“You from out of town?” asked one.
“Yes. We hadn’t seen her for quite a while, but we read about the, uhr incident, and since we’re of her nationality and had business in New York anyway—Well, I am sorry. We’d better go, Olga. We’ll see you later, Rosa, when you’re more recovered. Take care.” He and Svoboda patted the limp hands. They left.
A walk around the seventh-floor halls, a quick peek into the ward as they went by, revealed no sign of a trap. If Aliyat didn’t actually wish to leave, with the hazards and pains that meant, she could help herself by spilling the truth and ratting on Hanno. He had gambled on her distrust of authority being too ingrained, after her many centuries, or at least on her having the shrewdness to foresee that confession would close out every other choice.
This entire operation was a gamble. If it failed, and he and Svoboda could not make a getaway— He mustn’t let worry dull his wits and sap his energy.
“Damn,” he said. “No wheelchair. Let’s try the next floor down.”
They got lucky there. Wheelchairs, gurneys, and the like commonly stood unattended in the corridors. He took what he wanted and pushed it briskly to the elevator. A nurse glanced at him, parted her lips, half shrugged and hurried onward. The staff was overworked, underpaid, and doubtless had considerable turnover on that account. Svoboda trailed him at a discreet distance, pretending to look for a room number.
Back on seven, they proceeded to Aliyat’s ward. Speed was now the key to everything. Svoboda entered first. If a nurse or doctor was present, they’d have to continue prowling around, biding their chance. She stepped back to the doorway and beckoned. His heart bumped. He went in past her.
The dingy room held a double row of beds, most occupied. Some patients watched the televisions above either row, some dozed, some were vegetables, a few looked at tiie newcomer, but dully. None questioned him. Hanno hadn’t expected they would. An environment like this was ghastly deadening. Aliyat too had fallen asleep. She blinked her eyes open when he touched her shoulder. Abruptly he did know her again, the ferret alertness that she had dissembled until too late for him, last time around.
He beamed. “All right, Ms. Donau, let’s go for those lab tests, shall we?” be said. She nodded and visibly braced herself. Oh, she knew this would hurt. He kept old sailor skills, such as carrying loads carefully, and while his body wasn’t that of any Hercules, its wiriness had never flagged. He bent his knees, took hold, swung her from bed to chair. Her arms crept about his neck. He felt a brief, roguish flirt of fingers in his hair. He also heard the sharply indrawn breath.
Svoboda had kept aside, and continued to do so while he wheeled Aliyat to the elevator. She took it together with them. Yesterday he and she had found what they wanted on the second floor, minimizing the distance Aliyat must go on her feet. It was another gamble that the hydrotherapy bath would be vacant, but a fairly safe bet at this time of day.
Hanno took Aliyat in, told her in a few words what came next, and left. Somebody else was walking by. Hanno went the opposite way, his expression preoccupied. Svoboda dawdled until she could slip in unobserved, carrying her overnight bag.
Again Hanno took shelter in a men’s room and spent an agreed-on ten minutes by his watch, seated on a toilet and contemplating graffiti. They were uniformly vulgar and semi-literate. I should raise the tone of this joint, he decided. Anything to keep from fretting. He undipped a pen, located a clear space, and printed carefully: “ x n + y” = z° has no integral solution for all n greater than two. I have found a marvelous proof of this theorem, but there is not room in this stall to write it down.”
Time. He left his smock behind and returned to the bath. Svoboda was just emerging; splendid girl. Aliyat leaned on her, no longer in a hospital gown but a dress, stockings, shoes, a lightweight coat that covered the bulges of bandages. Svoboda had kept the bag. Hanno joined them and lent his support. “How’re you doing?” he asked in English.