第89节

Skull-Face doused the lantern and exited from the tent. He was waiting

outside as Steve ducked through the flap in between the two guards.

Now that he was up on his feet and out of immediate danger, the three

Japs looked a lot less daunting. After he'd stretched his spine and

filled his lungs with night air, Steve found he was half a head taller

than the biggest of the two guards.

Skull-Face, his chief tormentor, now looked as if he was standing in a

hole. No wonder they'd kept him bent almost double.

'That shelf inside your shack..."

'Yes?"

'If you find two small stones on it - one black, one white - it means

that everything is in place at the other end."

'Got it."

Skull-Face walked with him to the edge of the trail that ran through

the pines. Behind and below them, Steve caught a glimpse of the lake

as the half-moon found a gap in the clouds and brushed its dark surface

with a fleeting coat of silver. They had only gone a few yards, but

the black tent was now invisible.

The Jap turned to face him. 'Will you be able to find your way back

from here?"

Steve bowed politely. 'Yes, sire. No problem."

'Good. One last thing. As you've no doubt guessed, in return for

services rendered, we have also obtained a number of bugging devices

from your people. Just out of interest, was jacking up that female

Mute part of your assignment?"

It wasn't a question Steve had been expecting, but he took it in his

stride. 'Yes, sire. It's a standard operating procedure which I'm

sure even your organisation must use from time to time. We call it

"sexual entrapment"."

Skull-Face nodded. 'I see. Well, I suppose that's as good a

description as any. Goodnight, Mr Brickman.

You are what used to be called "a plausible rogue". If you can manage

to keep your balls out of the jar I have a fbeling you could go a long

way."

On the day before the display, Steve discovered he wasn't the only one

who had been making plans. The Iron Masters had also been quietly

putting their own act together. Shigamitsu broke the news to Cadillac

while making his daily round of the workshops. The Japanese staff of

the Heron Pool would be running things on the day, and the newly

drafted team of Koreans, Viets and Thais would look after the

ground-handling, together with the reloading of the rocket-trays and

ground trolleys. All Trackers would be confined to their quarters the

two long bunk-houses inside the walled compound.

In the last month, the strict rules governing the behaviour of slaves

had been relaxed. To speed things along, captive Trackers were no

longer required to kneel before samurai during working hours. This

arrangement only covered the Iron Masters on the permanent staff; all

visitors were to be shown the utmost deference.

As Cadillac's constant shadow, Steve was included in this temporary

dispensation, but he was still required to bow from the waist when

addressed and to keep his eyes averted whilst in the presence of

samurai. He did so now and was able to steal a sideways glance at

Cadillac.

When in the company of his new masters the Mute tried very hard to

keep his face as expressionless as theirs. The Plainfolk called the

Japs 'dead-faces' on account of the fearsome metal masks they wore, but

their real faces underneath were just as lifeless. They were a strange

people. Given an angry dressing-down by a superior, or some really bad

news, they became more blank-faced than ever. Laughter was

occasionally allowed to break through, but only when among equals or

when the top man present gave the cue.

On this particular occasion, Cadillac wasn't doing too well. Steve

knew the Mute had been giving a lot of thought to what he was going to

wear and how he was going to comport himself when he stood in line to

get his share of the praise the domain-lords were bound to hand out.

But that wasn't going to happen. When Steve and his two friends were

through the only things the dinks would be han