第73节

ctronic ears

tuned to the ground below.

The overflights had begun fifty years ago, but their presence in the

sky had remained undetected by the Iron Masters because of their

operating altitude. Flying five miles above the Surface of the earth,

they were virtually invisible from the ground, and they could not be

heard because their specially designed slim wings enabled them to glide

silently across the width of Ne-Issan from the Appalachians to the

sea.

Once over the water, they turned on their engines to regain the small

amount of height they had lost, then began the return leg, recording

messages from agents, fixing their locations, and transmitting

instructions from AMEXICO.

The next day, Steve's delivery run took him westwards to the place once

known as Springfield - a 140mile round trip that meant spending three

nights away from base. On the way back, he put on an extra spurt on

his way into and out of Awo-seisa, so that he had almost forty-five

minutes in hand when he reached the Heron Pool.

Once again, he was lucky. Cadillac was working in the house and caught

sight of him through the open side-screens as he came up the path. As

before, the Mute greeted him in a friendly but guarded fashion. Steve

decided not to spoil things by mentioning he'd seen Clearwater and had

spent a couple of hours in her bed.

Cadillac led him to the drafting table and they spent a short time

discussing how best to convert the existing model into a two-seater.

Their conversation was interrupted when Cadillac was called away to

sort out some problem in the workshops. Promising to return shortly,

he left Steve alone in the study, suggesting that he make himself

useful by sketching out his ideas for the conversion.

Steve did so, but he also took the opportunity to remove the

radio-knife from its hiding place beneath the lining at the bottom of

his mailbag. Checking the memory store, he found a brief

congratulatory message from Karlstrom acknowledging receipt of his

transmission.

The message also included an offer of assistance and the chilling line:

'DON'T WORRY IF OBLIGED MAINTAIN LONG PERIOD RADIO SILENCE/YOUR

KIN-SISTER ROZ IS HELPING US KEEP TRACK OF YOU/MIKE X-RAY ONE'

Karlstrom's call-sign.

It was a timely reminder that the lives of Roz and his guard-parents

still hung in the balance. And if his kin-sister was still reading him

in moments of stress and high emotion as well as she had done before,

it also meant that the First Family had him by the short hairs.

Steve hurriedly keyed in another message requesting some background

data and scientific formulae he required, selected Auto-Transmit,

wrapped up the knife and hid it at the back of one of the floor storage

units. It was an optimistic move based on the firm belief that he

would soon be working alongside his rival, and also a precautionary

measure. The data would be of no use unless he got to the Heron Pool

and now that he'd made contact, there was no point in risking his neck

by keeping the knife in his possession. AMEXICO knew where he was, and

if they wanted to know what he was up to, all they had to do was ask

Roz.

How much had she told them? The thought that the First Family were

using her to reach into his mind made him feel like a trapped animal.

He cursed his stupidity for letting his own, similar power fall into

disuse. But it was worse than that; he had deliberately suppressed

it.

The ability to 'connect' had been part of their unique togetherness.

But in growing up, he had tried to grow apart from Roz, had tried to

build a wall between them behind which he could plan and scheme in

secret. All he had succeeded in doing was to build a cage that his

mind could not get out of, while hers was still able to slip in through

the bars.

Well done, Brickman. There was a lesson in there somewhere, just as

there was something to be learned from being painted up like a Mute