“No. Not now. Let’s get out of this place for a few hours. Are you hungry?”
“Starved.”
They fought several more duels over the next day and a halfHector won three of them. It was late afternoon when Leoh called a halt.
“We can get in another couple,” the Watchman said.
“No need,” said Leoh. “I have all the data I require. Tomorrow Massan meets Odal, unless we can put a stop to it. We’ve got much to do before tomorrow morning.”
Hector sagged into the couch. “Just as well. I think I’ve aged seven years in the past seven days.”
“No, my boy,” Leoh said gently, “you haven’t aged. You’ve matured.”
It was deep twilight when the ground car slid to a alt on its cushion of compressed air before the Kerak embassy.
“I still think it’s a mistake to go in there,” Hector said. “I mean, you could’ve called him on the tri-di. couldn’t you?”
Leoh shook his head, “Never give an agency of any government the opportunity to say, ‘Hold the line a moment.’ They huddle together and consider what to do with you. Nineteen times out of twenty, they’ll end by passing you to another department or transferring your call to a taped, ‘So sorry,’ message.”
“Still,” Hector insisted, “you’re sort of, well, stepping into enemy territory.”
‘They wouldn’t dare harm us.”
Hector didn’t reply, but he looked unconvinced-
“Look,” Leoh said, “there are only two men alive who can shed light on this matter. One of them is Dulaq, and his mind is closed to us for an indefinite time. Odal is the only other man who knows what happened in those duels.”