James Axler – Stoneface

Mildred smiled. “Unless they packed them up part by part and assembled them later.”

“What we really need is a map of the layout of this place. We could wander around in here for more than the twenty-four hours Hellstrom gave us.”

Because he was speaking in a whisper, he failed to hear the first footfall settle in front of him, but he grabbed Mildred by the arm before the second one had fallen. They crouched behind a table and watched a man, dressed similarly to Bob, sauntering between the aisle of artifacts. He was walking directly toward them.

The man passed them without a glance. Ryan realized be was heading toward the chamber inside Lincoln’s head. After a warning glance to Mildred, he crawled among the tables, the wags and the furniture. He couldn’t allow Bob to be discovered.

Dodging between the antiquities, Ryan managed to reach a point to the left and well ahead of the tunnel entrance. The man walked purposefully past. Ryan glided behind him, his left arm crooking around his throat. The man uttered a small gagging sound of shock as he was dragged behind a large bright red vehicle.

The man struggled for breath and clawed at his attacker’s arm. Ryan kicked his legs out from under him, and he fell heavily, banging the side of his head on the vehicle’s gleaming bumper. A small cut was opened in the pale flesh. He put a hand to it and stared as Ryan showed him the SIG-Sauer. He was middle-aged and slight of frame, with tiny eyes surrounded by puffy pouches of wrinkled skin.

The man made a choking sound of rage. “Are you insane? Are you a fool? Get out of here!”

Like Bob, this man showed no fear, only surprise and contempt. Curious, Ryan pushed his hand away from the cut in his temple. It was superficial and bleeding only slightly, but the blood oozed sluggishly. The color wasn’t a deep red, it was more of a dark pink, with a crimson tinge. He wore a badge like Bob’s, which identified him as DOUG.

Grabbing the man’s tie, Ryan hauled him to his feet, put him in front of the gun and marched him back to Mildred. He gave her a look as though he were regarding a pile of excrement on a breakfast table.

“You’re from Helskel,” Doug said in a voice sibilant with spite. “Undisciplined maniacs, aren’t you?”

The remark irritated Mildred. She drew her ZKR and pressed the muzzle against his forehead. “Not exactly. In Helskel, murder is indiscriminate and meaningless. I have a method. You don’t talk, you die.”

“From my view strata,” Doug replied, “your methodology of data synthesizing is reactive, rather than proactive. You’ve assumed a posture which is simplistic and adversarial, rather than cooperative, inasmuch as your rationale for trespassing on restricted property is based on an insufficient grasp of the legalities involved and the disposition thereof.”

“What the hell did he say?” Ryan demanded.

Mildred smiled sardonically. “Used to be called new-speak. Authentic corporate jargon. One of the few things I don’t miss about the predark days.”

Pressing harder with the bore of her pistol, Mildred said, “What you just spouted was bullshit a hundred years ago and it’s bullshit now. In simple, unadorned language, I want you to tell us the layout of this place.”

By threatening and poking and prodding with their guns in more delicate portions of the man’s anatomy, he finally agreed to take them to a map. They marched him ahead of their blasters toward the nearest wall. With a grin, Mildred whispered, “I guess not every one of Doug’s organs is prosthetic.”

Doug walked over to one of the walls. He stood and looked at it, saying, “Complex display.”

Suddenly a three-by-three-foot square came alive with countless lines and dots of many colors. One of the dots was throbbing. Pointing to it, Doug said, “That represents my current position, indicated by the locater lozenge on my badge. Since I was the one who activated the display, the computer shows my position first.”

Fixing their position in the confusing webwork of colors and intersection points and angles, Ryan and Mildred saw that the central core of the Anthill was indicated by a large pattern of blue lines and several big green dots.