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gether. Blowing up Amerston through the connecting drain was one arm of the pincer movement.” “And the other?” “Kill Mrs. Werner in an at¬ tempt to destroy her husband’s sanity—only that didn’t quite come off as planned. You were forced to kill her too soon, be¬ cause security had started to ask embarrassing questions, and be¬ cause she panicked and drove out to the old army camp to warn you.” He said nothing, but just stood there toying with the gun. “My guess is she caught you in the act of disposing of Dien- to’s body, and you had to kill her to silence her. Unfortunately for you, a second Mrs. Werner turned up, and you realized that she had to be killed, too, and in such a drastic manner that Dr. Werner would have to know all about it. You took a big chance, Clark. Werner himself might have been in the house when you blew it up.” Clark sneered openly. “He stayed in the car. We don’t make as many mistakes as you imag¬ ine.” “That’s what I thought,” I said, and the expression in his eyes changed. He spun the revolver on its trigger guard. “You’re ill-in- ' formed, Delaney, and you’re igo- rant of the forces of evil that are at work in the world today. You know nothing of Dr. Werner’s work. Sometimes one has to cut the rottenness from a fruit in or¬ der to keep it sweet—or prune a tree in order to strengthen it.” “Who’s talking now?” I asked. “You or Alexis Werner?” His expression became set, as if something had crystallized. “You talk with the mind of an¬ other man,” I went on. “What happened when they cut out part of your brain? Did Alexis take control of you and brainwash you—turn you into a robot stooge like himself? Or was Cheryl be¬ hind it all . . .” The reaction was swift, and al¬ most took me by surprise. Malev¬ olence flashed dully in his narrow eyes, and the hand holding the gun swung quickly. I dodged too late—the steel barrel lashed my jawbone like a hot branding iron. Off balance, I took a hard tumble and found myself face-to-face with the dangerous end of the gun. Clark meant to shoot—no mistake about that. Two things happened simul¬ taneously. Friday screamed, and I swung my legs, catching the other man on the shins. He grunt¬ ed and staggered backwards, and I went after him. We mixed it on the bare floor¬ boards for a while, without ob¬ serving any rules. I managed to get one hand on the gun and con¬ centrated on that. It was a mis¬ take. Clark released the gun sud¬ denly and launched a renewed 116 AMAZING STORIES