Packer stared back blankly. The chief's frown had deepened to a formidable scowl. He guessed the tall policeman could eat his weight in wildcats, and decided not to play any games.

"You talked to Williams?"

"I talked to him. It was like talking to a clam. He's scared of something and he won't open up and let it out. I thought I might see if you could enlighten me."

"I'll try," said Packer and began telling him about what he knew of Spence and Adjani's disappearance-which was not much because he had only heard the same rumors as everyone else.

"Yes," said Ramm. "I've got a couple of men working on that one. Nothing much has turned up so far."

"That's why I went to Kalnikov. Reston and Rajwandhi are friends of mine; Adjani's on my staff. I couldn't believe the rumors about them, and I wanted to find out what happened. I figured Kalnikov was the one person who might know."

"Would it surprise you if I told you that it was my order that Kalnikov receive no visitors?"

"It was?"

"It was. He was an eyewitness and I didn't want anyone talking to him before I could. When you turned up in bed next to him, I figured you were mixed up in it. Either you knew a lot more than you were telling, or you had stumbled into something innocently. I didn't know which, but it gave me a chance to go back and talk to Williams again."

"Well?"

"You tell me. I can't make heads or tails of this. All I know is that it doesn't take fifteen hours for a man to recover from a taser jolt. Usually only a few minutes. Williams claims the taser dartstruck Kalnikov in the spine and pierced the spinal column, grazing the spinal cord. He says Kalnikov may be paralyzed."

"He's not paralyzed-he's sedated."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. Kalnikov told me himself. Rather, I got him to tell me-he can't talk, so we used an answer code. I found out that Kalnikov was trying to help Reston and Rajwandhi escape-from what, I don't know.

"He wasn't injured by the taser. You're right there. He thinks he was pumped full of sedative and muscle relaxant to keep him quiet. That's all I could get from him before I was interrupted."

"Hmm. Curiouser and curiouser."

"That's all I know, honestly."

"What about this Reston and the other guy. What's with them? Who were they escaping from?"

"I don't know. Kalnikov might. He saw them."

Chief Ramm stood. "I'm inclined to believe you, Packer. I'm going to check this out. I could release you on your own recognizance, but I think you'd better stay here for a while."

Packer moaned. "Oh, no. I was hoping you wouldn't say that."

"Look, it's more for your own protection than anything else. Until we find out what's going on here I don't want to lose any witnesses. You know as much as Kalnikov now. I don't want you to turn up missing."

"They wouldn't do anything to me-" bluffed Packer.

"Don't be too sure. I've got one man sedated and two others flying around in a stolen landing pod and I don't know why. I'm not so sure whoever's behind this would balk at killing off their witnesses if this gets any messier." To Packer's disbelieving look he said, "It happens. So, just sit tight and I'll get you out of here as soon as possible. In the meantime, relax. I'll have some statmags brought in for you to read, and we'll be having dinner in an hour or so. It's on me."

Chief Ramm smiled good-naturedly and went out, leaving Packer to fume in frustration.

"Just one thing, chief," the prisoner called through the faceplate in the door.

"Yeah?"

"Don't you go getting into trouble."

The chief laughed. "Don't worry. It's all in a day's work." "Maybe so, but I have a feeling these guys work mostly at night."

7

… THE HOVERJET DROPPED ONCE more below the scattered cloud cover and Ari saw the ground for the first time in several hours. She viewed a lush green terrain that looked like emerald velvet rolled out in puckered wrinkles. She could see the shining silver threads of rivers winding along the deep gorges. White birds soared over the verdant landscape in vee-formed squadrons. Seeing them from above with the noonday sun gleaming on their wings they looked like strands of diamonds suspended between the blue sky and the green earth, flashing white fire as their wings sliced the misty air.

Ahead and a little to the left of the plane she could see the sharp hills rise to a promontory surrounded on three sides by jungled slopes and by a lake on the fourth. Further ahead, and blue in the hazy distance, the white peaks of mountains rose, creating a jagged line on the horizon as far as she could see.

The hoverjet made a long descent, passing over the promontory with its cluster of villages crowded at the summit and descending in tiers like stairsteps.

Ari felt she recognized the place, though she had never seen it before.

"Daddy, where are we?" she whispered. Her father was not asleep, though he had his eyes closed and his head rested on his chest.

"Hmmm?" He had sunk into black depression and would make only grunting answers to her attempts at conversation. "Could that be India down there? I think it must be."

This brought her father upright in his seat as his eyes snapped open.

"India, did you say?" He leaned across her and peered out the window. "It's hard to tell. It might be anywhere."

"No, that's Darjeeling down there, I know it."

"Could be," he admitted, regarding his daughter carefully.

"What makes you so sure?"

"I just know, that's all. Mother told me about it, described growing up there." Just then, as her mind leaped ahead, it came to her exactly who it was that awaited them at their destination. "Oh, Daddy," she said, gripping his hand. "If we are in India it can only mean one thing. We're going to see the Dream Thief." …

A SHORT WHILE LATER the jet's forward progress slowed and then halted as it dropped to a landing below. The vegetation was so dense and the trees so close-she might have reached out and pulled leaves from their branches-she could not see the ground directly below the plane. They seemed to be landing in the forest some distance east of Darjeeling. How far east she could not tell, but the terrain glimpsed through the tall trees as the jet came down gave the impression of rising into mountains all around.

Then the plane bumped gently down and the engines ceased their droning whine. At the same instant warm, humid air flooded the cabin as the hatch popped open. Ari heard voices from outside speaking in the rapid birdsong of Hindi; this confirmed her suspicion that they were indeed in the land of the Dream Thief.

She blinked as she emerged from the cabin. The sunlight fell hot and bright from directly overhead. The moist air seemed to shimmer in waves before her eyes and the green walls of the broad-leafed forest screeched with the calls of alarmed birds and angry monkeys.

She lifted her eyes to take in her surroundings and saw a scene out of the pages of an archaeological text. Before her rose walls of massive, crumbling stone, black with age and mildew. Further along the wall a large gate stood open and beyond it a narrow tower struck out into the azure, clouded sky. They seemed to have landed in a courtyard of sorts, inside the walls of a castle.

Ari remembered her mother's description of the Dream Thief's palace and knew that she was there. She looked around with eyes filled with wonder. What had been only a dream was real; the buried memory of an unhappy little girl was fact. It had been true all along-not the imaginings of a disturbed and frightened child.

Three men approached wearing military tunics and trousers of linen. Their dark, almost black skins glistened in the sun and their black almond eyes watched the newcomers warily. One of the men wore a holster on his hip. Hocking and the others stood in consultation with the men for a moment and then Tickler came and said, "These men will take you to your quarters."