Free Manalone by Colin Kapp Page B

even lead to civil war.’
    ‘You’re bluffing, Manalone.’
    ‘That’s something you’ll never be sure of unless you put it to the test.’
    ‘But how the hell …?’ Her eyes scanned the central processor and she visibly recoiled when she saw the number of open external data links he had been using.
    ‘You haven’t …?’ Her conclusion was one which evoked real alarm.
    ‘I haven’t blown it yet,’ said Manalone. ‘But if I’m not around to keep things in trim then a few million computer-service subscribers are going to get some very disturbing facts delivered on their printout terminals. And don’t waste time trying to find the memory banks which contain the information. The deposition’s coded and spread through half a hundred memory stores right across the country. You wouldn’t even recognize it if you found it.’
    ‘You’re a damn fool, Manalone. They won’t let you get away with it. They’ll punish you. You’ve no idea what you’re taking on.’
    ‘I knowsufficient to be able to buy some time while I come to grips with the rest.’
    The autophone called shrilly, and she answered it, then held out the handset. ‘It’s for you. Paul Raper calling from London.’
    ‘Manalone!’ Raper’s voice sounded tired and alarmed. ‘I think we’ve hit trouble. The blast destroyed most of my files, but the MIPS may have enough to start them asking questions. I’m going to try to get through to the raft and stay out of the way for a while. If you can meet me there, I’ve got something for you.’
    ‘Get off the line!’ said Manalone. ‘There’s an MIPS agent standing right near me.’ He dropped the handset back on its rest as though it had suddenly grown hot, and swiftly erased the caller’s number.
    Completely composed now, Maurine van Holt was watching him from a discreet distance, smiling her bent and cynical smile which became more enigmatic and more challenging the longer he looked at it. Their eyes met for a long time, locked in the intimacy of mutual defiance.
    ‘Well,’ said Manalone, ‘what happens now?’
    ‘Should something happen?’ she asked, her amusement rising to the surface. ‘After all, as you were overheard to say at Cain’s, there isn’t a war on.’
    Which was another phrase in which the exact words did not count.

12
Manalone and the Face of Death
    She had not beennear enough to hear Paul Raper’s side of the conversation on the autophone, but Manalone was beginning to understand the web which was around him sufficiently to appreciate that the call had almost certainly been monitored. Maurine’s triumphant grin virtually confirmed the fact. Not only was he under close surveillance, but he obviously had been for some time past. Maurine van Holt’s interest may have become complicated by their personal relationship, but it had started and been maintained in a highly professional way.
    Accepting this, Paul Raper had just talked himself into a net by an admission that he had something to conceal. Manalone had no way of stopping Raper from coming, nor could he stop the MIPS who might wait for Raper at the raft. There was just the slight possibility that if Raper came by hover-train, Manalone might be able to intercept him at Bognor Terminal.
    Thinking about it, Manalone realized the incongruity of the situation. His own complicity with Raper would be at least as well known to the MIPS as were Raper’s supposed indiscretions. In fact, by some remarkable act of intuition, the MIPS would appear to have anticipated his own interest by something like three years. Not only had Maurine van Holt been inserted into his life as a confidante, but it was now obvious that his habitual corner of Cain’s club had been ingeniously bugged despite Cain’s anti-bug devices. Yet surprisingly his fears were not for himself, but for Paul Raper.
    It was Raper’s contact who had been killed by a Service laser, and Raper’s office which had been opened by a bomb. Possibly the MIPS could