V

Solo moved the spirits of ammonia under Barbry's nose.

"No." She sat up protesting, pushing the small bottle away from her nostrils.

"You all right?"

A slight shudder coursed through her at the sound of Solo's voice. Obviously, it brought back abruptly the reason why she had fainted.

"How did I get here?" She opened her eyes, staring about her in alarm.

"There's nothing to be afraid of—"

"Let me decide that." Her voice quavered.

"You're all right, Barbry. You fainted in the restaurant. I didn't want to attract too much attention to us, so a waiter and I walked you out to a taxi, and I brought you here."

She met his gaze. "Yes. You brought me here. Where am I?"

"You're all right. You're in my room at the St. Francis Hotel."

"You're a sneaky worker, aren't you?"

Solo smiled wryly. "Under other circumstances I'd most definitely be using all my wiles on you, Barbry. But right now I'm trying to help you, whether you believe me or not."

"Right now I'm not so sure."

He grinned at her. "I had coffee sent up. You'll feel a lot better." He poured a cup from the glittering silver service.

She took the small china cup, sipping at it, relaxing slightly.

"Why did you bring me here, Solo?"

"What would you do with a woman who fainted in a public place?" He sipped at a cup of coffee. The steam rose between them. "I promised to protect you. I can do it better when you're where I can watch you."

"That's all off, Solo."

He set his cup down, watching her narrowly. "What are you talking about?"

"The agreement you and I made. I meant to keep it. But you've already broken your part of it."

He frowned. "Do you mind explaining that?"

"It's simple enough. I told you I was scared half out of my mind. You said that if I'd tell you what I knew of Ursula and the time she worked as a spy with Thrush, you'd try to help me stay alive."

"And I do promise that."

"No. You said talk. But the next thing you wanted was to use me as bait to lure a man into your trap. He's a man I'm more afraid of than I am of the devil. Talking about him is one thing. Putting myself where I know he can get at me—I don't want any part of that. I mean it, Solo. I'm dead afraid—and I'm not going to get involved."

"You are involved."

"Am I? Then I'm not going to get involved any deeper."

He stood up. He looked down at her. 1 don't blame you for being afraid. I wouldn't think much of you if you didn't have sense enough to be scared—"

"Oh, I've got a lot of sense! I'm scared to death. Sorry, Solo, flattery won't do it, either."

He smiled, "All right. But maybe the truth will, and the unvarnished truth is, Barbry, you are involved. I assure you that you are. If only because you were approached by Thrush—that means they know about you. Whatever it is they plan to do now, they may be afraid to trust you. You said for some reason they turned you down, but you didn't tell me what it was."

He saw a shadow flicker across her dark eyes. She drew a deep breath. "I don't want to talk about it—the reason."

"Why?"

"Because it doesn't have anything to do with this."

He shrugged. "That's up to you, Barbry. Everything you tell me to help me may aid in saving your life. But what you want to tell me, and don't want to tell me, that's up to you… But there are more reasons why you're in danger from Thrush. You wrote Ursula a letter—and even if it was in a hip jargon only the two of you would understand, it would be enough to make Thrush suspicious of you. And the very fact that you stayed with Ursula for some weeks after she started working for Thrush may mean that you—even unwittingly—met or heard from Ursula about a man that we know only by his code name—Tixe Ylno. You may have seen him, or you may know him well enough for your life to be forfeit because he'll be afraid to let you live at this critical time in his plans."

"You know how to break a gal up, don't you?"

"It's the truth doing that, Barbry. I'm not telling you anything you haven't already told yourself these past months."

After a moment she shook her head. "No. I guess not."

"And then there's the matter of this Chinese-Ameri-who approached you and Ursula in the first place. For all we know he may be Tixe Ylno. No matter who he is, he's part of this immediate business they're enmeshed in—and they don't want people like you around spoiling it for them. He loves secrecy. He even had himself declared dead in a plane crash two years ago in order to make all this easier for him. You think he's going to let a doll he was afraid to trust as a spy stay alive long enough to trip him up? I can tell you he won't. The stakes are too high."

She shuddered, covering her face with her hands. Her body shook. Solo saw that she was numbed with fear.

"We've got to stop him, Barbry. You understand? The only way we can do that is—"

The telephone rang, breaking across his words, stopping him cold. He glanced toward the instrument, frowning.

He reached out, lifted the receiver and placed it against his ear. "Solo speaking."

The voice was that of a woman: the words were in the code of his department in the United Network Command. There was no doubting their authenticity or their meaning.

"Acknowledge," he said.

"Do you understand clearly?" the voice inquired.

"Yes. Thank you." The phone went dead in his hand.

He turned, finding Barbry Coast crouching on his bed, watching him, her eyes stark, wide.

"I must go out," he said. "At once. Will you wait here for me?"

Her voice was flat. "You think they won't find me here?"

"You'll be safe here, as long as you follow my orders."

"Safe when used as directed," she said in a dulled tone that was devoid of hope.

"Just stay in here. Keep the door locked, the latch on. When I come back, I'll knock three times. Before you unlock the door, ask my name. Don't unlatch or unlock that door for any reason, unless you hear three knocks first and then hear my voice."

She nodded and sank down on the bed. He glanced at her, seeing she had no hope. She wanted to trust him, but she knew too much about Thrush, and she no longer trusted anything.

VI

Solo walked into Forbidden City just off Grant Avenue. The shops around it and the cafe itself seemed pervaded with oriental incense. One never escaped the Startled little bite of shock at finding a place like this, even in a city like San Francisco. The patrons, the murals, the waitresses, the waiters, the tables and chairs seemed unreal, as if they did not even exist outside this world inside itself.

A man in Mandarin dress came forward and bowed. "Ah, Mr. Solo. Good evening, Mr. Solo."

Solo bowed, giving him a faint smile because he knew neither of them had ever encountered the other before.

"Will you be kind enough to come this way with me, Mr. Solo?"

Solo followed him through the tables toward the rear of the cafe. They went along a short, dimly lit corridor and the Chinaman rapped on the door facing.

Alexander Waverly looked up from the head of the table when Solo was ushered into the red-upholstered room. Waverly seemed entirely at ease, though Solo knew that less than five hours ago he'd been at headquarters on New York's east side, or at home in bed. Nothing ever appeared to ruffle his exterior calm. Solo supposed a man got like this when he had been down all roads, seen everything at least twice.