Hector shook his head skeptically. Leoh shrugged, and opened the door of the ground car. Hector had no choice but to get out and follow him as he walked up the pathway to the main entrance of the embassy building. The building stood gaunt and gray in the dusk, surrounded by a precisely clipped hedge. The entrance was flanked by a pair of evergreen trees, straight and spare as sentries.
Leoh and Hector were met just inside the entrance by a female receptionist. She looked just a trifle disheveled, as though she’d been rushed to her desk at a moment’s notice. They asked for Odal, were ushered into a sitting room, and within a few minutes—to Hector’s surprise—were informed by the girl that Major Odal would be with them shortly.
“You see,” Leoh pointed out jovially, “when you come n person they haven’t as much of a chance to considei how to get rid of you.”
Hector glanced around the windowless room and contemplated the thick, solidly closed door. ‘There’s a lot of scurrying going on behind that door, 1*11 bet. I mean … they might be figuring out how to get rid of us … uh, permanently.”
Leoh was about to reply when the door opened and Odal came into the room. He wore a military uniform of light blue, with his insignia of rank on the shoulders and the Star of Kerak on his breast.
“Dr. Leoh, I’m flattered,” he said with a slight bow. “And Mr. Hector … or is it Lieutenant Hector?”
“Junior Lieutenant Hector,” the Watchman answered, with a curtness that surprised Leoh.
“Lieutenant Hector is assisting me,” the Professor said, “and acting as liaison for Commander Spencer.”