nd know how to take orders. We're going to
get some positive action at last."

X

"It's suicide," the taller guard grumbled.

"Mine, not yours, so don't worry about it," Brion barked at him.
"Your job is to remember your orders and keep them straight.
Now--let's hear them again."

The guard rolled his eyes up in silent rebellion and repeated in a
toneless voice: "We stay here in the car and keep the motor running
while you go inside the stone pile there. We don't let anybody in
the car and we try and keep them clear of the car--short of shooting
them, that is. We don't come in, no matter what happens or what it
looks like, but wait for you here. Unless you call on the radio, in
which case we come in with the automatics going and shoot the place
up, and it doesn't matter who we hit. This will be done only as
a last resort."

"See if you can't arrange that last resort thing," the other guard
said, patting the heavy blue barrel of his weapon.

"I meant that _last_ resort," Brion said angrily. "If any guns go
off without my permission you will pay for it, and pay with your
necks. I want that clearly understood. You are here as a rear guard
and a base for me to get back to. This is my operation and mine
alone--unless I call you in. Understood?"

He waited until all three men had nodded in agreement, then checked
the charge on his gun--it was fully loaded. It would be foolish to
go in unarmed, but he had to. One gun wouldn't save him. He put it
aside. The button radio on his collar was working and had a strong
enough signal to get through any number of walls. He took off his
coat, threw open the door and stepped out into the searing
brilliance of the Disan noon.

There was only the desert silence, broken by the steady throb of
the car's motor behind him. Stretching away to the horizon in every
direction was the eternal desert of sand. The keep stood nearby,
solitary, a massive pile of black rock. Brion plodded closer,
watching for any motion from the walls. Nothing stirred. The
high-walled, irregularly shaped construction sat in a ponderous
silence. Brion was sweating now, only partially from the heat.

He circled the thing, looking for a gate. There wasn't one at ground
level. A slanting cleft in the stone could be climbed easily, but it
seemed incredible that this might be the only entrance. A complete
circuit proved that it was. Brion looked unhappily at the slanting
and broken ramp, then cupped his ha