d him dead center and now we've lost him. If I had my
way, we'd have taken him sooner."

* * * * *

Jadiver's reasoning was not so good if the police were this close. He
got up and crept noiselessly toward the door, fully dressed, as he had
to be at all times if he expected to scramble the circuit signal.

The companion of the first policeman was more cheerful. "He's not lost.
We've just mislaid him. We know the direction he's in. Follow the line
and there he is at the end of it."

"Sounds good, but have we got him?"

"We will."

That was the fallacy. He'd scrambled the signal, but he hadn't
eliminated it. He still showed up on the police instrument as a
direction. He could imagine a technician sitting in front of a crazily
wavering screen. The instrument could no longer pick up what he saw
through his eyes, but it hadn't lost him altogether.

Jadiver clutched the tangle gun.

"Better check where we are," said the first officer.

"Going to," answered the second. Jadiver couldn't see, but he could
visualize the pocket instrument. "This is Lieutenant Parder. How close
are we?"

The voice came back, almost inaudible. What he could hear, though, was
disturbing. It sounded like someone he knew, but not Doumya Filone.
"You're off a hundred yards to your left," said the voice. "Also, he's a
mile farther out. Either that or a hundred and fifty miles."

"He's really moving," said the lieutenant. "A hundred and fifty miles is
in the middle of the swamp."

"I know that," said the tantalizing familiar voice. "I can't choose
between outside and inside the city. If he's inside, I want him to move.
That motion, extended a hundred and fifty miles, by simple mathematics
will indicate a distance he couldn't possibly travel in the jungle." The
voice paused. "We'll send a party to check the swamp. You go to the
point a mile farther on. We want him tonight. If we don't get him, we'll
probably have to wait until tomorrow night."

"I'll find him," said the lieutenant. "Report when I get there."

Jadiver could hear footsteps receding down the hall.

He breathed in relief. The makeshift shield hadn't been a total failure.
They knew the direction, but not the distance from some central
location. The scramble had affected the strength of the signal and they
couldn't be sure.

The impromptu visit told him this as well: there was only one instrument
on him. With two, they could work a triangulation