There was nothing to be afraid of here, he told himself, this illogical but horribly real dread was a sickness, unworthy of a warrior. He stepped across the threshold. A momentary dizziness, a flash of terrifying insecurity and he collapsed.
His squad, close at his heels, had no more warning.
Ardmore came trotting out of concealment. “Nice work, Jeff,” he called out, “you should be on the stage!”
The old priest relaxed. “Thanks, Chief. What happens next?”
“We’ll have time to figure that out.” He turned toward the altar and shouted, “Scheer!”
“Yes, sir!”
“Turn off the fourteen-cycle note!” He added to Thomas, “Those damned subsonics give me the creeping horrors even when I know what’s going on.
I wonder what effect it had on our pal here?”
“He was cracking up, I believe. I never thought he’d make it to the doorway.”
“I don’t blame him. It made me want to howl like a dog, and I ordered it turned on. There’s nothing like the fear of something you can’t understand to break a man down. Well, we got a bear by the tail. Now to figure out a way to turn loose — ”
“How about him?” Thomas jerked his head toward the mountaineer, who still stood near the head of the great flight of steps.
“Oh, yes.” Ardmore whistled at him and shouted, “Hey you — come here!”
The man hesitated, and Ardmore added, “Damn it — we’re white men! Can’t you see that?”
The man answered, “I see it, but I don’t like it.” Nevertheless he slowly approached.
Ardmore said, “This is a piece of razzle-dazzle for the benefit of our yellow brethren. Now that you’re in it, you’re in it! Are you game?”
The other members of the personnel of the Citadel had gathered around by this time. The mountain guide glanced around at their faces. “It doesn’t look as if I had much choice.”
“Maybe not, but we would rather have a volunteer than a prisoner.”
The mountaineer shifted tobacco from left cheek to right, glanced around the immaculate pavement for a place to spit, decided not to, and answered. “What’s the game?”
“It’s a frame-up on our Asiatic bosses. We plan to give them the run-around-with the help of God and the great Lord Mota.”
The guide looked them over again, then suddenly stuck out his hand and said, “I’m in.”
“Fine,” agreed Ardmore, taking his hand. “What’s your name?”
“Howe. Alexander Hamilton Howe. Friends call me Alec.”
“O.K., Alec. Now what can you do? Can you cook?” he added.
“Some. ”
“Good.” He turned away. “Graham, he’s your man for now. I’ll talk with him later. Now — Jeff, did it seem to you that one of those monkeys went down a little slowly?”
“Maybe. Why?”
“This one; wasn’t it?” He touched one of the quiet, sprawled figures with his shoe.
“I think so.”
“All right, I want to check up on him before we bring them to. If he’s a Mongolian he should have keeled over quicker. Dr. Brooks, will you give this laddie’s reflexes a work-out? And don’t be too gentle about it.”
Brooks managed to produce some jerks in short order. Seeing this,
Ardmore reached down and set his thumb firmly on the exposed nerve under the ear. The soldier came to his knees, writhing. “All right, bud — explain yourself.” The soldier stared impassively. Ardmore studied his face for a moment, then made a quick gesture, which was protected from the gaze of the others by his body.
“Why didn’t you say so?” asked the PanAsian soldier.
“I must say it’s a good make-up job,” commented Ardmore admiringly.
“What’s your name and rank?”
“Tattoo and plastic surgery,” the other returned. “Name’s Downer, captain, United States army.”
“Mine’s Ardmore. Major Ardmore.”
“Glad to know you, Major.” They shook hands. “Very glad, I should say.
I’ve been hanging on for months, wondering who to report to and how.”
“Well, we can certainly use you. It’s a scratch organization. I’ve got to get busy now — we’ll talk later.” He turned away. “Places, gentlemen. Second act. Check each other’s make-up. Wilkie, see to it that Howe and Downer are out of sight. We are going to bring our drowsy guests back to consciousness.”