The Arm of the Starfish Page 16

  “Adam,” Mr. Cutter asked, “how much do you care about your country?”

  “Very much,” Adam answered with complete honesty.

  “Would you make a sacrifice for it if necessary?”

  “Yes, sir.” Here again he could speak with the ring of truth.

  Dr. Ball asked, “Do we have your word of honor that you are willing to work for your native land, no matter how difficult it may be for you personally?”

  “Yes, sir.” Adam added mentally,—and I’m quite sure that this doesn’t mean working for you. It’s Dr. O’Keefe who cares about the things you’re talking about, not you. You’re—you’re nothing but a whited sepulcher.

  Mr. Cutter put his glass down with a click. “When do you think you can get back to Lisbon?”

  “Well—I—I think I could manage it next weekend.” Dr. O’Keefe would have the Temis papers ready by then; it would be time for him to go.

  “Make a date with Kali.”

  “Well, yes, sir, that would be my pleasure anyhow.” Kali smiled at him and he managed to smile in return.

  “Arrange to meet her on Friday. The hotel taxi service schedules a routine Friday morning flight. By then you should know more about O’Keefe’s work. And, so that you have more than my word to go on that I have my country’s rather than my own interests at heart, you may bring your information directly to the Embassy.”

  “Oh, good,” Adam said with deliberate innocence. “I have a friend there. I could go right to him. Joshua Archer.” He turned and smiled at Dr. Ball. “He’s a good friend of yours too, isn’t he?”

  Dr. Ball forced a toothy smile. “Yes, indeed. Indeed, yes. But O’Keefe’s work is too important to—if the Ambassador himself is busy we’ll see to it that you talk to someone very close to him. This is nothing for mere underlings, no matter how delightful they may be. This is more than a patriotic duty, my son. It is also a very big opportunity for you. It may make all the difference in the world to your entire life.”

  “Yes,” Adam said. “I know.”

  “Come to me at the rectory as soon as you reach Lisbon,” Dr. Ball said. “Perhaps that would be easier for you than braving all those formidable secretaries at the Embassy.”

  Mr. Cutter rose. “I’ll have instructions waiting for you at the rectory. We’ll go downstairs for dinner. The air conditioner works passably well in the Coral Room. I don’t know what they do with the air conditioners; must get an investigation going. I’ll order some good American food; I imagine you’re tired of these Portuguese messes. Drink up, Kali girl, Adam must be hungry.”

  The Coral Room, too, went in for murals. These, Adam gathered, were meant to be of Manhattan, though it was only a faintly recognizable Empire State Building that told him this. The artist, if he had ever been to New York at all, had seen it last in the days of elevateds; one enormous wobbly structure ran right by what appeared to be the main branch of the Public Library, since there were two lions in front of a pillared building approached by an enormous flight of steps.

  The fourth wall was French windows leading out to the tennis courts, the pool, and finally the ocean. Adam sat between Kali and Mr. Cutter at dinner, and across from Dr. Ball. Mr. Cutter ordered steak and French fried potatoes, and salad with Thousand Island dressing. “That all right with you, Adam?”

  “Oh. Well. Yes, sir. Fine.” Anything he could agree with legitimately was fine with him. There was no longer the slightest question in Adam’s mind as to who was serving his country, Mr. Cutter or Dr. O’Keefe, and there had never been any question as to who was serving God, Dr. Ball or Canon Tallis. The critical moment Joshua had predicted had definitely been passed. There could be no more holding back. He had chosen sides, whether he liked it or not. At the moment he found to his immense surprise that he was liking it. A new kind of excitement surged through his veins. He felt tingly and alert from toes to fingertips, and ready to go.

  There was only one hitch, and it was an unexpected one. Kali’s anguished greeting had doubled all the complications. He knew that if Kali needed him he could not reject her plea for help. Joshua had said that his side cared about the fall of the sparrow; Kali, in her frantic cry as Adam climbed out of the helicopter, had become a sparrow.

  But how to help her, he pondered, as he chewed his rather tough steak and kept one ear on the conversation. He tried to think what Joshua would do. Joshua would not turn away from anyone who needed him. That was the first thing. After that he would probably play it by ear. Adam only hoped that his ear would come close to being half as true as Joshua’s.

  What he must do now, he decided, was to manage to sound suspicious about Dr. O’Keefe when Kali was out of the room. He felt a surge of anger. This whole business about Kali was off the schedule entirely. He had written her out of his life except as the daughter of the spider, and here she was, a new and unwanted responsibility, and a sparrow instead of a spideress. Canon Tallis had put Polyhymnia in Adam’s charge, and he’d muffed that one. Here, out of the blue again, he was being handed another problem, and this time he must not goof. He wondered if Dr. O’Keefe would have sent him off to dinner at the hotel if he’d known what was going to happen. Joshua, in playing by ear, seemed to have perfect pitch. Adam wasn’t at all sure that he himself wasn’t tone deaf.

  After dessert he had the chance he was looking for. Typhon Cutter said, “Adam, we adhere to the rather old-fashioned custom of the gentlemen’s lingering over the port for a brief respite after dinner. We’d be delighted if you’d care to stay with us. You can join Kali in a short while. I believe she has some idea of a moonlight swim.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Adam said. “I don’t think I’ll have any port but I’d love to stay and talk if I may.” Kali sent him a stricken look, and he added, “We’ll have time for a swim, too, won’t we?”

  Typhon Cutter moved his ponderous head so that the folds of pink flesh rolled over his immaculate shirt collar. “Certainly. I’ve arranged for the helicopter to stand by to take you back whenever you’re ready. There isn’t any hurry, at this end, at any rate.”

  When Kali, reluctant and pouting, had left, and the port had been brought, “Sir,” Adam asked, looking from one man to the other, “this Dr. O’Keefe—”

  “Yes?” Typhon Cutter asked.

  “Well, sir, Dr. Didymus, the man I worked for before, you know, he’s no slouch, but he didn’t—well—”

  “Well, what, lad?” Dr. Ball asked in his gentlest voice.

  “Well, sir, I know it’s only been a couple of days, but all I’ve done is scrub the lab floors and clean tanks. I mean, junk anybody could do. I haven’t been doing things like that since I was in seventh grade. I mean, it’s not Oliver Twist kind of stuff exactly, but it certainly doesn’t challenge my mind, and he keeps the files locked, and I have a feeling …”

  “A feeling?” Dr. Ball prompted.

  “Well, that he doesn’t trust me.”

  Dr. Ball said smoothly, “It’s probably not personal, son. I don’t think O’Keefe trusts anybody. And if a man trusts no man, then he cannot trust God.”

  “I’ve been very careful,” Adam said. “I mean, I’ve been very discreet. I’ve just done my job, whatever he’s asked me to do, no matter how silly. And I’ve kept my eyes open, so that I’m getting some idea of what’s going on, whether he wants me to or not …” He paused, frowning slightly.

  Dr. Ball raised one pale hand. “Under these circumstances, my son, do you think you will be able to get to Lisbon next Friday?”

  “Well, yes, sir. Mrs. O’Keefe wants me to do some errands. I mean, shopping, knitting wool and stuff that absolutely anybody could do. And they did say something about the hotel plane. After all, I could have used my mind more if I’d stayed with Dr. Didymus in Woods Hole, no matter how old he is.”

  Typhon Cutter shifted position in his chair, the topheavy body swinging cumbersomely. “Don’t worry. We’ll give you a chance to use your mind.”

  “Yes, Mr. Cutter. I hope so.”
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br />   “You know what your instructions are?”

  “Yes, sir. I’ll fly over to Lisbon on Friday, ostensibly to do some shopping for Mrs. O’Keefe. I’ll manage to wangle permission to have a date with Kali to give me the extra time I’ll need. I’m to go right to the rectory to Dr. Ball.”

  “How,” Typhon Cutter asked slowly, “will the idea of a date with Kali be received?”

  “Well, they know I like her, sir. After all, she is very attractive. I mean, any red-blooded American male … And after all, they gave me permission to come here tonight. I mean, it’s not as though I were in prison or anything. It’s just that the work I’ve been given seems kind of silly for someone with as much background in marine biology as I have.”

  Typhon Cutter poured more port. “A reasonable precaution on O’Keefe’s part, isn’t it?”

  “Well, yes, Mr. Cutter, I guess it is.”

  “All right, Adam. You’re a bright lad. Now’s your opportunity to use that mind of yours. Keep your eyes and your ears open. You will be able to bring us some information, won’t you?”

  “Yes. I think so.”

  “Be careful not to arouse suspicions. What you don’t accomplish this time can be done next, though we don’t have all the time in the world. Remember that.”

  “I’ll remember.”

  “If you want your swim with Kali we’ll excuse you now. She’ll be waiting in the lounge. Make your arrangements to meet her on Friday.”

  “Yes, Mr. Cutter.”

  Dr. Ball smiled again, rubbing his hands. “Be gentle and understanding with her, dear boy. She’s a particular pet of mine.”

  “Yes, sir. It’s been very nice to see you again.” He turned with equal courtesy to Typhon Cutter. “It was a wonderful dinner, thank you, sir. Just the ticket.” He shook hands with both men, first the steel grip, then the hail-fellow-well-met one.

  “Until Friday,” Dr. Ball said softly as the boy left.

  Outside the dining room Adam breathed deeply.

  So far so good.

  16

  Kali, already changed to a scanty black bathing suit and a white terrycloth beach robe, was waiting for him in the lounge. “Come on and I’ll show you where to dress,” she said. “We’ll swim in the ocean, not the pool. I want to be sure we aren’t overheard. Hurry up.” She spoke quietly, quickly, nervously.

  As Adam changed to the plain navy blue trunks he remembered Poly’s gift. He took it out of the box and looked at it, a canvas belt with a holder for what looked like an ordinary knife. He took the knife carefully out of the sheath and inspected the mechanism for triggering the blade. He couldn’t check the blade for the vein filled with MS-222 without releasing both blade and chemical, but it looked as though it would be perfectly simple to manage. Although Adam had never owned a switchblade he had seen several, and he knew how they worked.

  He shrugged and put the knife and belt back in the box. If he wore the belt Kali’s keen eyes might spot it, and the evening was complicated enough already. He did not worry about needing the knife; Poly was an imaginative kid, still frightened from the kidnapping experience, and Typhon Cutter would hardly allow Kali to swim in dangerous waters.

  Then, with his hand already on the doorknob, Adam swung around and went back for the knife. At the corners of his mind he felt that something was wrong with the evening. It seemed as though he had done exactly what he had set out to do, but he had an uncomfortable, nagging feeling that somewhere, somehow, he was being stupid. And a promise is a promise. He had promised Polyhymnia that he would not go swimming without the MS-222, and even if it were not for that small worry at the edge of his consciousness he would have to honor that promise.

  He strapped the belt around his waist. The sheath was tapered and made very little bulge under the trunks, which were slightly loose for him in any case. Then he went to join Kali.

  She was waiting at the edge of the big pool, herself in a pool of golden floodlight which made her tan glisten. Her black bathing suit was sleek against her supple curves, and cut more deeply in the back than Adam would have thought possible. As she saw him walking down the path toward her she picked up her robe and ran to him, taking his hand. “See why we can’t swim here? The pool is full, and I don’t dare trust anybody. Daddy has an enormous organization and I don’t know half the people involved in it, though I thought I did.”

  Across from the pool the tennis courts, too, were floodlit, and a game of singles and a game of doubles sounded in the night, the ping of ball against gut, against the clay of the court. There was calling and laughter from the pool. Ahead of them the ocean lay dark and its murmur was almost lost in the light and sound about the hotel.

  As they got to the long ramp leading to the beach, and out of the glare of the floodlights, Kali seemed to relax. She held Adam’s hand lightly, instead of clutching. But her voice was still wound with tension. “Oh, Adam, everything’s so awful!” She moved closer to him, seeking, it seemed, the strength and comfort of his body. “Adam, oh, darling, darling Adam, can I trust you?”

  “Trust me how?” he asked cautiously.

  They had reached the end of the ramp and stood on the night beach. Kali let her robe drop onto the sand, and turned to Adam, putting her arms tightly around him, leaning her head on his shoulder. “I need your help so terribly.”

  The light fragrance of her hair brushed against his nostrils. Kali, despite her sophistication, was just as vulnerable as Poly. She might be a few years older, but she was just as helpless against the powers of evil that surrounded them. “How do you need me?” he asked gently.

  Kali lifted her head and looked at him. The moonlight fell full on her, so that her skin was milkwhite and her lovely features seemed chiseled out of marble. Her eyes were imploring. “Adam, I know you have no reason to trust me. I wouldn’t blame you a bit if you—if you just rejected me now. But please don’t.”

  “I’m not rejecting you, Kali.”

  “Let’s just sit down for a few minutes before we swim and I’ll tell you as quickly as I can. All the awful things I’ve done because daddy told me to and everything.” She led the way along the beach, back through the soft sand to the foot of a high dune. Here she sat down, pulling him after her, and lay back. “We can wash the sand off when we go in for our dip. Adam, what would you do if you discovered that your father was doing things—things that were wrong?”

  This was something Adam could not possibly imagine. If he had to choose one word to describe his father it would be integrity. So he answered, “I don’t know.” He did not add, “Because it would never happen.”

  But Kali must have caught the unspoken thought. “I used to think daddy was perfect. I thought that no matter what he did, as long as it was daddy who was doing it, it must be right. But now I know—” she stopped with a sudden intake of breath. “I can’t tell you anything more unless you promise me something. I shouldn’t have said this much.”

  For a moment caution returned to Adam. “What do you want me to promise?”

  “Oh, nothing difficult. I don’t want you to do anything or anything. Just promise that you’ll never, never, never say anything to anybody in the world about what I’m telling you.”

  “Why would I want to say anything?”

  Kali sat up, looking down at him broodingly. “Adam, I know now that O’Keefe and Tallis and their people are right and daddy’s wrong. I’m sure you know it, too. You might want to tell them. O’Keefe and Tallis. But I’m not going to tell you anything they don’t already know; I wouldn’t put you in a position where it would be your duty to tell them. I promise you. But I couldn’t bear—please, Adam, promise me you won’t tell them. It‘s—maybe it’s just a matter of pride. I still love daddy, you see. He’s still my father. So please just promise me you’ll never tell. I can’t work for O’Keefe and Tallis or anything. I can’t work against daddy, even—so please, please promise you’ll never tell them any of what I’ve told you or what I’m going to tell you now.” She flung hers
elf at him, pressing her face against his shoulder, so that he could feel her tears hot against his flesh.

  “All right, I promise,” he said, stroking her back gently as though she were Poly.

  She heaved a great sigh of relief. “Oh, thank you. Thank you. Adam, daddy only returned Poly to you to get you to work for him. But I guess you know that, anyhow.”

  “Yes,” Adam said.

  “And I know daddy’s asking you to work for him again.” Adam didn’t say anything, and Kali continued, “I’m not going to ask you about that. That’s your problem, and you have to handle it whatever way you think is right. I know it’ll be the right way. Maybe you don’t trust me, yet. But I trust you. Implicitly.”

  She paused, so Adam mumbled, “Thank you.”

  “You’re supposed to go into Lisbon this week, aren’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you’re supposed to meet me?”

  “Well, yes, you know that.”

  “On Friday, isn’t it?”

  “Yes.”

  “I know about the plans, of course, because daddy doesn’t know I know about him, and I couldn’t ever let him know. He might—Adam, he might hurt me. I know now that all he wants is more money and more power, and he doesn’t care who’s hurt as long as he gets them. There are people in China, for instance, who are willing to give daddy almost anything he wants if they can get hold of O’Keefe’s findings. They think people are—what’s the word—expendable—and so does daddy. It isn’t anything as simple as communism versus democracy. It’s power pitting itself against power. So I’m—I’m trapped in the middle. By Friday I ought to know more what I have to do. So if we can just pretend to play along with daddy—and it will just be be pretending—we can meet in Lisbon and things ought to be clearer by then. The main thing is that you have to keep your promise, Adam. You must not tell anybody, not anybody anything I’ve told you.”

  “I’m not in the habit of breaking promises,” Adam said.

  “I know you’re not. But you see, a promise simply doesn’t mean a thing in the world to daddy. He’ll promise anything in order to get what he wants and break it the next minute without a thought. So I’m—so I just have to make extra sure. It isn’t that I doubt you. You’re the only person in the world I trust.”