Despite the feeling of being a stranger in a strange world, and of being caught up in a strange set of circ.u.mstances, he found himself feeling delightful tremors when he thought of Beth. Even now, there was a tight, fluttering sensation in his insides when he thought of the talc.u.med satin of her skin, the warm lift of her brightly nippled b.r.e.a.s.t.s and the strong response of her rounded thighs. She was a beautiful woman. She was s.e.x all rolled up in a frame of gentle curves and soft flesh, and he could see that to love a woman like her would not only be easy, it would be a privilege.

He buckled the belt about his waist, trying to dispel the thoughts of the woman, and went downstairs to the kitchen. Hunger gnawed at him violently.

The coffee was cold. He turned the gas on under it and the note on the table caught his eye. He picked it up to scan it briefly.

DARLING,

HAD TO RUSH OFF TO WORK. KISSED YOU GOOD-BY AND YOU SAID "GLUMPTH".

BE HOME SOON. LOVE YOU TERRIBLY.

BETH

He grinned at the note, balled it into his fist and threw it into the paper can. When the coffee was hot, he poured himself a cup and fixed a couple of sandwiches with what was left of the package of cold meat. As he was finishing the last couple of bites of the sandwich, he heard the thud of the evening paper against the front door. For a moment, it startled him, then, when he had realized what it was, he was half out of the chair... He paused there momentarily, then sank back into his seat.

He _couldn't_ go out there and get the paper - if the neighbors saw him picking it up ... He sat there, waiting for Beth to come home, the suspense digging into his guts with ragged teeth. Had they found the plane? Were they onto him? Who were those two men? How did they know where to find him? Why were they looking for him?

He drank d.a.m.ned near the whole pot of coffee and watched the hands of the electric clock move with agonizing slowness. Finally, at five forty, Beth drove up to the house and came through the door. Nick leaped from the chair.

"The paper!" He s.n.a.t.c.hed it from her hands and began tearing it open.

d.a.m.n newsboys for folding them!

"Nick! Aren't you going to kiss me?"

"Huh? Oh." He kissed her briefly, fleetingly, and returned to the paper.

The crash was on page one.

WRECKAGE OF PRIVATE AIRCRAFT FOUND

Everett, Pa. The smouldering wreckage of what was apparently a private plane was found late yesterday evening in the heavily wooded area north of the city by a young Boy Scout looking for a campsite.

Benjamin Talbot, aged 13, after locating the mangled aircraft, promptly called local police who dispatched Detective Lieutenant Nolan Brice, Everett Rescue Squad and FAA investigator Arron P.

d.i.c.kson to examine the wreckage.

"It's the most unusual crash site I've ever seen," FAA investigator d.i.c.kson told local newsmen. "There's no evidence of wings or tail a.s.sembly. The fuselage is also of a strange design."

Detective Lieutenant Brice, after checking with the airport tower at Everett, and with CAP officials, informed newsmen that no private aircraft had been reported in trouble, or even over the particular area in which the craft was found. "Of course," Lieutenant Brice added, "one plane may have gone unnoticed. This is highly unlikely, but we cannot overlook the possibility. What is puzzling, to me, is that the aircraft has not been identified and there have been no bodies found."

"The Civil Air Patrol," Mr. d.i.c.kson commented, "has been most cooperative and are now engaged in an air search of the area, while rescue squads work in the mountains."

Mr. d.i.c.kson went on to state that the mystery crash will be thoroughly investigated by authorities in an effort to determine the make and model of the plane, as well as the fate of its occupants.

At present, the crash site has been roped off and placed under guard by local Militiamen. Only authorized personnel will be allowed to view the wreckage. Major Gilbert Donnoue, of the Air Force Experimental Wing, refused to make a statement as to whether the plane was of Air Force origin. "To my knowledge, we have lost no test planes. However, an extensive check will undoubtedly be run to verify this."

Test plane? Nick stared in amazement at the words that leaped at him from the printed page. Test plane? What the h.e.l.l was going on in this screwy world? No wings? No tail a.s.sembly? No Mayday calls? No record of the plane? The whole d.a.m.ned thing sounded ridiculous. Coupled with the fact that he had been out of touch for thirteen months, it all became weird.

And to top it all off, Nolan Brice was one of the men who had been placed on the investigating staff at the crash scene. Suppose he, Nick, had left something at the scene ... a fraternity pin, a slip of paper ... anything that would link the crash to the fact that he was alive and in Everett. The whole d.a.m.ned bunch would be on his tail, before you could say, "Jack Robinson." He...

"Nick," Beth pouted. "Will you pay a little attention to me for a change?"

"I'm sorry, honey, but it's the plane." While she listened he read the account aloud and, when he'd finished, they exchanged glances. "That's the plane I was in," he told her.

"But you don't know how to fly."

"I must know, unless someone else flew it. That's the plane I woke up beside. I must have been in the d.a.m.ned thing. But I don't know if anyone else was." He buried his face in his hands.

"Nick. Should we call the police?"

"No!"

Alarmed at his violent outburst, she put her hand on his shoulder to comfort him. "All right dear. I'm sorry."

"It'd been different, if those men weren't after me. I'd call the police if they weren't d.o.g.g.i.ng my tracks. I'd turn myself in just to find out what the h.e.l.l's going on."

"Me too," she said softly.

At first he didn't catch the meaning behind her words, then he blinked.

"What?" He asked.

"The car, the black one. It followed me to work this morning." She paused, then added, "It didn't follow me home though."

Nick slammed the paper to the floor, his lean jaw muscles knotted in anger. "That settles it," he snapped. "I can face whatever I'm mixed up in, but there's no earthly reason why you should be subjected to it!

I'll have to get out!"

Beth threw herself into his arms, the ever ready tears welling in her eyes. "No, Nick," she pleaded. "Whatever it is, we'll fight it. We'll make out, but darling, don't leave me again!"

He held her tightly against him, his hands stroking the warm softness of her back and spine. The perfume of her hair filled him with a heady thought of summer fields of flowers, of sweetness and tenderness, of ...

love. Love. Nick Danson, he told himself, you _are_ mixed up. You're falling in love with your own wife.

"... and we'll go away," Beth was whispering in his ear. "We'll pack everything and go far away, where we'll never see these men again. Nick.

Please. Oh, please keep me with you."

"Going away won't settle anything, sweetheart. They'll always be there, just outside the door. I've got to do something..."

He broke off suddenly and it flicked into his mind like a film of the past, like a memory. The soft face of the girl, her hair a golden color against the backdrop of the ochre mountains ... the softness of the pale blue-green tree... She spun away from him, the loose, filmy blue dress whirling about her trim ankles ... then she was coming back to him, arms outstretched ... kissing him lovingly...

He shut it off, clamped it from his mind. A memory! A memory that made no sense at all. A tremor of fear ran along his spine and trembled in his flesh. What did it mean? What was happening to him?

"Nick?" It was Beth. "What is it, Nick? You look pale and frightened."

"Nothing. We'll go away."

She beamed. "I know just the place. The cabin. Far up in the mountains.

No one will know we're there. We'll learn to love each other again."

"You have to work," he pointed out.

She nodded. "That's true, still _you_ could go up there and try to puzzle this all out. I can come up in the evenings, and on weekends."

"Might be a good idea," he admitted, thinking that at least, he'd be safe from prying eyes.