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been lying to me since we reached Tokyo, and I base that conclusion
chiefly on the fact that nobody I know, most especially you, can bring
off looking as innocent and pure as you're trying to look right this
minute. Anyway, as I was about to say, Hyaku recruited, although
corrupted might be the better word, at least two of his colleagues.
Both of them experts in the same sort of biological weaponry area that
the missing Dr. Chesterton excels in."
Gomez asked, "Do you know where Dr. Hyaku has gotten to?" "All I've
come up with so far is the possibility that he's with Tora in a temple
she's using as her headquarters. The trouble is, in a city like Kyoto
there are something like a thousand temples and shrines, so that
zeroing in on the exact one is going to be difficult."
"Hold it, almita. Tora and the doc are allegedly in Kyoto now?"
"According to my sources, they are, yes." Opening her purse, she
dipped a hand inside. "There is something else, and I'm the first to
admit, even though you accuse me of fancying myself infallible, that
I'm not quite certain what to make of it." She drew out a small,
frayed photograph and handed it across to him. "An informant passed
this on to me. It was taken, at considerable risk, in Kyoto a few
weeks ago."
The picture showed a portion of a laboratory. On a white table in the
foreground lay an incomplete female android. The head and torso were
finished, however, and it was obviously a simulacrum of Tora Hokori.
"This must have been taken in the workshop," speculated Gomez, "where
they turn out their killer androids."
"Yes, but I can't exactly figure out why they would want to fashion a
kamikaze dupe of Tora herself. Unless somehow they were--"
"Christ!" Gomez had noticed the nearly complete male android stretched
out on the table directly behind the one that held the replica of Tora.
"This is a sim of Agent MacQuarrie--one of the government guys assigned
to look after Beth Kittridge."
"Then they must intend to kill her."
"Her or Jaker both of them." He jumped to his feet. "I've got to make
a call right now."
"You're not, please, going to attempt to ditch me once again, are you,
Gomez?"
"I am not," he assured her. "Soon as I get back from the vid phone, I
intend to accompany you to Kyoto with all haste."
Dodging tables and patrons, he sprinted to a phone alcove. He tried
Jake's number at the inn in Kyoto, but got no answer. He settled for
contacting the Senuku Detective Agency and telling an operative there
to find Jake fast. And warn him.
:i34i:
gent MacQuarrie caught up with him a block from the teahouse.
y, Jake. Walt a minute. The government man came pushing through the
tourists and pedestrians on the busy Kyoto sidewalk.
Stopping in front of a multistoried curio supermarket, Jake asked,
"Why aren't you watching Beth?"
"One of my other men is But, Jake, listen. You'd better come along
with me."
"Something wrong?" MacQuarrie put a hand on Jake's shoulder. "We
don't think she's in any danger of dying, but Beth is unconscious
and--" "What happened to her?" The agent gave a sad shake of his head.
"Hell, I don't know exactly," he admitted. "She came back to your
rooms at the inn about a half hour ago and everything seemed fine.
Then, a few minutes later, I heard a crash. I rushed inside to find
her out cold on the floor of the bathroom." "Is it the plague?" "I
don't think so, but we got a doctor in to look after her," said
MacQuarrie. "I think maybe you ought to be with her, unless you're too
busy with your--" "No, I'm not too busy," he answered impatiently. "Is
Beth still at the inn?"
"I told the doctor not to move her until we got back. You can ride
over in my sky car
"Sure, okay. Did she hurt herself in some kind of fall, do you
think?"
"There's no evidence of that, Jake. I really haven't any idea of what
exactly is wrong with Beth," said the agent. "I'm parked just around
the corner."
Jake walked along beside him. "What does the doctor say--how serious
is this?"
"Well, serious enough for me to come and fetch you."
Jake ran across the garden. The afternoon was chill and a thin mist
still hung over the shrubs, miniature trees and colored gravel.
The sliding glass doors stood open; some of the mist had drifted into
the living room.
There was no one in sight.
"Doctor--how is she?" called Jake, hurrying toward the bathroom. For
some reason the door was shut. He yanked it open.
There was a body sprawled on the bright white floor.
But it wasn't Beth.
Lying on his back, his throat cut, was Inspector Hachimitsu.
"What the hell is going on?" Jake took one step back.
Then a sudden and overwhelming pain got hold of his body. It shook him
and he struggled to fight it off. He stiffened, gasping for air. Then
he fell over onto the bloody de adman
Someone had used a stun gun on him.
The fog was much worse.
The living room was thick with it.
The afternoon had grown much colder. Jake found he was shivering as he
sat there on the futon. "Sorry, I didn't catch what you said," he
mumbled apologetically.
Inspector Hachimitsu bowed politely in his direction. "I was asking
how you were feeling, Mr. Cardigan."
Jake winced. "Wait now. Didn't I .. . didn't I find you in the john?
You were dead."
"This is very unfortunate." The police inspector moved closer to him
through the swirling mist. "I had been assured by your superiors that
you were no longer addicted to Tek."
"I'm not a tekkie," insisted Jake. "I never used the stuff once I got
out of the Freezer. Well, once on the first day out but never since
then."
"Once, twice. Like most Tekheads, you've long since lost track of how
many--"
"Your throat was cut. In there. Blood all over."
The Japanese tilted his head back, smiling sadly and tapped at his
neck. "As you can see, Mr. Cardigan, I remain intact and alive."
Jake tried to get up, found he couldn't just yet. His legs hadn't
returned entirely to his control. "Okay, let that pass for now. What
i really want to know is how Beth is."
"I have no idea," replied Hachimitsu. "Do you feel well enough, after
your recent bout with Tek, to--"
"Hey, I don't know exactly what's going on, Inspector. But I am damn
sure I haven't been using any--"
"Oh, so? Then all the paraphernalia beside you on the table belongs to
someone else, does it, Mr. Cardigan?"
Jake hadn't noticed the low black table before, nor what was atop it.
This was Tek gear sure enough. The small black Brainbox, the
electrodes to attach to your skull, a scatter of five cockroach-size
Tek chips. "Somebody's trying to frame me."
"Again?"
"There's no rule says you can only be framed once."
"Please, allow me to ask you what I came to ask you, Mr. Cardigan.
Are you up to identifying someone for me?"
"I suppose so, I don't know. Can't you tell me where Beth is?" "Have
you looked in the bathroom?"
"I already did that. Can you maybe shut the doors and keep some of
this damn fog out of here?"
Tek,"Lord
"The people I want you to identify are waiting out there in the garden.
Are you certain you looked in the bathroom, Mr. Cardigan?"
"Sure, I am. That's where I found you. With your throat cut." J The
inspector smiled sympathetically. "Do you know this person?"
From the fog outside stepped Kate. She was gaunt, hollow cheeked and
wearing a wrinkled, bloodstained hospital gown. "This is really so
typical of you, Jake. Dragging me out of bed to come over here and
help you on this case of yours."
"Kate, I had nothing to do with--"
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