night. A cursory examination of his rumpled clothes and
withered shirt collar was proof of that. He grasped my arm,
digging his fingers in until it hurt, and steered me across the
corridor to an unused office, pushed me inside, followed,
and closed the door behind us.
“Cloak and dagger?” I asked. It was amusing to see him
engaged in some melodramatic play like this. Yet also
terrifying. If Harry Kelly thought there was a need for
caution, there most assuredly was. Normally, he had the
greatest respect and confidence in due process, even in these
days. Many considered him a Polyanna. Now Polyanna was
scared, and nothing short of an ogre could have managed
that.
“Look, Sim, lay off the arrogance with Morsfagen. Say
yes sir and no sir and thank you sir, and help me get his
temper down. No smart cracks and no more antagonism.
I haven’t ever asked you much, but I ask this. Listen, son,
it might mean everything we’ve worked for if you can’t
keep yourself in check.”
“I can’t stand the man,” I said.
“Neither can I.”
“What’s happening?”
“The situation is worse than any public communications
are reporting it. The Chinese and their Japanese advisors
have set up a command post on the Russian side of the
Amur River. Only maybe a hundred yards’ worth of inva-
sion, but they refuse to move backwards on request. On
the Chinese side, troops have been massing for four days.
A special spurline was laid down, and troop trains are
running in on the hour from the main tracks that pass east
of Nunkiang, through the Khingan Mountains.”
I took it all in. I’d never been much on geography, and
I must have looked rather blank, for he flapped his arms
in despair and started on me again.
“On the other side of the border there, the Russian
towns Zavitaya, Belogorsk, Svobodnyy, and Shimanovsk
lie in a straight line, each within striking distance of the
other. Zavitaya contains a missile complex trained on
several Chinese population centers. Belogorsk is the site of
an extension of the Khabarovsk laboratories, dealing with
the problem of lasers. It’s the place where the news has
been coming from lately—about the possibility of the
equivalent of a death-ray. The entire area has become, in
the last ten years, a strategic one. If the Chinese can
sweep it, they can isolate that arm of the Soviet Union.
Toward this end, portable nuke facilities have been moved
in on the Amur, pointed toward Zavitaya.”
“War,” I said. “But we’ve had it before. And we’ve
been expecting it now for fourteen years or more. Why
does this mean I have to brown-nose Morsfagen?”
“I received an interesting telephone call from a judge
who was a friend in law school, back in the age of the
dinosaur. He reported that Morsfagen has been asking
around about the possibility of impounding you—just like
they tried years ago.”
“We already won that case.”
“That was in peacetime. What Morsfagen wants to
know is whether the looming war will make a difference.”
“Law is law,” I said.
“But in time of national crisis, it can be suspended.
And the word that the general got, my friend tells me, is
that he can pull it off. It will be nasty, dirty, replete with
complications—but possible. He’d much rather work with
you the way it now stands. But if you drive him to the wall
or anger him more than his limit of tolerance, he might
decide that its worth a risk to his career. He might try it.”
I didn’t feel well. I wanted to sit down, but that would
have been a sign of weakness. I knew Harry was just
barely holding up now. There wasn’t any use to make it
worse for him. “What’s your considered opinion?” I asked.
“The same. Only I think it’s more possible for him to
succeed than even his own advisors told him.”
I nodded. “We’ll play it cool, Harry. We’ll play it so
cool that there will be icicles hanging from the walls. Let’s
go.”
He breathed a sigh of relief and followed me out of the
empty office, down the hall, through the door, and into