'Good." Skull-Face barked a command in j.a.panese.

The two masked guards picked up whipping-canes and positioned themselves behind Steve's shoulders.

'I won't beat about the bush, Mr Brickman. Neither of us has much time to spare. You will therefore answer any questions I put to you directly and without hesitation. As you will soon discover, I know the score so do not prevaricate and, above all, don't get smart. My job is to help you escape, and in return you are going to help me. Is that clear?"

'Yes, but. what happensif I don't know the answers?"

Skull-Face sighed. 'I warned you not to prevaricate,' he said softly.

'But I see you've forgotten already." He motioned to the black-clad figures.

ThurWIKK.t ThurWOKK.t Steve gasped as he received two stinging blows across the shoulderblades in quick succession. Christopher! Those whipping-canes really bit deep. And arching his back under the impact of the blows had tightened the noose round his throat and put a sickening squeeze on his s.c.r.o.t.u.m.

'I hope that will convince you we are not here to play games,' said Skull-Face. 'If you give me any more trouble, I'll cut your p.r.i.c.k and b.a.l.l.s off and send you home with them in this pickle jar." Reaching both hands behind him, he produced a curved dagger and a capped gla.s.s jar and placed them in front of Steve.

It was the kind of stunt that dear old Uncle Bart might have pulled, but Steve had a chill feeling that this guy really meant it.

'Okay, Mr Brickman. We know that you're an agent of AMEXICO and that you have been dealing with a representative of the ruling faction. We also know that you have come to an arrangement whereby you are to wreck the Heron Pool project and cause the death of Consul-General Nakane Toh-Shiba. In return, you have been promised unhindered pa.s.sage out of the country with the two long-dogs who delivered the original flying-horses to Domain-Lord Hiro Yama-s.h.i.ta. Is that correct?"

There was only one thing to say. 'Yes."

'Good. These arrangements have our approval. You will proceed as planned. Now - do you know the ident.i.ty of the man you have been dealing with?"

'He has never divulged it, but I believe him to be a Herald of the Inner Court called Toshiro HaseGawa."

'Excellent. We're making progress. I am now going to ask you what plans you have made for your escape. But before you do so, let me answer a question which I am sure is in your mind. "Am I in the hands of people who are working with Hase-Gawa?" No. You are not. As is already clear, we share certain objectives, but we belong to a... rival organisation. Which no doubt leads you to ask: "What proof is there of this?" ' 'Let me give you three facts which I am sure you are certain the Herald is unaware of. Facts which will demonstrate the extent of our knowledge and the efficiency of our organisation, and - who knows may even persuade you to trust us.

'Fact One: we know that it was the female you have just visited who used her influence to persuade the Consul-General to transfer you from the post-house to the Heron Pool.

'Fact Two: we know her male companion, who has a.s.sumed your ident.i.ty, can speak our language fluently.

'Fact Three: we know you have had discussions with a colleague of yours about taking a boat-trip through the ca.n.a.l-system from Ari-bani to Bu-faro. Your colleague is disguised as a Mute. He wears a red bandanna, and his code-name is SideWinder."

Steve tried but failed to hide his astonishment.

Skull-Face eyed him with a thin smile. 'We've known about him for a long time. We picked him up a few weeks after he was inserted into Ne-Issan, and we've been doing business with him ever since. In fact, it was through us he got his present job on the wheelboats."

Already naked, Steve felt as if he was now being stripped bare on the inside as well. Was there anything these people were not aware of Did they know that his talk of a 'ma.s.sive intervention' was nothing more than a colossal bluff?. In spite of being painfully trussed up and totally defenceless, he did his best to exude an air of calm a.s.surance.

Underneath, though, he was more frightened than he'd been in a long time.

And also totally bewildered. His preparations for the big break, and his last session with the Herald, had gone so well he had allowed himself to lapse into a careless, self, congratulatory mood. He was the guy that could do it all. And he'd swum blindly into the net. But even if he'd been alert, he doubted whether he could have evaded his present captors. Steve had packed in a lot of experience - much of it painful - since emerging onto the overground. He knew he was in the hands of hard men who, as his interrogator had revealed, were real professionals. Christo! He'd been beavering away thinking he's gotten himself into the big game, only to discover that there was an even bigger game going on!

Skull-Face, who had been watching him closely, said: 'I can see you find all of this rather difficult to take on board. But then you are still a relative beginner. In time you will discover that those involved in the gathering of intelligence and the maintenance of internal security are often linked by common interests - that are not always shared by their masters."

Steve nodded gingerly. 'I can understand that."

'For instance, we know you have been using a concealed radio to keep in contact with AMEXICO. We also have a number of similar devices."

Skull-Face produced a compact but powerful-looking walkie-talkie that could only have come from the Federation.

The j.a.p pressed the Transmit b.u.t.ton and spoke briefly into the mouthpiece. Steve heard someone reply with a burst of gobbledegook.

'That's our man at the Heron Pool,' explained Skull-Face. 'He's keeping an eye on your shack. It might be awkward if someone discovered you weren't there."

He acknowledged the message, then laid the handset on the mat between them.

Steve followed it down with his eyes and stared at it fixedly as he tried to come to grips with what he'd got himself into.

'Let me try and guess what you are thinking,' said Skull-Face. 'You are trying to reconcile your discovery that our organisation is using radios with your knowledge that what we call the Dark Light and any object which contains it is expressly forbidden. In fact, to introduce a device of this kind into Ne-Issan is an act of high treason."

'It did cross my mind,' admitted Steve.

'Rightly so. The Dark Light is a destructive force that must never again be allowed to fall into the hands of the greedy or the unscrupulous. Never again will the spinners and weavers imprison the world in their evil nets. But we do not seek power, we merely exercise the power we are given to maintain the status quo - and we are prepared to use any means to achieve that end."

Skull-Face picked up the walkie-talkie and bared his teeth in what Steve a.s.sumed to be a smile. His gums had shrunk away from his parchment-yellow teeth. A real Dr Death.

'There is a saying that dates from The World Before: "In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." ' 'Gotcha. Smart move..."

Skull-Face nodded. 'Now tell me about yours. How did you plan to get out of here?"

Steve told the j.a.p what he wanted to know. There was no point in trying to conceal anything. If Side-Winder was working both sides of the track, the ship-board escape route via Bu-faro was already totally compromised. Steve explained how, after reaching the Hudson River by air, he had planned to use Cadillac's ability to speak j.a.panese.

Dressed in one of Clearwater's silken robes and the white mask she had worn on her travels, the Mute would pose as the courtesan 'Yoko Mi-Shima'. As such, he would be able to purchase the boat-tickets, buy food and answer any questions about the four Mute slaves accompanying 'her'. Apart from the middle finger of his right hand, Steve was already dressed for the part. The two sets of body-paints were to be used to disguise Jodi and Kelso whom he had recruited to help guard his prisoners. In Clearwater's case, it was not really a disguise but a return to her usual colouring.

Skull-Face mulled things over, then asked: 'Did HaseGawa know that the two individuals you sought were gra.s.s-monkeys?"

'Yes, I told him and Clearwater confirmed it later on."

The j.a.p's slitted eyes seemed to close completely. 'You are absolutely sure about this? There could have been no room for any misunderstanding?"

'No. He questioned her at length. Ask the other samurai who was there. The chief ronin. n.o.buro NakaJima."

It was Skull-Face's turn to look surprised. 'How do you know this man's name?"

'It's a long story. I saved the life of his wife and child.

But that's irrelevant. He took me to meet the Herald. He was sat right beside me when I told Hase-Gawa he'd got it wrong."

'I see. And he was also there when the Herald questioned the female?"

'No. When she was brought in, he stayed in the other room. But the walls were only made of paper. Maybe he listened in."

'Maybe he did... ' mused Skull-Face. 'Describe what happened when you left the pavilion."

'n.o.buro's men took Clearwater away first, then he tied my hands behind my back and Hase-Gawa led me away."

'It was dark?"