asily?
They'd been in a big hurry to push him off base. Using the silent
treatment, this rushing around in planes, they were really working to
keep him groggy. So, all right, he'd give them a groggy boy all set up
for their job, whatever it was. Only, was his act good enough to fool
the major? Ross had a hunch that it might not be, and that really hurt.

It was deep night now. Either they had flown out of the path of the
storm or were above it. There were stars shining through the cover of
the cockpit, but no moon.

Ross's formal education was sketchy, but in his own fashion he had
acquired a range of knowledge which would have surprised many of the
authorities who had had to deal with him. All the wealth of a big city
library had been his to explore, and he had spent much time there,
soaking up facts in many odd branches of learning. Facts were very
useful things. On at least three occasions assorted scraps of knowledge
had preserved Ross's freedom, once, perhaps his life.

Now he tried to fit together the scattered facts he knew about his
present situation into some proper pattern. He was inside some new type
of super-super atomjet, a machine so advanced in design that it would
not have been used for anything that was not an important mission. Which
meant that Ross Murdock had become necessary to someone, somewhere.
Knowing that fact should give him a slight edge in the future, and he
might well need such an edge. He'd just have to wait, play dumb, and use
his eyes and ears.

At the rate they were shooting along they ought to be out of the country
in a couple of hours. Didn't the Government have bases half over the
world to keep the "cold peace"? Well, there was nothing for it. To be
planted abroad someplace might interfere with plans for escape, but he'd
handle that detail when he was forced to face it.

Then suddenly Ross was on his back once more, the giant hand digging
into his chest and middle. This time there were no lights on the ground
to guide them in. Ross had no intimation that they had reached their
destination until they set down with a jar which snapped his teeth
together.

The major wriggled out, and Ross was able to stretch his cramped body.
But the other's hand was already on his shoulder, urging him along. Ross
crawled free and clung dizzily to a ladderlike disembarking structure.

Below there were no lights, only an expanse of open snow. Men were
moving across that blank area, gathering at t