. But this honesty stuff,
it's like dope. You start out on a little, and you have to go all the
way."

"It didn't affect Honest Izzy," Gordon pointed out.

"Nope. Because Izzy is always honest, according to how he sees it. But
you got Earth ideas of the stuff, like I had once. Too bad." He sighed
ponderously.

* * * * *

The week moved on. The groups grew more experienced, and Murdoch was
training a new squad every night. Gordon's own squad was equipped with
shields now, and they were doing better. The number of muggings and
holdups in the section was going down. They seldom saw a man after he'd
been treated.

One of the squads was jumped by a gang of about forty, and two of the
men were killed before the nearest other squad could pull a rear attack.
That day the whole force worked overtime hunting for the men who had
escaped; and by evening the Stonewall boys had received proof that it
didn't pay to go against the police in large numbers.

After that, they began to go hunting for the members of the gang. They
had the names of nearly all of them, and some pretty good ideas of their
hide-outs.

It wasn't exactly legal; but nothing was, here. If a doctor's job was to
prevent illness, instead of merely curing it, then why shouldn't it be a
policeman's job to prevent crime? Here, that was best done by wiping out
the Stonewall gang to the last member.

This could lead to abuses, as he'd seen on Earth. But there probably
wouldn't be time for it if Mayor Wayne was re-elected.

The gang had begun to break up, but the nucleus would be the last to go.
The police had orders to beat any member on sight, now. Citizens were
appearing on the streets at night for the first time in years. And there
were smiles--hungry, beaten smiles, but still genuine ones--for the
cops.

Chapter V

RECALL

It was night outside, and the phosphor bulbs at the corners glowed
dimly, giving him barely enough light by which to locate the way to the
extemporized precinct house. Bruce Gordon reached the outskirts of the
miserable business section, noticing that a couple of the shops were
still open. It had probably been years since any had dared risk it after
the sun went down. And the slow, doubtful respect on the faces of the
citizens as they nodded to him was even more proof that Haley's system
was working. Gordon nodded to a couple, and they grinned faintly at him.
Damn it, Mars could be cleaned up...