by 5:15. As staff copyist he was presumably free to check out when his work was done.

But when he opened the little case and actually saw it close up and felt its weight in his hand he started thinking. This was one of four spare units, besides one with the KBG; it wasn’t as if it had to be right here and ready on a moment’s notice. so just borrowing it overnight wouldn’t even be treasonable —he certainly wouldn’t do anything against the interests of Thrush, insofar as he understood them. It would be as easy to sneak it back in as to sneak it out —and then he could take it home, and sit down with all the blinds drawn and take all the time he would need to look at this impossibly perfect.

beautiful thing.

It slipped neatly into his pocket and didn’t even bulge. His heart beat a little faster as he checked out, nodded to the guard and took the elevator to the surface, where he emerged into the golden horizontal light” of the setting sun. His shadow marched beside him as he walked south a block, then turned east.

He didn’t break stride or hurry at alt until he got home. The case seemed to get heavier every minute for the last block, and he began to imagine someone coming after him. At last he closed the door behind him and set the lock. His flat only had a microphone planted; he wasn’t .important enough to rate a camera. Even at his level, the company bugs were common knowledge; he knew where his was and didn’t particularly care.

Without even looking into his pocket again, he hung his coat over the back of a chair in the living room and went to mix himself a good stiff drink. He turned the radio to KSFO and started to sort through the day’s mail.

Like a child with a new toy, tantalizing himself, he filed his gas bill and glanced through the latest ANALOG before starting his dinner. While it was heating he suddenly thought of Sirrocco. It’d be nice to have her over later this evening —though of course he couldn’t tell her exactly why he felt so good. He picked up the telephone impulsively and dialed.

Even as he finished dialing he wondered if he should invite her over.

After all, she might become curious or he might drop a hint accidentally. The phone clicked and the connection was made. If she answered, he’d have to explain why he was calling… The first ringing signal vibrated in his ear for two seconds. and in sudden decision he dropped his forefinger on the button and replaced the receiver. No. she shouldn’t be brought over here while he had the gamma laser in his possession. The gamma laser…

The shades were dawn and the lights down, the FM supplying background music for the company bug —he turned the Tensor lamp on his desk to focus in the middle and went to his jacket.

The case was there. not Quite small enough to fit between his hands. He didn’t open it. but carried it like a baby to the desk and set it in the center. Then he turned on the lamp and squinted against the concentrated light before bending close and opening the catch.

There it was. the most beautiful thing in the universe. In pink distortion his reflection stretched along its side. and the high-intensity lamp was a tiny dazzle at its left edge. His eyes feasted on its consummate symmetries for minutes until the timer rang in his kitchen. announcing his meal was ready.

Unwillingly he broke the spell. closed the case and extinguished the light. He tucked the case out of sight under some loose papers and went to eat.

Despite the music. his flat seemed oppressively quiet. He wondered if he really wanted to stay home for the evening. alone with his shining prize. or to go out on the town. There ought to be other people around for a celebration, even if they didn’t know what he was celebrating. He could 90 to some bar where he wouldn’t be known, and find a Quiet back booth where he could take his trophy out again and look at it. He’d like to have Sirrocco along to share it with her. but he wouldn’t dare let her know about it. It simply wouldn’t be right to involve her in something like this —which was. after all.

technically illegal. and could get him a whole lot of trouble if it was discovered.

He thought about this while he opened a can of dessert and decided it seemed perfectly reasonable. He caught a bus at the foot of the hill about 9:30. after freshening up and changing clothes; the precious case now nestled lightly in his shirt pocket. under sweater and coat. next to his heart.

He changed to another bus a few minutes later and rode east towards the bright lights. He wasn’t familiar with much of the north side of tOW11 except for Fisherman’s Wharf. and the area beybnd Chinatown was terra incognit,Qto him.

He got off at an intersection with an appropriate number of flashing lights and went at random into a place called Dinky’s. .

It was noisy and crowded. and the lights were dim. He took a booth and ordered two drinks. but there was no chance of privacy and he didn’t quite dare bring the case out of his pocket. He caressed its slick smoothness with the fingertips of his left hand after shifting it surreptitiously to a side pocket, and pictured the precious rod within.

Nobody had gotten off the bus with him, but he suddenly had the feeling he was being watched. He’d been there half an hour and hadn’t noticed anybody eyeing him consistently —but then he hadn’t-been thinking about it. He looked around covertly.