‘Well, if they can’t handle it we might as well surrender now. I haven’t got anybody more qualified on hand at the moment.’
‘I think Jules d’Alembert could handle anything,’ Helena said quietly from her corner, but her remark went unnoticed by the two men.
‘I think I may have been a little too supervisorial on this matter before,’ the Head continued. ‘Having the boss constantly peering over his shoulder tends to distract an agent and discourage initiative. I’ve given them this job and their father’s given them their training; the rest is up to them. Besides,’ he added significantly, ‘while Ithink I’ve weeded all the traitors out of the office here, I don’t know for sure. Too much contact with them might break their cover.’
‘A good point,’ the older man nodded.
‘I would hazard a guess that they have some particular suspect or suspects in mind who would be likely to take an interest in body building. This, you will note, implies that they have reached the stage where they can narrow their attention to individuals … I don’t know who they have in mind, but I consider it a hopeful sign.’
‘But staying so far away from Durward…’
‘May be the best thing they can do. So many good agents have already died there that it might just be a trap. Anyway, as long as the d’Alemberts are working on this case I’ll give them anything they want, no questions asked.’
‘That’s only right, especially since they want so little from us. I still find it hard to believe that they don’t ask us for expenses. I know the Circus’ taxes are rebated, but surely they spend more than that on Empire business.’
‘My guess is, they don’t. The Velasquez couple is a large outlay, certainly, but they frequently counter it with cheaper disguises. And the Circus is so successful that its taxes are ridiculously high. The Duke won’t tell me how high, of course – he’s a funny man that way. I asked him once if we didn’t owe him some money, and he told me if I wanted to count kopeks I should get myself a job in a grocery store.’
The old man laughed. That sounds just like him, all right. But DesPlaines is a rich planet, you know, and Etienne d’Alembert is a tremendously able man – as well as being one of my best friends. Well, I’d better leave you to your work now. I like talking to you when I’m feeling low, Zan; you give me a lift.’ He raised his nearly-empty glass and gave the Service salute: ‘Tomorrow, fellow and friend. May we all live to see it.’
And, when they finished drinking the toast, His Imperial Majesty William Stanley, Tenth Emperor of the Empire of Earth and all human domains, rose to his feet and walked majestically out of the room.
Helena grinned up at her father. ‘You didn’t exactly lie, I know; but if he knew as much as we do I bet he wouldn’t feel so uplifted.’
‘He has troubles enough of his own without having to worry about ours- or about the loyalty of his own grand dukes. Besides, we don’t know yet who’s behind it. It could be someone outside their five suspects, just as easily as not.’
‘Do you really think so?’
The Head turned away. ‘I don’t know. I’ve known each of them for years. That’s another reason why I want to stay out of the d’Alemberts’ way; I don’t want my personal feelings to influence the case.’
The girl got up from her chair, walked across the room and began massaging the back of her father’s neck tenderly. ‘if we had even a good suspicion, he’d get a shot of nitrobarb,’ she said. ‘But all we’ve got on paper is a suspicious flow of cash into some places where it shouldn’t be. That’s not enough evidence to convict a cockroach, let alone a grand duke before the High Court of Justice. But how under the sun and moon and eleven circumpolar stars can this glorified gymnasium help solve the puzzle?’
‘I haven’t even the most tenuous idea, my dear and just between us two, I’m as curious about it as you are.’
A ten-story gravity-controlled building in the Mytishchi district of the sprawling urban complex that was modern Moscow had been remodeled from top to bottom. All the work had been done by the high-grav personnel who now occupied the building. The facade; now three stories high with marble statues of Atlas serving as pillars on either side of the immense doors, was topped by a triple-tube brilliant sign that flared its red light into the open air
DANGER -THREE GRAVITIES – DANGER
On each side of those monstrous portals, in small, severely plain obsidian letters on a silver background, a plaque read ducos
The pre-publicity campaign for this health spa had been as successful as it was subtle. For weeks before the opening, the rumor had spread softly through the upper strata of the court that this House of Strength would cater only to the topmost flakes of the upper crust – and that was precisely what it did. Applicants, even from the nobility, were turned down by the scores. Its first clients – and for a week its only clients – were the extremely powerful Count of Moskva, his Countess and their two gangling teenage daughters. Since this display of ultra-snobbishness appealed very strongly to the ultra-snobbishness of the high nobility of the Capital of Empire, ‘ducos’ raised snobbery to heights seldom attained anywhere in history.
After the first week, pressures became very great, and the House of Strength of Body and of Heart ‘relaxed’ its standards the merest bit and admitted two grand dukes and their families neither of whom were suspected of participating in the Banion matter in any way. The fees charged for these personal services were literally astronomical, but none of the customers complained; they were really getting their money’s worth, though they would hardly have guessed that the man working on improving their bodies was actually the best male athlete in the Empire.
The d’Alemberts had decided between them that Yvette should stay pretty much out of sight this time around. The opposition would be on the lookout for a team of Des Plainians; if Jules appeared to be alone, it would allay any suspicions they might have about him. So the distaff member of the pair had once more gone into disguise – one of the more difficult she’d ever done, for it is hard on anyone – particularly a young, attractive person like Yvette – to intentionally make herself less attractive than she really was. Yet that was what she had done. She added lines to her face and padded her cheeks out to make herself appear twenty years older. Her clothes, while chic, were more matronly in fashion and gave her a slightly dowdy appearance. She wore her hair in an unbecoming bun and became Gospozha Henrietta Berger, the middle-aged appointments secretary and assistant to ducos.
One night in the middle of the third week of operations, Jules came out to his sister’s desk after the rest of the staff had gone home. ’How’re you doing, sis?’
‘I’m being bored out of my skull,’ she replied. ‘Of all the deadly situations I’ve ever been in, the worst is being ennuied to death. Give me an army of angry mobsters with blazing blasters, any time; this desk jockeying’ll put me in an early grave. Any luck with the case?’
‘A few bites here and there, but nothing solid. But the more I think about it, the more likely Sector Twenty looks to me.’
‘In that case, let me clue you in on something I’ve been mulling over for a few days. I wasn’t going to mention it until I could thicken it up a bit, but since you brought the subject up, how does this sound? You know that Duchess of Swingleton, the snooty little jamtart who’s supposed to be the daughter of Grand Duchess Olga of Sector Twenty?’
Jules raised an eyebrow. ’Supposed to be?’
‘Well, is then,’ Yvette laughed. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have put it quite that way, but I’ve gotten so used to sneering at nobility these last few weeks that it comes out naturally now – in my own inimitable ladylike fashion, of course.’
‘I wouldn’t put that “quite that way”, either. If it were me on the receiving end of that sneer I’d use my fist on you as a dental drill.’
‘Duchess Tanya certainly would like to, if she dared. I’ve been giving her the royal snoot all along, and she’s burning like a torch. Her mother takes the whole thing in stride, but little Tanya is acting as though our snubbing her were a royal affront.’
‘You and I have both known a lot of spoiled little noble brats who act that way at the drop of a hat.’