Part 24 (1/2)
”I guessed as much,” frowned Philip. ”You see, I came down in a field, and then before I could free myself from my trappings I was pounced on-trussed up and blindfolded-by a gang of men. I knew they had taken me a long distance by automobile, but I saw nothing more until they tore the blindfold from my eyes when they left me here.”
”And they were all strangers to you?”
”Yes-those that I saw.”
”Isn't this enough for just now, Burke?” interrupted Keane, and Quest received an impression of uneasiness that was not apparent in the inventor's tone. ”After a good rest he's sure to recall things that escape him now.”
”Just one minute,” nodded the detective, turning back to Philip. ”Can you think of no plausible reason for this attack? Is there no one who might possibly benefit by putting you temporarily out of the way?”
Philip gave a frightened start. Then he was on his feet, clutching at his brother's arm.
”Keane!” he pleaded, ”Keane! What's happened? I know, I know! It's the Projector.”
”Water!” roared Keane, and Quest felt the panic that coursed through him as he tried to drown out his brother. ”Somebody bring water! He needs it!”
At the same time he s.n.a.t.c.hed up Philip's hand in a grip of steel. Instantly the latter's wild eyes became calm, the flush pa.s.sed from his relaxing face, and he slumped down weakly on the couch.
In that fleeting moment Quest surged into the body of Philip and confronted his will with a fierce and triumphant ardor. For now his will would have command of a body with which to fight his fiend of a Control.
With a sensation of contempt he met Philip's resistance and buffeted him ruthlessly backward, crushed down and compressed his feebly struggling will. And as Philip yielded, Quest felt his own will expanding to normal, taking possession of the borrowed body with hungry greed, and flas.h.i.+ng from its faded eyes the spark of youth.
Burke stared in amazement at the kaleidoscopic rapidity of the changes in the rescued man's expression. Strange lights and shadows continued to flit across Philip's face as Quest's invasion of him proceeded, but with a diminis.h.i.+ng frequency which soon a.s.sured Keane that his Agent was tightening his command.
The younger of Burke's aides stood fascinated, his mouth agape. The other spoke guardedly to his superior:
”Dope, eh!”
”Nah!” replied Burke, shrugging himself out of his trance. ”Shock.”
The actual duration of the conflict in Philip was something less than three seconds. It would have been more brief if Quest had exerted himself to the utmost. But his sensations as he first surged into this new habitat under Keane's propulsion were so weird and unearthly that for the moment he was lost in the wonder of the experience. For that short time, therefore, Philip was able to fight back against the onrush of the invading will.
In the next second Quest became conscious of the resistance. Urged on by his Control, he must push Philip back and quell him; but his sympathy for his opponent and his hatred of Keane roused him to sudden revolt. He wanted to disobey the Master Will, retreat, leave Philip in command of himself. But he could only go on, unwillingly thrusting back Philip's will despite the indescribable torment and confusion in his own. Then, with the feeling that he was ten times worse than the most inhuman ghoul, he took full possession of his borrowed body.
”I'll take him home now,” said Keane composedly to Burke. ”As you see, he needs a little extra sleep. Meanwhile, if you have any occasion to call me, I will be at the factory.”
To the youthful mind of the Agent, used to the lightness of an athletic physique, the body in which it moved down the stairs to the limousine seemed strangely heavy and awkward.
”I'm badly done up, Keane,” he said with Philip's lips as the car got under way.
”Bah!” snorted Keane, ”you've had a scare, that's all. Go to bed when you get home and sleep till nine this evening. At ten a man named Dr. Nukharin will call for you. He will drive you to a garage, leave the car, and transfer to another one a few blocks away.
”Out near Marbleton you will find an airplane staked in an open field. Nukharin is a capable pilot. He will fly back southeast along the lakesh.o.r.e to the meeting place. You should arrive about twelve-thirty. The test is set for one o'clock.”
Quest listened in a state of abject rage. Lacking the power to resist his Control, he could only boil away in Philip's body like a wild creature hemmed in by bars of steel.
”Bring with you,” continued Keane venomously, ”the set of papers that you took from the safe in my office. Hold the other set in readiness to deliver to Nukharin to-morrow, after he has studied the results of the test and has notified Paris to release a hundred million dollars in cash for delivery at your Loop office at 3 p. m.”
The murderous greed of the man maddened Quest. He tried to revolt, his will squirming like a physical thing, thres.h.i.+ng the ether like a wounded shark in the sea. For a moment he felt that he was about to burst the bonds that his demon of a Control had woven around him. So violently did he resist that the immured and sporelike will of Philip forged up fitfully out of the blackness and joined his in the hopeless struggle. But along the attenuated conduits that still chained Quest to the Master Will Keane caught the impulse of the mutiny, and his eyes darted flame as he countered with a will-shock that paralyzed his unruly Agent.
”Listen! you whimpering dog,” he snarled. ”Think as I tell you-and nothing more! You are going to apologize to Dr. Nukharin for your previous unwillingness to sell the Projector. You are going to tell him that I am at fault-that I held out-but that you found a way to force my compliance. You understand?”