When do you think he'll make his play?"
"It'll have to be some time before tomorrow noon," Johnson answered."Under our setup we accept furs from the natives whenever they'rebrought in. But we pay off only once a year. That way I'm not burdenedwith guarding money the whole year around. I have well over fiftythousand credits in the safe now. And tomorrow I begin paying off."
"Then we'll have to be ready for him," Hawkes said, "though I don'texpect him until tonight. Probably just about the time you're ready toclose. He'll need you to open the safe. I can count on your help?"
Johnson nodded.
* * * * *
That night as they waited in his office, Johnson turned to Hawkes."I've been giving some thought to what you told me this afternoonabout the robberies. I have a theory that might account for some ofthe things we don't understand."
"Yes?" Hawkes looked closely at Johnson.
"You've probably heard of our tourist attraction called Nature'sMoebius Strip? As far as we know, no one has ever gone beyond acertain point--and returned. Suppose there's a time flaw at thatpoint--and the bearded man has somehow learned about it. Supposeanyone completing the Moebius circle, and returning, finds--say,twenty years have elapsed, while to him only a few minutes havepassed?"
"Go on." Hawkes leaned forward intently.
"He makes his first holdup," Johnson continued, "and goes around theStrip. When he comes out twenty years later they're no longer lookingfor him. He leaves Marlock, and during the next five years he goesthrough the money he stole. He returns and repeats the process. Thistime the money lasts only three years. Now he's back to try it again.Do you see how that would tie everything up in a neat little package?"
Hawkes smiled, as he relaxed and sat back. "A bit too neat," he said."Also, you don't have an ounce of concrete evidence to back up yourtheory."
"That's right. I don't," Johnson agreed.
Outside the door a board creaked. Johnson glanced quickly across theroom to where Hawkes sat with a pistol on his lap. Hawkes' eyebrowsraised, but he made no sound.
* * * * *
Suddenly the door was kicked open and the black-bearded stranger stoodframed in the doorway. "Raise 'em!" he barked. The gun in his hand wasaimed at Johnson.
The man took two steps into the room. Hawkes shifted slightly in hischair and the gunman's head swiveled in his direction. The slug fromHawkes' pistol made a small blue hole in the upper left corner of hisforehead.
The thug's face tipped up, shocked and unbelieving. He swayed slowlybefore he fell backward, his body rigid. His fur cap flew from hishead as he struck the floor.
"I thought we'd better play it safe," Hawkes said as he rose andwalked over to the fallen man. He slipped his gun into his pocketbefore he bent and picked up the cap at his feet. He dropped it overthe upturned face.
For a long moment the silence held thin as the two men looked at eachother. Hawkes stood, wiping his right hand on his trouser leg. Johnsontoyed idly with the gun he had picked up from the desk in front ofhim.
Finally Hawkes let his body sag into a chair at Johnson's right. "Thisis always a dirty business," he said sourly.
Johnson sat down also. "Did you notice the look on his face when hesaw you, and you shot him?" he asked, abstractedly turning the pistolin his hand. "Funny thing. In that half-second before he fell anarticle I read somewhere flashed into my mind. It seems that duringthe French Revolution a certain doctor got to wondering just how longa man's brain remained active after his head had been cut off. Hepersuaded some of his friends who were due to be guillotined tocooperate in a series of tests. Each man was to keep blinking hiseyes as long as possible after his head left his body, as a sign thathe was still conscious. The doctor counted as high as six winks."
"Very interesting, I'm sure," Hawkes said guardedly. "But a bitmorbid, isn't it?"
"I was wondering," Johnson went on as though he had not heard theother, "whether he was still conscious for that instant after you shothim. And if that brought the look of surprise to his face."
* * * * *
Hawkes turned in his chair to face Johnson fully. "You're driving atsomething," he said sharply. "Get to the point."
"Personally I've wondered at a few things about you myself," Johnsonsaid. He held the gun steadily in his hand now, no longer pretendingto play with it. "I told you that our second robbery occurred while Iwas a clerk with the Company," he went on. "They jerked me in to theHome Office, and for a while I had a pretty rough time.... You know,when I joined the Company, I was an amnesiac. I remembered my name,but that's about all...."
"No, I didn't know," Hawkes muttered, growing slightly paler.
"I learned then from the Home Office that I had been a member of theirSecret Service some twenty years earlier. I'd been sent here toinvestigate the first robbery. And I had disappeared. Naturally, theyhad suspected me.
"However, they had no evidence, and when I reappeared twenty yearslater they played it smart by just waiting, instead of arresting me.When the second robbery occurred, they closed in.
"The only thing that saved me was the fact that tests proved my memorywas really gone, and that I had told the truth--as I knew it. From thefew scraps of information I retained--about being out on the MoebiusStrip--they and I arrived at the theory I mentioned a short time ago.I was sent back here to wait. The Company never gives up. Remember?"
"Are you insinuating that I was in cahoots with this fellow here?"Hawkes asked harshly.
"I'd say it was more than an insinuation," Johnson replied. "You madeseveral other slips. In the first place, Secret Service men areusually better informed about a situation they're investigating thanyou seemed to be. Also, those identification papers you showed me werefaked."
* * * * *
The skin along the bridge of Hawkes' nose had drawn tight, and now hislips grew narrower. "In that case, why did I save you from that manthis afternoon?" he asked. "And why would I shoot him now?"
"Your saving me was an act, to get into my confidence. You shot him soyou wouldn't have to split the loot. I figure you were in with him onthe second robbery also. There had to be someone because his memorywould be gone, when he came off the Strip. But you weren't satisfied.Together you decided to pull off another robbery while you were hereand double the spoils. Then you decided you wanted it all for yourselfand you shot him."
"There's one big flaw in your reasoning," Hawkes pointed out. "How didI plan to get away? The only ships leaving here for several monthsbelong to the Company. Do you think I'd be foolish enough to expectthem to let me slip out on one of their ships?"
"No. I think you intended to go out on the Strip yourself."
"All right then," Hawkes countered. "You admitted that this was atwo-man job. How could I protect myself when I returned, if I knew inadvance that I wouldn't know who I was, let alone what I had done?"
"I'll come back to that in a minute," Johnson said. "But now I'dadvise you to drop your gun on the floor and give yourself up. You'vegot nothing to gain by carrying on the bluff. You know I'll never letyou get to the Strip. And, once I put you on the ship, the Companywill take over."
* * * * *
Hawkes' shoulders drooped. Finally he smiled raggedly. "There's no usemy arguing any longer," he said. "But you've made the mistake ofunderestimating me, my friend. I've lost my gamble. That's all. Youhave nothing on me. I'm not as ignorant of native law as I may havepretended. Granted, I am carrying a lethal weapon. But I'm on privateproperty. That's legal. I shot a man. But only in defense of my ownlife. His gun on the floor will prove he came in armed. So I'm cleanas far as the natives are concerned. Right?"
Johnson nodded.
"And, as for the Company, what will they hold me for? They can't proveany connection between me and him." Hawkes indicated the man on thefloor. "And this robbery--it never actually came off. Earth laws don'tallow prosecution for
intent. Now, where does that leave you?"
Johnson stood up. "You're right--as far as you went," he said. "But,returning to your earlier question about one man pulling this job, Iasked myself how I would do it, if it had to be done alone. And Ifound a way. You'd probably figure the same one. Now I'll take thatpaper in your pocket. It will serve very well as a confession."
Suddenly Hawkes' right hand