"I could see that. Someday I would like to hear about it. Any chance you will go to Québec?"

"An excellent chance if Georges decides to leave."

"I thought so." She offered me more money. "I don't keep Qfrancs in the house, much. But here is what I have."

At that point the men came in. I glanced at my finger, then at the wall. "Forty-seven minutes since I killed him so he has been out of touch with his headquarters one hour, more or less. Georges, I am about to attempt to pilot that police APV; I have the key right here. Unless you are coming with me and will pilot. Are you coming? Or are you going to stay and wait for the next attempt to arrest you? Either way, I am leaving now."

Janet said suddenly, "Let's all leave!"

I grinned at her. "Swell!"

Ian said, "You really want to do that, Jan?"

"I-" She stopped and looked frustrated. "I can't. Mama Cat and her kittens. Black Beauty and Demon and Star and Red. We could close this house, certainly; it winterproofs on only one household Shipstone. But it would take at least a day or two to make arrangements for the rest of our family. Even one pig! I can't just walk out on them. I can't."

There wasn't anything to say, so I didn't. The coldest depth of Hell is reserved for people who abandon kittens. Boss says that I am stupidly sentimental and I'm sure he is right.

We went outside. It was just beginning to get dark and I suddenly realized that I had entered this household less than a day earlier-it seemed like a month. Goodness, just twenty-four hours ago I had still been in New Zealand-which seemed preposterous.

The police car was sitting on Jan's vegetable garden, which caused her to use language I did not expect from her. It had the usual squatty oyster shape of an antigrav not intended for space and was about the size of our family farm wagon in South Island. No, that did not make me triste; Jan and her men-and Betty and Freddie-had replaced the Davidson Group in my heart--donna e mobile; that's me. Now I wanted very badly to get back to Boss. Father figure? Probably-but I'm not interested in shrink theories.

Ian said, "Let me look at this bucket before you lift it. You babes in the wood could get hurt." He opened the lid, got in. Presently he got out again. "You can float it if you decide to. But hear me. It's got an identification transponder. It almost certainly has an active beacon, too, although I can't find it. Its Shipstone is down to thirtyone percent, so, if you are thinking of Québec, forget it. It will seal but you can't maintain cabin pressure above twelve thousand meters. But, worst of all, its terminal is calling Lieutenant Dickey."

"So we ignore it!"

"Of course, Georges. But, as a result of the Ortega trials last year, they've been installing remote-control destruction packs in police cars. I searched for signs of one. Had I found it, I would have disarmed it. I did not find it. That does not mean that it isn't there."

I shrugged. "Ian, necessary risks never bother me. I try to avoid the other sort. But we still have to get rid of this heap of tin. Fly it somewhere. Leave it."

Ian said, "Not so fast, Marj. Go-buggies are my business. This one- Yes! It's got the standard military AG autopilot. So we'll send it for a ride. Where? East, maybe? It would crash before it reaches Québec... and that could cause them to assume that you are headed home, Georges-while you are safe in the Hole."

"I do not care, Ian. I shall not hide in the Hole. I agreed to leave because Marjorie needs someone to care for her."

"More likely she'll take care of you. You saw how she polished off Soapy."

"Agreed. But I did not say 'take care of'-I said that she needs someone to care for her."

"Same thing."

"I will not argue it. Shall we make it march?"

I chopped that off by saying, "Ian, is there enough power in its Shipstone to take it south to the Imperium?"

"Yes. But it's not safe for you to float it."

"Didn't mean that. Set it on course south and maximum altitude. Maybe your border guard will burn it down, maybe the Imperium will. Or maybe it will get through but be blown by remote. Or it might just run out of juice and crash from maximum altitude. No matter which, we are free of it."

"Done." Ian jumped back in, was busy at the board, the craft started to float-he dived out, dropping three or four meters. I gave him a hand. "You all right?"

"Just fine. Look at her go!" The police car was rapidly disappearing above us while slanting south. Suddenly it broke out of the gathering dusk into the last of the sunlight and was very bright. It dwindled and was gone.

XIV

We were back in the kitchen, half an eye on the terminal, our attention on each other and on highballs Ian had served, discussing what if anything to do now. Ian was saying,

"Marj, if you will just sit tight this silly season will be over and you can then go home comfortably. If there is another flap, you can dive down the Hole. At worst you have to stay indoors. Meanwhile Georges can paint nudes of you, as Betty ordered. Okay, Georges?"

"That would be most pleasing."

"Well, Marj?"

"Ian, if I tell my boss that I couldn't come back when I was supposed to because a twenty-five-hundred kilometer stretch of border was nominally closed he simply would not believe me." (Tell them that I am a trained courier? No need to. Or not yet.)

"What are you going to do?"

"I think I have been enough trouble to you folks." (Ian dear, I think you are still in shock from seeing a man killed in your living room. Even though you straightened up afterward and behaved like a pro.) "I now know where your back door is. When you get up tomorrow morning it is possible that I won't be here. Then you can forget a disturbance in your life."

"No!"

"Jan, once this mess is over, I will call you. Then, if you want me to, I'll come back to visit just as soon as I have some vacation time. But now I must leave and get back to work. I've said so all along."

Janet simply would not hear of my setting out alone to crack the border (whereas I needed someone with me the way a snake needs shoes). But she did have a plan.

She pointed out that Georges and I could travel on their passports-I was her size, near enough, and Georges matched Ian in size and weight. Our faces did not match but the differences weren't major-and who really looks at passport pictures anyhow?

"You could use them and mail them back... but that may not be the easiest way. You could go to Vancouver, then cross into the California Confederacy simply on tourists' cards-but as us. You can go all the way to Vancouver on our credit cards. Once across the border into California you are almost certainly home free- Marj, your credit card should be good, you shouldn't have trouble phoning your employer, and the cops won't be trying to intern either one of you. Is that any help?"

"Yes," I agreed. "I think the tourist-card dodge is safer than trying to use your passports-safer for everyone. If I reach a place where my credit card is valid, my troubles should be over." (I would draw cash at once and never again let myself be caught away from home without plenty of cash-money greases anything. Especially in California, a place loaded with scams, whereas in British Canada officials are sometimes disconcertingly honest.)

I added, "I can't possibly be worse off in Bellingham than I am here-then I've got all the way down to the Lone Star Republic to try to cross if there is any holdup. Has there been any word on Texas and Chicago? Are they on speaking terms?"

"Okay so far as I've seen in the news," Ian answered. "Shall I key the computer for a search?"

"Yes, before I leave please do. If I had to, I could go through Texas to Vicksburg. One can always go up the river for cash because smugglers run so steadily."