Chapter 9

It was a few minutes after sunrise, and Smale and I were back on the terrace toying with the remains of ham steaks and honeydew.

“That’s one advantage of being in jail in your own house--the food’s good,” I commented.

“I can understand your feelings,” Smale said. “Frankly, I didn’t relish this assignment. But it’s clear that there are matters here which require explanation. It was my hope that you’d see fit to cooperate voluntarily.”

“Take your army and sail off into the sunrise, General,” I said. “Then maybe I’ll be in a position to do something voluntary.”

“Your patriotism alone--”

“My patriotism keeps telling me that where I come from, a citizen has certain legal rights,” I said.

“This is a matter that transcends legal technicalities,” Smale said. “I’ll tell you quite frankly, the presence of the task force here only received ex post facto approval by the Peruvian government. They were faced with the fait accompli. I mention this only to indicate just how strongly the government feels in this matter.”

“Seeing you hit the beach with a platoon of infantry was enough of a hint for me,” I said. “You’re lucky I didn’t wipe you out with my disintegrator rays.”

Smale choked on a bite of melon.

“Just kidding,” I said. “But I haven’t given you any trouble. Why the reinforcements?”

Small stared at me. “What reinforcements?”

I pointed with a fork. He turned, gazed out to sea. A conning tower was breaking the surface, leaving a white wake behind. It rose higher, water streaming off the deck. A hatch popped open, and men poured out, lining up. Smale got to his feet, his napkin falling to the floor.

“Sergeant!” he yelled. I sat, open-mouthed, as Smale jumped to the stair, went down it three steps at a time. I heard him bellowing, the shouts of men and the clatter of rifles being unstacked, feet pounding. I went to the marble banister and looked down. Pruffy was out on the lawn in purple pajamas, yelping questions. Colonel Sanchez was pulling at Smale’s arm, also yelling. The Marines were forming up on the lawn.

“Let’s watch those petunias, Sergeant,” I yelled.

“Keep out of this, Legion,” Smale shouted.

“Why should I be the only one not yelling,” I yelled. “After all, I own the place.”

Smale bounded back up the stairs. “You’re my prime responsibility, Legion,” he barked. “I’m getting you to a point of maximum security. Where’s the cellar?”

“I keep it downstairs,” I said. “What’s this all about? Interservice rivalry? You afraid the sailors are going to steal the glory?”

“That’s a nuclear-powered sub,” Smale barked. “Gagarin class; it belongs to the Soviet Navy.”

I stood there with my mouth open, looking at Smale without seeing him, and trying hard to think fast. I hadn’t been too startled when the Marines showed up; I had gone over the legal aspects of my situation months before, with a platoon of high-priced legal talent; I knew that sooner or later somebody would come around to hit me for tax evasion, draft dodging, or overtime parking; but I was in the clear. The government might resent my knowing a lot of things it didn’t, but no one could ever prove I’d swiped them from Uncle Sam. In the end, they’d have to let me go--and my account in a Swiss bank would last me, even if they managed to suppress any new developments from my fabulous lab. In a way, I was glad the showdown had come.

But I’d forgotten about the Russians. Naturally, they’d be interested, and their spies were at least as good as the intrepid agents of the US Secret Service. I should have realized that sooner or later, they’d pay a call--and the legal niceties wouldn’t slow them down. They’d slap me into a brain laundry, and sweat every last secret out of me as casually as I’d squeeze a lemon.

The sub was fully surfaced now, and I was looking down the barrels of half a dozen five-inch rifles, any one of which could blast Smale’s navy out of the water with one salvo. There were a couple of hundred men, I estimated, putting landing boats over the side and spilling into them. Down on the lawn, the sergeant was snapping orders, and the men were double-timing off to positions that must have been spotted in advance. It looked like the Russians weren’t entirely unexpected. This was a game the big boys were playing, and I was just a pawn, caught in the middle. My rosy picture of me confounding the bureaucrats was fading fast. My island was about to become a battlefield, and whichever way it turned out, I’d be the loser. I had one slim possibility; to get lost in the shuffle.