When Cliff’s car drove up the circular driveway, Eric stood up, threw one last pebble in the Fountain of Peace that stood in front of the museum, and moved slowly to the curb, his head down.

Cliff leaned over and opened Eric’s door, then laid his hand on his shoulder as he got in. Eric let his head drop until it almost touched his chest. Nor did he raise it again when he spoke. “Clayne’s in the shrubbery directly off to our right.”

“Okay,” Cliff murmured.

“Let’s wait a moment or two before we leave,” Eric said in a low voice, “but he can’t hear us over the noise of the fountain.” He stifled a grin. “Give me some solicitous comfort to help me deal with my disastrous failure.”

Cliff leaned forward, his face earnest. “So you got them?”

“I got them!”

“You sounded so convincing on the phone, I was afraid you really had failed.”

Eric shook his head and pushed Cliff’s hand away from his shoulder, as though in anger, but his eyes were bright with excitement. “I wasn’t faking the shakiness in my voice.”

Straightening back into his own seat, Cliff started the car moving. “Do you think Clayne’ll follow us?”

“I don’t think so. He walked here across the quad from Central Control, but let’s take it slow and easy to your place just in case.”

They drove in silence until they were clear of Alliance Square. Eric glanced quickly out the back window, then unbuttoned his shirt and extracted the set of heavy bolt cutters he had stuffed in his belt.

“So there they are,” Cliff said.

“Those are the babies. Used by Navy frogmen to cut through submarine netting, shore defenses—you name it.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Well, I had some minimal pain going in and while I was waiting, but I forced myself to think of other things. But once I started on the case, it was pretty bad. When I had the back off and made the switch, I could feel myself going. I fought it desperately, keeping my back to them while I got these under my shirt. But suddenly I lost control. The last thing I remember as I blacked out was saying to myself, ‘Fall on your stomach! Fall on your stomach!’ I could picture me lying there on my back in front of that hidden camera with this conspicuous bulge under my shirt.”

“Are you sure they didn’t see you take them?”

“No, I’m not positive, but nearly so. But if they had seen me take them, I think Clayne would’ve confronted me as I came out. Remember the magician’s trick—make them look where you want them to? I pulled the M-1 rifle partly out so they could see it once I turned around.”