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Authors: Edward D. Hoch
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prints made of the material in his microfilm camera. He read again the Venus letter of Stanley Ambrose, and saw again the man’s smiling face at his Softball game.
“Stanley Ambrose, where are you?”
No answer came, because there was no one in the hotel room to answer him. He sighed and flipped on the vision-phone, punching out the direct line to Carl Crader’s office at CIB headquarters. When he saw Judy on the other end, he said, “Hi, doll! The chief around?”
“No, and I’m beginning to worry. He hadn’t planned to be away overnight.”
“Have you checked with Jason Blunt?”
“Not yet, but I may have to. How about you, Earl? Where are you?”
“Chicago. With Euler Frost.”
“Frost!”
“It’s a long story. Look, I should be back by tomorrow. If the chief shows up, tell him.” He blew her a kiss and clicked off. Frost should be calling soon, and he wanted the phone to be free.
Jazine met Euler Frost toward evening, in the area of downtown once referred to as the Loop. They traveled along a moving sidewalk until they reached a tall, slender building near the lakefront.
“This is the place,” Frost explained. “Nova Industries. All we have to do is get in.”
“Shouldn’t be too difficult,” Jazine said. “Just stick with me.”
Nova Industries occupied the entire seventy-sixth floor of the building, and they quickly established that the elevator was programmed to bypass that floor after six o’clock. Since newer buildings like this lacked fire stairs, Jazine knew there was no other way onto the floor. “It’s like a time lock on a bank vault,” he explained to Frost. “But there is a way to beat it.”
“How?”
Jazine worked quickly inside the elevator, flipping a panel to expose the clockwork mechanism. From his pocket he produced a miniature electromagnet which he pressed against the face of the clock. “These new time locks are great, but you can speed them up if you know how.” He started to rotate the electromagnet. “This’ll be the fastest night this elevator ever saw!”
He took the magnet away and pressed the button for the seventy-sixth floor. Nothing happened. He tried again, advancing the clock another hour. This time when he pressed the button the number 76 lit up. “We’re on our way,” he said softly to Euler Frost.
The offices of Nova Industries were like a dozen others Earl Jazine had checked out during the past year. A dummy corporation always operated along certain standard lines, whether its purpose was the changing of race-track odds or the overthrow of the federal government.
“Computer terminals,” Frost said, shining his light around.
“You don’t need that thing.” Jazine adjusted the polarized windows and flipped on the radiant ceiling. “Now you take those files while I check out these computers.”
It was long, tiring work, but at the end of an hour he had what they’d come for. The election figures had been erased from the FRIDAY-404 system by the man who killed Rogers, so it was necessary for Jazine to counterfeit a signal to the master memory unit to obtain the data he needed. It was something like an old-fashioned safe cracker testing the combinations of the vault.
Finally, though, he had it. Over 80,000 votes had been cast in the election, which took place on October 1st. They had come from the USAC mainly, but there was scattered overseas voting from various Nova subsidiaries and drilling islands. The result was the same as the figures Jazine had first discovered in the FRIDAY-404 system, but he didn’t tell Frost.
STANLEY AMBROSE 45,390
JASON BLUNT 36,455
They left the Nova offices the same way they’d entered, and Jazine set back the time clocks with his electromagnet. Then they returned to his hotel room and looked over what they had.
“The election has been held, and it appears that Ambrose won.” Euler Frost bit his lip and frowned. “It doesn’t help me or my informant at
“Stanley Ambrose, where are you?”
No answer came, because there was no one in the hotel room to answer him. He sighed and flipped on the vision-phone, punching out the direct line to Carl Crader’s office at CIB headquarters. When he saw Judy on the other end, he said, “Hi, doll! The chief around?”
“No, and I’m beginning to worry. He hadn’t planned to be away overnight.”
“Have you checked with Jason Blunt?”
“Not yet, but I may have to. How about you, Earl? Where are you?”
“Chicago. With Euler Frost.”
“Frost!”
“It’s a long story. Look, I should be back by tomorrow. If the chief shows up, tell him.” He blew her a kiss and clicked off. Frost should be calling soon, and he wanted the phone to be free.
Jazine met Euler Frost toward evening, in the area of downtown once referred to as the Loop. They traveled along a moving sidewalk until they reached a tall, slender building near the lakefront.
“This is the place,” Frost explained. “Nova Industries. All we have to do is get in.”
“Shouldn’t be too difficult,” Jazine said. “Just stick with me.”
Nova Industries occupied the entire seventy-sixth floor of the building, and they quickly established that the elevator was programmed to bypass that floor after six o’clock. Since newer buildings like this lacked fire stairs, Jazine knew there was no other way onto the floor. “It’s like a time lock on a bank vault,” he explained to Frost. “But there is a way to beat it.”
“How?”
Jazine worked quickly inside the elevator, flipping a panel to expose the clockwork mechanism. From his pocket he produced a miniature electromagnet which he pressed against the face of the clock. “These new time locks are great, but you can speed them up if you know how.” He started to rotate the electromagnet. “This’ll be the fastest night this elevator ever saw!”
He took the magnet away and pressed the button for the seventy-sixth floor. Nothing happened. He tried again, advancing the clock another hour. This time when he pressed the button the number 76 lit up. “We’re on our way,” he said softly to Euler Frost.
The offices of Nova Industries were like a dozen others Earl Jazine had checked out during the past year. A dummy corporation always operated along certain standard lines, whether its purpose was the changing of race-track odds or the overthrow of the federal government.
“Computer terminals,” Frost said, shining his light around.
“You don’t need that thing.” Jazine adjusted the polarized windows and flipped on the radiant ceiling. “Now you take those files while I check out these computers.”
It was long, tiring work, but at the end of an hour he had what they’d come for. The election figures had been erased from the FRIDAY-404 system by the man who killed Rogers, so it was necessary for Jazine to counterfeit a signal to the master memory unit to obtain the data he needed. It was something like an old-fashioned safe cracker testing the combinations of the vault.
Finally, though, he had it. Over 80,000 votes had been cast in the election, which took place on October 1st. They had come from the USAC mainly, but there was scattered overseas voting from various Nova subsidiaries and drilling islands. The result was the same as the figures Jazine had first discovered in the FRIDAY-404 system, but he didn’t tell Frost.
STANLEY AMBROSE 45,390
JASON BLUNT 36,455
They left the Nova offices the same way they’d entered, and Jazine set back the time clocks with his electromagnet. Then they returned to his hotel room and looked over what they had.
“The election has been held, and it appears that Ambrose won.” Euler Frost bit his lip and frowned. “It doesn’t help me or my informant at
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