Good morning. Did you enjoy breakfast?
—Yesss. Live food isss wonderfully ssstimulating to the palate. You are a mossst generousss hossst.
The gentleman who served as your meal will not be missed for some time. He and his wife were leaving on vacation when my servants redirected them here for the dining pleasure of our guests.
—He wasss filling . . . but enough sssmall talk. I grow ressstlesss from inactivity, namelesss one. What newsss have you?
The body of the truck driver that Gork killed was found yesterday evening in a scrap-metal yard north of town, inside his truck. The unusual nature of the man’s death has attracted media attention.
—That incompetent fool! He isss not to be trusssted!
On the contrary, that was exactly what I wanted to happen. Gork has only a few real enemies on this world, but they know much about him and would quickly get in the way of our plans. The easiest way to dispose of them is to draw them into a trap by making them think he is still here, then destroy them all with one stroke. They will not interfere with Gork’s mission, no matter what happens, as he has already departed the compound.
—Perhapsss, but the risssk isss great for you, isss it not? What if they find you, withered one?
The world has long forgotten that I exist, and no one would believe I was a threat to even an ant. If—and I do mean if—I am found, that will be my problem to resolve. Think no more of it. Speaking of missions, I have the information you will need for your own.
—It isss my quessst to dessstroy thisss world, to crush the life from it until it liesss broken and dead beneath my ssscalesss! It isss not a misssion you deign to asssign me! I told you that I ssserve no one! No one!
As you wish. To aid your quest, then, I offer you this, which my servants this morning provided me: three years ago, two illegal arms smugglers broke into a U.S. Army research facility in Hadley, Nevada. They stole a small container filled with a genetically engineered virus of exceptional lethality. The unit was recovered by federal agents, but it is doubtful that was the only item taken in the operation. One of the arms dealers was secretly being paid by terrorists to acquire as many biological warfare agents as she could find. She has been under constant government surveillance until recently and so would have been unable to recover any items she had stolen and hidden. It is doubtful her husband, who was the other person involved in the theft, knew of her scheme.
—Why hasss ssshe not been captured?
She was, briefly, then informed on her husband and was granted immunity from prosecution. He was sent to prison, but I have heard he is being transferred to a more secure institution for killing a fellow inmate. He is unimportant. What matters is that I suspect the original theft of the viral container might have been merely a cover for this woman’s other activities. Once the container was found, the government wrapped up its operation and has left the woman alone except to keep a careful eye on her. They found nothing else amiss at the research facility—but the woman is devilishly clever and resourceful. If there was a way to acquire other biowar agents without revealing their theft, she would certainly have attempted it.
—If mere humansss could break into that facility, it must be laughably defended. I could do it myssself, could I not?
You could, but after the theft was discovered the facility was dismantled and its contents destroyed, out of fear it could happen again. If anything remains of what was produced there, that woman alone knows where it is.
—Would sssuch agentsss be of sssufficient potency to carry out our plan?
Any agent produced at the Hadley facility would be of unparalleled deadliness. The installation existed in violation of all treaties and conventions on biological and chemical warfare, and handled only materials of Biosafety Level Five, things so hazardous that officially speaking the rating does not exist. No one but those in the highest administrative levels of government know what the facility actually contained. Any release of viruses or toxins from Hadley would be a threat to life, not to mention civilization, in every part of the globe.
—I am intrigued, though you cannot guarantee there isss a prize to be won.
I cannot tell you with one hundred percent certainty that she was able to steal something besides the recovered viral container, but the threads of evidence lead me to believe that she did. I would not have . . . asked you to come if I did not believe the chances of success were favorable.
—Ssssssss, but I agree it isss worth the bite. Where isss thisss female now?
A good question. A week ago she apparently escaped the agents who were shadowing her. My contacts state that terrorists or their go-betweens are now attempting to find her and retrieve whatever she was able to get for them, but they have so far been unsuccessful. She has vanished. Only you have the power to find her and learn her secrets.
—Ssshe hasss essscaped? Curssse you! You led me to believe that ssshe—
Think carefully before you act.
—Ssssssssssssssss! . . . Hold back your powersss, withered one. There is a posssibility. Do you have an item ssshe hasss touched with her bare ssskin—clothing, toolsss, dinnerware, anything? If I tassste it and acquire her ssscent, it will be easssy to track her.
Believe it or not, I had considered that possibility, knowing the sensory powers of your kind. One of my servants was able to acquire her personal firearm, a CZ 75, from an evidence storage room. Mrs. Grimes is very fond of Czechoslovakian—
—Grimesss? Dallasss Grimesss?
Yes. You know her?
—Ssssssssssss! Ssshe wasss there at the clinic when—never mind! I remember her! Dallasss . . . dear, desssperate Dallasss.
An interesting tale is doubtless behind those remarks, but if you need to be on your way, I can arrange transportation for you at once.
—Yesss, that would be bessst. Do you have her weapon?
My wife is bringing it in now. Cleotis, dear, thank you so much. Just put the pistol on the floor so our guest can lick it.
—Ah. Yesss, it isss her, Dallasss Grimesss. I remember it all. I wisssh to begin my sssearch at once. It will not take long to find her, not long at all.
In the old garage immediately west of this building is a fully equipped black helicopter my servants were able to acquire for me from its original owner, the federal government. I will instruct the pilot to take you wherever you wish within a thousand-mile range of here. Please do not eat him, as he is valuable to me.
—Lawndale. . . I will firssst go to a town called Lawndale. It will be interesssting to visssit my old home . . . and sssee how my former neighborsss are doing.
Good hunting, then. . . . Cleotis, dear, please close the door behind our guest. Thank you. Things are going well. Our ophidian partner has been far more forgetful than Gork of my ability to read minds. That primitive little brain is hatching plots against us left and right, but no matter. The radioactive tracers that were inside the late Tom Anderson are now inside our powerful if dim-witted associate, just as the tracers injected into Marcy Anderson’s brain now reside within that alien, Gork. Tracking both of our radiation-emitting allies is child’s play for me. Was I wrong not to mention to our guests the experiments that were conducted on me at Hadley, and the marvelous powers I gained as a consequence? If only they knew what they had done, but soon they will. Soon, everyone will know. Your radiant smile is appropriate. It is most amusing, what is to come and how it comes about. The ideal puppeteer never lets his puppets know that it is he who guides their arms and legs, he who shepherds their thoughts and deeds, not they. I will have a bitter revenge against those who used me so unspeakably, as you and our children ascend with me into the heavens. . . . but enough of this. I grow maudlin. Please call the children and see how they and my servants are coming along with our welcome for the freakish would-be heroes who will arrive on tomorrow morning’s bus from New York. Nothing will endanger our just and imminent triumph. Nothing.
