an extra mouth two inches below her chin. That might have something to do with it. Ask Thad Beaumont who I am. He knows all about it.
He had meant to call Thad, of course. But his mind was still in free fall - things had assumed new proportions which he did not, at least as yet, seem capable of grasping. Well, he would call Thad. He would do it just as soon as he told the police about the call. He did tell them, and they were extremely interested. One of them got on his walkie-talkie to police headquarters with the information. When he finished, he told Rick that the chief of detectives wanted him to come down to One Police Plaza and talk to them about the call he had received. While he did that, a fellow would pop into his apartment and fit his telephone with a tape-recorder and traceback equipment. In case there were any more calls.
'There probably will be,' the second cop told Rick. 'These psychos are really in love with the sound of their own voices.'
'I ought to call Thad first,' Rick said. 'He may be in trouble, too. That's the way it sounded.'
'Mr Beaumont has already been placed under police protection up in Maine, Mr Cowley. Let's go, shall we?'
'Well, I really think - '
'Perhaps you can call him from the Big One. Now - do you have a coat?'
So Rick, confused and not at all sure any of this was real, allowed himself to be led away. 8
When they got back two hours later, one of Rick's escorts frowned at his apartment door and said,
'There's no one here.'
'So what?' Rick asked wanly. He felt wan, like a pane of milky glass you could almost see through. He had been asked a great many questions, and had answered them as well as he could - a difficult task, since so few of them seemed to make any sense.
'If the guys from Communications finished before we got back, they were supposed to wait.'
'They're probably inside,' Rick said.
'One of them, maybe, but the other one should be out here. It's standard procedure.'
Rick took out his keys, shuffled through them, found the right one, and slipped it into the lock. Any problems these fellows might be having with the operating procedure of their colleagues was no concern of his. Thank God; he had all the concerns he could manage this morning. 'I ought to call Thad first thing,' he said. He sighed and smiled a little. 'It isn't even noon and I already feel like the day is never going to e - '
'Don't do that!' one of the cops shouted suddenly, and sprang forward.
'Do wha - ' Rick began, turning his key, and the door exploded in a flash of light and smoke and sound. The cop whose instincts had triggered just an instant too late was recognizable to his relatives; Rick Cowley was nearly vaporized. The other cop, who had been standing a little farther back and who had instinctively shielded his face when his partner cried out, was treated for burns, concussion, and internal injuries. Mercifully - almost magically - the shrapnel from the door and the wall flew around him in a cloud but never touched him. He would never work for the N.Y.P.D. again, however; the blast struck him stone deaf in an instant..Inside Rick's apartment, the two technicians from Communications who had come to cook the phones lay dead on the living-room rug. Tacked to the forehead of one with a push-pin was this note:
THE SPARROWS ARE FLYING AGAIN.
Tacked to the forehead of the other was a second message: MORE FOOL'S STUFFING. TELL THAD..PART 2
STARK TAKES CHARGE
'Any fool with fast hands can take a tiger by the balls,' Machine told Jack Halstead. 'Did you know that?'
Jack began to laugh. The look Machine turned on him made him think better of it.
'Wipe that ass**le grin off your face and pay attention to me,' Machine said. 'I am giving you instruction here. Are you paying attention?'
'Yes, Mr Machine.'
'Then hear this, and never forget it. Any fool with fast hands can take a tiger by the balls, but it takes a hero to keep on squeezing. I'll tell you something else, while I'm at it: only heroes and quitters walk away, Jack. No one else. And I am no quitter.'
? Machine's Way
by George Stark.
Chapter Fifteen
Stark Disbelief
1