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By Root 409 0

then she’s free to go without you,’ said Breen. The female BI moved forward, as if she was going to go for Breen. He just smiled at her, hoping she was stupid enough. But the man touched the woman’s arm and she stared at Breen for a moment then relaxed. She reached into the jacket of her silk suit and took out a small blue card that resembled a credit card. Printed on it was the bee‐and‐eye logo of the Butler Institute. ‘If you need a place to stay while you’re in town, just put this in any public phone. It will dial our number for you.’ She slipped the card into the English girl’s pocket and left, the man following her.

Breen and the English girl stood looking at Cooper. Cooper shifted uncomfortably and shrugged. ‘They must have read her medical records as soon as we logged her. The Butler Institute is in very tight with the service and…’

Breen just kept looking at him until he stopped talking.

‘I don’t know how much they’re paying you,’ said Breen. ‘I hope it’s worth it.’ The English girl stifled a yawn, standing beside him. When Breen turned to leave she followed him.

‘Well, what am I supposed to do with you?’

‘Where are you off to now?’ said the girl.

‘I’m supposed to find my partner,’ said Breen.

‘So am I.’

* * *

‘I don’t believe it,’ said Mancuso.

The Doctor said nothing.

Mancuso turned and looked at Petersen. ‘He could be lying, couldn’t he? He could have rigged this up.’

Petersen didn’t reply, either. He was examining the dismantled control sections of Mancuso’s gun, spread out on his desk. A thin coiling cable connected the gun to the scientist’s computer. Petersen looked at the display above the gun’s ammunition clip, then back at his computer. Mancuso came and stood behind him, looking over his shoulder at the gun’s small ammunition counter display.

‘I refuse to believe it,’ she said.

‘You’ve been talking to the Doctor, I can tell.’

Mancuso’s head jerked up, startled by the voice. The English girl from the drugstore on Fifth Avenue had come into the lab. She was standing just inside the doorway.

‘Hello, Ace,’ said the Doctor.

‘Who let you in?’ said Mancuso.

‘Bloke called Breen. Claims to be your partner.’ The girl came over and sat beside the Doctor. ‘He said to tell you he’s going home to bed. He’ll see you tomorrow.’

Mancuso automatically checked her watch.

‘Your shift isn’t over yet, is it?’ said the Doctor. ‘McIlveen would never have done that.’

‘Who is McIlveen?’ said Ace, covering a yawn with the back of her hand.

‘He used to be Mancuso’s partner,’ said the Doctor, going to the computer on Petersen’s desk. ‘Until he was shot from a rooftop.’

‘I’m sorry,’ said Ace. She watched while the Doctor typed at the computer keyboard. ‘Is he dead?’

‘In a manner of speaking,’ said the Doctor. On the screen of the computer the words he was typing appeared, letter by letter.

Who are you?

The Doctor pressed the Return key on the keyboard and the message was transmitted, travelling through the thin communications cable that connected the computer to the gun. The words were converted to ASCII codes which flashed into the gun’s control system, entering the large chip with the luminous line around it. There was a brief pause and then symbols flashed up on the gun’s ammunition counter. The tiny LCD screen was only three symbols wide, being designed to indicate how many bullets were left in the clip.

But now instead of numbers it began to display letters of the alphabet.

MCI

LVE

EN

‘Does that mean what I think it means?’ said Ace.

‘McIlveen, James Haines,’ said the Doctor.

The lab was silent. After a moment the letters on the ammunition counter faded away. Mancuso watched the tiny screen go blank, then she looked over at Petersen. He just shrugged.

Mancuso moved to the chair where the Doctor was sitting. ‘Here, out of the way.’

The Doctor got out of the chair and Mancuso sat in front of the computer, typing on the screen.

Why should I believe you?

After a moment a response began to appear on the gun’s display.

ISA

VED

YOU

RAS

S

Mancuso began to smile. She remembered the woman in