Farmer, Philip José - Traitor to the Living (20 page)

Langer was in a hurry, but when he heard a few sentences of Carfax's proposal he told his secretary to delay his next outgoing call. After Carfax had finished, Langer said, "We'll hit him on both flanks then. I'll take care of the judicial business right now. You and Patricia take the next plane out. I'll see that it's held for you."

Thirty minutes later, the Carfaxes boarded a passenger plane that had been kept waiting fifteen minutes for them. They were conducted to the first-class section, and the double-decker taxied off. It went past ten planes that were lined up, waiting for Carfax's to take off ahead of them. The stewardesses were all smiles, hovering over them to make sure they were quite comfortable.

Carfax suspected that behind the overly courteous attitude was irritation. He didn't mind. He'd been delayed too many times when he was a second-class passenger and his plane had been held up by high-priority big shots.

In two hours and three minutes, the huge jet was in the landing pattern for the Las Vegas airport. The Carfaxes disembarked fifteen minutes later and in five minutes were strapping on their seat belts in the twin-jet that Langer had rented for them. Within thirty-five minutes, their plane was landing on the strip of the Bonanza Circus port.

From there they checked into the only completely roofed-over city in the world. No large vehicles were permitted in it; the population traveled on moving sidewalks or used the small electric fare-free taxis. Gordon and Patricia were met by a U.S. Marshal, George Chang, who accompanied them to the Athena Tower, the legislative building. There they were introduced to the judge who had issued the warrant Langer had asked for, another U.S. Marshal, and the county electrical inspector. The latter were, respectively, Amanda Hiekka, a blonde Valkyrie of Finnish descent, and Ricardo Lopez, a short, stocky cigar-smoking redhead whose parents had fled Cuba thirty years'-ago.

Carfax learned all these unnecessary biographical details from Judge Kasner. The judge seemed to be trying to delay the expedition with trivial conversation. When Carfax expressed impatience, Kasner replied, "I'm not sure that we shouldn't wait until morning, although the senator did indicate extreme haste. He doesn't know the situation here, and when I tried to explain it to him, he said he wasn't interested. He just wanted action.

But. . ."

"And what is the situation?" Carfax said.

"Explosive! There are at least three hundred men camped outside the gates of Megistus, armed men, anti-Westernites. They claim they're there to see that Western doesn't flee the country. The sheriff has ordered them to disperse, but they won't pay any attention to him. In the meantime, the pro-Westernites are organizing; they're meeting now at the Profacd Hall.

It's evident they plan to march out to Megistus and confront the mob there. The mayor has asked the governor to call out the state militia, but he's refused. He says the situation doesn't warrant it."

Carfax nodded. This was to be expected. The governor was a good friend of Langer's.

"This is no time to play politics," Judge Kasner said. "There's going to be bloodshed unless the militia is there. And maybe even then. I was reluctant to issue the warrants because I was afraid that your appearance there will precipitate things."

Marshal Chang said, "I've got my orders. I'm not hanging around here a moment longer. The rest of you coming along?"

"That's why we flew out here," Carfax said. "Let's go."

"I strongly advise against it," Kasner said.

"Then you shouldn't have issued the warrants," Carfax said. He felt sorry for the judge, since he had been put under such pressure by Langer for Langer's own purposes. On the other hand, the judge should have had enough character to resist Langer, even if it meant his political career. And there was no doubt in Carfax's mind that Langer's agents had stirred up the anti-Westemites and led them out to Megistus. And all this had been done since Carfax had phoned Langer. There were, of course, strong feelings against Western in Bonanza Circus, as there were in every city in the United States. Langer had spoken to the few men needed to organize this sentiment into a crowd and lead them out to Megistus. The leaders were probably a strange mixture of religious and criminal elements, churchmen and Mafia. The latter organization was the secret, or not-so-secret, builder of Bonanza Circus and owner of the giant gambling casinos. Most of them were devout Catholics except when religion interfered with business, and they were implacable enemies of Western. They feared MEDIUM and were opposed to its use. The proposal that the machine be used to extract testimony from dead members of their organization terrified them. It was said that the Mafia had required all its members to take a solemn oath that they would keep silent about their activities even after death. How could they enforce it, since the dead were beyond any retribution?

Langer was a bitter enemy of organized crime. It must have hurt him to ask its chiefs to help him. But in politics usefulness and compromise are the prime movers. Langer would worry later about his debt to criminals. This was war, where you didn't consider the ethics of your allies or, indeed, any ethics at all.

Why did Langer want a mob with heated emotions outside of Megistus? Was it just to scare Western into giving in to the marshals and Lopez? Or did he plan to send the mob in after the gate had been opened to the legal representatives? Carfax thought that the latter was most likely. This scared him, and it also made him sick. Langer was sending men to their death.

These thoughts occupied him with gloominess while the parties rode through the wide walks of Bonanza Circus. There was not much traffic at this time, which was to be expected. The many faces that appeared at the doors and the windows as they rode by the fantastically ornamented buildings showed that a large part of the citizenry and the tourists were up. Word had gotten around, and the people were afraid. They weren't venturing outside, because they must fear a clash between the pros and the antis.

Chang, however, commented that there wasn't much chance of that in the city itself. All the action would be out at Megistus.

"About a half-hour before you got here, the street walks were full of Westemites going to Profacci Hall. They'll be spilling out there as soon as Western's men whip the poor boobs into a vigilante mood. I hope we get to Megistus before that happens."

"Why don't the police do something?" Patricia said.

"Half of them have resigned and joined the mobs," Hiekka said. "And the other half are afraid to stand in anyone's way. They don't want to get trampled."

They got out of the electric cars at the Number Twelve Exit and walked out into the desert night. Two steam cars waited for them, one bearing the county insignia and the other the U.S. eagle. Lopez and his two assistants got into the former; the others slid into Chang's car. They drove away from the bright lights and the vast conical light-perforated roof of Bonanza Circus and soon were going up a winding mountain road. Their lights struck the firs and pines lining the road and, occasionally, the red eyes of a rabbit, an opposum, a fox, or a deer.

Hiekka commented that the area between the city and Megistus was an animal-refuge. "Every three years the deer hunting season opens here. I got a large buck myself last year. I love venison. Four years ago I didn't get a thing. I was busy hunting men. You remember it, don't you? You must've seen it on TV? There were two or three beast-lovers up here shooting hunters? Killed three hunters and wounded two? We never did catch them, and I was hoping they'd show up last year. But they never did."

She laughed and added, "There weren't many hunters around last year. They were afraid the deer'd be shooting back."

She patted the butt of the .45 revolver, a collector's item, in her holster. "Most men would be just as happy shooting cows in a corral. They're not real hunters."

Carfax got the impression that she had liked hunting men.

The twelve kilometers were mainly on a road that had been cut from the face of the mountain. At its end they came down a long pass between steep rocky slopes. They could see below them the broad plateau on which Megistus had been built. Its lights blazed from many towers and buildings and from the tops of the high brick walls that surrounded it. It covered about a square kilometer and contained four buildings about ten stories high and several smaller ones. Guard-towers were spaced along the top of the walls at forty-meter intervals.

Outside the gates were about eighty automobiles and trucks, a number of which mounted searchlights. A dark mass surged back and forth before the gates, a human yeast.

High over the complex, the lights of two planes flashed.

All the makings of a massacre, Carfax thought. But if Western resisted, and blood was shed, he would be arrested and charged with murder. He must know that.

If, however, the mob got out of hand and attacked, he would defend himself. He would have to in order to keep from being lynched.

Ten minutes later, they drove out onto the plain.

Here several cars blocked their passage, and men with rifles questioned them. Hiekka and Chang showed their badges and explained their mission. A big hairy scarfaced man named Rexter, evidently in charge, got into the car with them and told them to drive on up to the gate. He stank of booze and excitement. About fifty meters from the gate, Rexter ordered Chang to pull over to the side of the road. Everybody got out. Carfax looked around and saw only one police car. Two men in the uniforms of the county police stood by the hood and smoked cigarettes.

There wasn't a man in the mob who didn't carry a rifle and a handgun of some sort. Their faces looked pale or flushed and were either set grimly or distorted with anger. Their voices struck him and surged over him. But they were kept in some order by men who wore black armbands. These stood along the road, yelling at anyone who got onto it.

About seventy meters up the road from Chang's car was a truck with a camper, a steel girder over its bumper.

Aside from the county police car, it seemed to be the only one with a running motor. One man sat in its cab, and another man, with an armband, stood just outside, talking to the driver.

Chang, a tall man with short straight black hair and bright hazel eyes, looked over the crowd. Then he picked up a bullhorn and marched up to the gate.

Hiekka and Lopez walked behind him, and Carfax, after a few seconds' hesitation, went after them.

Patricia remained in the back seat. Gordon had asked her to stay there unless she was needed. "And get down on the floor at the first shot," he had said. "That is, if there is any."

Patricia had nodded as if she were too scared to talk.

Chang stopped near the foot of the two heavy steel gates, muttered, "This is a hell of a situation," and then put the bullhorn to his Ups. At the first blare of the horn , the crowd fell silent.

Chang identified himself and then stated that he had a warrant which gave him entrance to Megistus and authority to search the place. He was looking for Rufton Carfax, whom the United States government believed was being held there against his will.

The guards in the watch towers remained at then- posts, pointing their rifles, shotguns, and machine guns at the crowd. The gates did not open.

Chang repeated his demands and handed the bullhorn to Lopez. Lopez bellowed out his identification and his mission. The county of White Pine demanded that its chief electrical inspector be admitted at once so that he could inspect the power system and the wiring. Lopez must determine that the system feeding from MEDIUM was set up according to legal specifications. Chang and Lopez were the one-two punches that Langer had spoken of.

A guard dressed in the Lincoln green of Western's security police leaned out the right-hand tower.

Through a bullhorn he identified himself as Captain Westcott.

"Your warrants are illegal!" he bellowed. "No one, I repeat, no one, will be admitted! And I order you to disperse your unlawful assembly! You are on private property!"

"I represent the authority of the U.S. government," Chang bellowed back. "Open at once, or entrance will be made forcibly!"

"Any force will be met with force!" Westcott said. Chang wiped his forehead, which was covered with sweat despite the chill air. "Son of a bitch! I'll just have to order in more marshals. I didn't think he'd defy me." Rexter, who had been standing behind them, said,

"Out of the way, you! All of you! Pronto!"

Chang turned quickly and said, "This is going to be done legally. You and your mob have no right to be here."

"So?" Rexter said. "Get out of the way unless you want to be run over!"

He turned and ran toward the crowd, shouting. They started yelling and running. The marshals, Lopez, and Carfax stood bewildered until Carfax turned and saw the truck speeding toward them. He shouted and ran also. When he got to Chang's car, he stuck his head in its window, and said, "Come on, Pat! They're going to blow up the gates!"

The door swung open and Pat, her face white in the lights, scrambled out. Carfax took her hand and ran along the road. The truck sped by them, its left-hand door opened, and the driver fell out. Carfax quit looking at it after that and raced desperately up the road.

Then he heard the banging of rifles and the chattering of machine guns, a crash, and a thundering blast.

He threw himself down, pulling Pat with him. The noise filled his right ear, the air tore at his clothes, and he smelled dynamite. He sat up then and looked at the gates or, rather, where they had been. The explosion had disintegrated the truck and ripped the gates from their hinges. They lay about twenty meters inside the walls. The towers on each side of the gates were half-demolished. The great overhead lights for about sixty meters on each side were dark. The figures in the towers beyond them were silent, but he could see that they were still erect. Evidently, they were paralyzed by the blast. But they would start firing in a moment.

A massive shout went up from the crowd. It poured forward like two giant amoebae, fusing just before the gateway. Rifles banged here and there as shots were fired, either up into the air or at the guards in the towers.