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"Do you want to abandon your plan?" she said.
"If I do, you know the word," he said. "Watch it! Here they come!"
Ramos and the gangly man stopped before him. The gangly man said, "Paul?" using the name Kickaha had given Cambring.
Kickaha nodded. He saw another big car enter the parking lot. It was too far for him to distinguish features, but the driver, wearing a hat and dark glasses, could be Cambring. There were three others in his car.
"Are you Red Orc?" Kickaha said, knowing that the tall man was probably carrying a device which would transmit the conversation to the Lord, wherever he was.
"Who? Who's Redark?" the tall man said. "My name is Kleist. Now, Mr. Paul, would you mind telling me what you want?"
Kickaha spoke in the language of the Lords, "Red Orc! I am not a Lord but an Earthling who found a gate to the universe of Jadawin, whom you may remember. I came back to Earth, though I did not want to, to hunt down the Beller. I have no desire to stay here; I wish only to kill the Beller and get back to my adopted world. I have no interest in challenging you."
Kleist said, "What the hell you gibbering about? Speak English, man!"
Rarnos looked uneasy. He said, "He's flipped."
Kleist suddenly looked dumbfounded. Kickaha guessed that he was getting orders.
"Mr. Paul," Kleist said, "I am empowered to offer you complete amnesty. Just come with us and we will introduce you to the man you want to see."
"Nothing doing," Kickaha said. "I'll work with your boss, but I won't put myself in his power. He may be all right, but I have no reason to trust him. I would like to cooperate with him, however, in tracking down the Beller."
Kleist's expression showed that he did not understand the reference to the Beller.
Kickaha looked around again. The men on his left and right were drifting closer. The two men in the car on Wilshire had gotten out. One was looking under the hood with the other man, but the third was gazing through the fence at Kickaha. When he saw Kickaha looking at him, he slowly turned away.
Kickaha said angrily, "You were told that only two of you should come! You're trying to spring a trap on me! You surely don't think you can kidnap me here in the middle of all these people?"
"Now, now, Mr. Paul!" Kleist said. "You're mistaken! Don't be nervous! There's only two of us, and we're here to talk to you, only that."
Anana said, "A police car has just pulled up behind that car on the street."
Kleist and Ramos looked at each other; it was evident that they had also seen the police car. But they looked as if they had no intention of leaving.
Kickaha said, "If your boss would like me to help, he'll have to think of some way of guaranteeing me passage back."
He decided he might as well spring his surprise now. The Lord knew that there was a woman with Kickaha, and while he had no way of knowing that she was a Lord, he must suspect it. Kickaha had only been on Earth a short time when the Lord's men had seen her with him. And since he knew that the gate had been activated twice before Kickaha came along, he must suspect that the other party-or parties-was also a Lord.
Now was the time to tell Red Orc about them. This would strengthen
Kickaha's bargaining position and it might stop the effort to take him prisoner just now.
"You tell your boss," he said, "that there are four other Lords now on Earth."
Kickaha was not backward about exaggerating if it might confuse or upset the enemy. There might come a time when he could use the two nonexistent Lords as leverage.
"Also," he added, "there are two Earthlings who have come from Jadawin's world. Myself and a woman who is with Jadawin."
That ought to rock him, he thought. Arouse his curiosity even more. He must be wondering how two Earthlings got into Jadawin's world in the first place and how they got back here.
"You tell your boss," Kickaha said, "that none of us, except for the Beller, mean him any harm. We just want to kill the Beller and get the hell out of this stinking universe."
Kickaha thought that Red Orc should be able to understand that. What Lord in his right mind would want to take control of Earth from another Lord? What Lord would want to stay here when he could go to a much nicer, if much smaller, universe?
Kleist was silent for a moment. His head was slightly cocked as if he were listening to an invisible demon on his shoulder. Then he said, "What difference does it make if there are four Lords?"
It was obvious that Kleist was relaying the message and that he did not understand the references.
Kickaha spoke in the language of the Lords. "Red Orc! You have forgotten the device that every Lord carries in his brain. The alarm that rings in every Lord's head when he gets close to the metal bell of a Beller! With four Lords searching for the Beller, the chances for finding him are greater!"
Kleist had dropped any pretense that he was not in direct communication with his chief. He said, "How does he know that you are not the Beller?"
"If I were a Beller, why would I get into contact with you, let you know you had a dangerous enemy loose in your world?"
"He says," Kleist reported, his face becoming blanker as he talked, as if he were turning into a mechanical transceiver, "that a Beller would try to locate all Lords as quickly as possible. After all, a Lord is the only one besides a Beller who knows that Bellers exist. Or who can do anything about them. So you would try to find him, just as you are now doing. Even if it meant your life. Bellers are notorious for sacrificing one of their number if they can gain an advantage thereby.
"He also says, how does he know that these so-called Lords are not your fellow Bellers?"
Kickaha spoke in the Lords' tongue. "Red Orc! You are trying my patience. I have appealed to you because I know of your vast resources! You haven't got much choice, Red Orc! If you force me to cut off contact with you, then you won't know that I'm not a Beller and your sleep will be hideous with nightmares about the Bellers at large! In fact, the only way you can be sure that I'm not a Beller is to work with me, but under my terms! I insist on that!"
The only way to impress a Lord was to be even more arrogant than he.
Anana's voice said, "The car's gone. The police must have scared them out. The police car's going now."
Kickaha raised his arm and muttered into the transceiver, "Where are the others?"
"Closing in. They're standing by the fence and pretending to look at the statues. But they're working toward you."
He looked past Kleist and Ramos across the grass. The two cars he had suspected were now empty, except for one man, whom he thought would be Cambring. The others were among the picnickers on the grass. He saw two men who looked grim and determined and tough; they could be Cambring's.
"We'll take off to my left," he said. "Around the fence and across Wilshire. If they follow us, it'll have to be on foot. At first, at least."
He flicked a look toward Anana. She had gotten up from the bench and was strolling toward him.
Kleist said, "Very well. I am authorized to accept your terms."
He smiled disarmingly and stepped closer. Ramos tensed.
"Couldn't we go elsewhere? It's difficult to carry on a conversation here. But it'll be wherever you say."
Kickaha was disgusted. He had just been about to agree that it would be best to tie in with Red Orc. Through him, the Beller and Wolff and Chryseis might be found, and after that the dam could break and the devil take the hindmost. But the Lord was following the bent of his kind; he was trusting his power, his ability to get anything or anybody he wanted.
Kickaha made one last try. "Hold it! Not a step closer! You ask your boss if he remembers Anana, his niece, or Jadawin, his nephew? Remembers how they looked? If he can identify them, then he'll know I'm telling the truth."