"Yes," she replied. "But I have given you all the help I can. The next
attempt you make, you will have nothing on which to lean except your
own strength."

"But why do I always arrive at the point where I'm being shot by
Tournay, regardless of what course I choose? Is there no way I can
beat him?"

"If you believe in fate as strongly as I do, you will accept that
conclusion as inevitable. The long gray sedan is the symbol of your
death. You cannot avoid it--at least not as long as you persist in
passive action."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Just this. You wish to see Tournay punished--your sense of justice
demands it. But each time you try to have someone else administer that
punishment. It appears to me that the only possibility of your
breaking this fateful progression of events is for you to administer
the punishment yourself. You probably realize the danger of trying
that. But I can't see where you have any other choice."

"In other words, you feel that the only chance I have of preventing
Tournay from killing me--is to kill him first?"

"Yes," Lima said. "Are you strong and hard enough to do it?"

Bennett thought for only a brief moment before he nodded. "I'm
desperate enough, at any rate."

This time he did not leave immediately. He had to find out something
first. He put his arms around Lima's shoulders and drew her toward
him. She put her face up and he kissed her waiting lips. They were
sweet and, if she did not return the ardor of his kiss, he did not
notice it.

* * * * *

"Mr. Tournay is not in," the girl at the desk told Bennett. "You might
try his home."

At a pay-booth in the lobby, Bennett called Tournay's home. The voice
that answered was that of a tired woman, one who has given up hope.
"Mr. Tournay called me a short time ago and said that he would be in
the office of a Mr. Leroy Bennett, in the Lowry building, if anyone
called," the tired voice said.

Bennett hung up and caught a cab. His quarry had walked into an ideal
place for their meeting. For better or for worse, he would soon bring
this conflict to an end.

In his office, Bennett found that Tournay had been there and gone. He
had left a message: "Tell Mr. Bennett that Lima sent me!"

So that was it--Lima had used Bennett as a dupe! He could not figure
out her purpose, but he knew that he could never trust her again. She
had been against him from the first. Perhaps even she, rather than
Tourn