"The doctor's been delayed," Wilfreda informed him. "You're to go up and wait—he won't be much longer."
Cadel grunted. He knew perfectly well why Thaddeus had been delayed, and he didn't want to think about it. Nevertheless, he had to. Upon reaching the psychologist's office, he sat himself down in front of the computer. Thaddeus's e-mail files weren't hard to penetrate; Cadel soon found an encrypted one from the Fiihrer, which he decoded immediately.
URGENT!!
it read.
New evidence regarding conspiracy discussed! Please contact me at earliest opportunity ! Double-red status on Deal, Terry, Luther. Please authorize campus-wide yellow alert URGENTLY. Will explain.
A double-red status on Dr. Deal undoubtedly meant that the Fiihrer had not only listened to Cadel's recording of Terry's phone message to Luther, but had scanned the envelope in which it had been delivered. Fingerprints had been found and had matched Dr. Deal's prints, which were kept on the Fiihrer's computer files. These files contained the prints of every person who had anything to do with the Axis Institute.
They were required for safety reasons.
Please authorize campus-wide yellow alert.
Clearly, the meeting between Thaddeus and Adolf hadn't resulted in anything concrete. Perhaps Thaddeus had told Adolf that he would "think about" the request for a yellow alert. Cadel wondered how thinly the Fiihrer was willing to stretch his little army of Grunts. With Luther, Terry, Tracey, and Dr. Deal all being followed, there wouldn't be many Grunts left to man Yarramundi. Or to keep an eye on Cadel, for that matter.
Unless Thaddeus had access to another troop of surveillance specialists? That Cadel didn't know about?
"Cadel."
It was Thaddeus. Like a cat, he had mounted the stairs and entered the room without making a sound. Cadel jumped.
"Well, well. What are
you
up to?" Thaddeus drawled. "Sneaking into my e-mails, again?" He clicked his tongue. "How many times do I have to tell you, Cadel?"
Cadel had often used Thaddeus's computer but had never jumped like a frightened rabbit before. He decided to brazen it out. "It's not my fault," he whined. "You have such obvious passwords."
"Get off," said Thaddeus, lightly slapping Cadel's hand. He clearly wasn't concerned. But when Cadel asked him how Brendan was, he frowned and looked suddenly tired.
"I don't know," he said. "It's like some sort of catatonia. Terry thinks it might be epilepsy, but I have my doubts. You look at Brendan..." Thaddeus sighed and shook his head. "He seems to be completely focused on something. It's bizarre. He hardly even responds to a steel ruler across the knuckles."
Cadel winced.
"Terry shot him full of drugs, and all he did was start shaking," Thaddeus continued. "We'll have to get a doctor in—someone we can trust. To do all the blood tests and so forth. Terry's ruled out the more common poisons. At the moment, Brendan's under observation in the labs, but I'm convinced it's more psychological than physical. A 'locked-in' syndrome. Something autistic, perhaps?" He shook his head. "I'm not having much luck with my staff lately. First Carla, now Brendan. I only hope the two incidents aren't connected."
Cadel cleared his throat.
"I don't see how they can be. Doris poisoned Carla, and Doris has been gone for ages."
"Mmmmph."
All at once the phone rang. Thaddeus's dark brows came together; he picked up the receiver impatiently.
"What is it?" he snapped. "I told you not to put through calls when—who? Oh, for god's sake. Urgent my ass. Yes, yes, put him through." Thaddeus rolled his eyes at Cadel. "I'm sorry about this, dear boy—it's Adolf on a rampage." He proceeded to address the telephone receiver. "Yes? What? No, I haven't checked my e-mail, I've been dealing with a medical emergency." There followed a long pause as Thaddeus listened to the yammering voice at the other end of the line. "I see," he said at last, thoughtfully. "Well, I have to admit, that
is
interesting. Right. Right. Yes, but if the prints are only on the envelope, how can you be sure...? Yes, I know Tracey was there. Yes, I realize she's involved with Barry, and she
could
have left the envelope, but she's involved with Terry, too, so why should she be snitching on him? Oh, you think so? That's a very romantic explanation, Adolf; I didn't know you had it in you. Love triangle, eh? Barry and Tracey against Terry?" Thaddeus winked at Cadel as he continued to talk to the Fiihrer.
"Yes, well, I do see your point, though you have to understand that Axis staff aren't
ordinary people
" he continued. "You can't expect them to behave themselves all the time. What? Oh, I see. So the cameras went off, did they? That is odd. Yes, you might want to follow that up, though it could have been a coincidence. You think so? Really? Well, I don't know, Adolf, it's a bit far-fetched. Vee and Barry can't stand each other, you do realize that, don't you? They wouldn't be caught
dead
in the same conspiracy. Especially when it has something to do with Tracey's love life. What?" Thaddeus rolled his eyes again. "No, I realize that. Of course. Yes, all right, that's a good idea. You do that. And you might look into this business with Brendan while you're at it ... Hmmm? You haven't heard? Really? Well, then, I suggest you talk to Terry about it. See where you think it might fit into this big picture of yours. Then talk to me afterward—I'm rather busy right now."
Clunk!
Thaddeus hung up. Cadel, who knew exactly what this phone call had been about, tried to look curious. All the while, he was thinking hard. So Adolf believed that Tracey had delivered the envelope. That was good. Adolf knew, of course, that Tracey was involved with Dr. Deal. He must have decided that Dr. Deal was jealous of Terry, who was also Tracey's boyfriend. Therefore, in Adolf's opinion, Dr. Deal must have recorded the suspicious communication between Terry and Luther. He must also have asked Tracey to drop it off. But why should Tracey want to betray Terry? Cadel couldn't imagine what Adolf's explanation for
that
might be, though it didn't really matter. What mattered was that no one suspected Gazo.
Unfortunately, Adolf did suspect Dr. Vee. He seemed to be suggesting that Dr. Vee had disabled the cameras. So why hadn't he promoted Dr. Vee to double-red status? Because the Virus might find out that he was under suspicion? Perhaps. Even Adolf had to realize that if the Virus had disabled the cameras, he might be plugged into Adolf's security files as well.
It was a shame about the Virus, but Cadel wasn't too worried. If there was one person who could look after himself, it was Dr. Vee. The trouble was, if Adolf started to investigate the Virus and discovered the spy sweep, then Dr. Vee would almost certainly try to find out who had been infiltrating his computer program. And then?
I'll have to he gone before then,
thought Cadel.
"Cadel?" said Thaddeus. "Earth to Cadel!"
"Oh!" Cadel blinked. "Sorry. I was just thinking..."
"We've missed the scheduled hookup time for your father's transmission," Thaddeus observed, checking his watch. "I don't know if he'll still be there, but we can try. They're timing him with a stopwatch these days."
"Thaddeus?"
"Yes?" The psychologist was already lifting up one corner of the carpet to expose the hatch that concealed all his cables, amplifier components, and other vital equipment. "Can you help me with this, please, Cadel? Or we're going to miss our transmission window."
"Do you think Brendan's going to be all right?" Cadel asked, rising and joining the psychologist. "I mean, does Terry know if he's going to snap out of it?"
Thaddeus paused. He looked at Cadel quizzically, a smile touching one corner of his mouth.
"Your concern for Brendan is really touching," he drawled. "I know how much you must have regretted missing your embezzlement class today."
"I—"
"Tell me, Cadel." The black eyes narrowed, though the smile remained. "
You
didn't have anything to do with Brendan's little problem, did you?"
The attack was too sudden. Though Cadel cried, "No!" there must have been a false note somewhere in his reply. The amused expression disappeared from Thaddeus's face. In the silence that followed, Cadel frantically reviewed his options. Could he? Should he?
"I didn't—I mean, how could I?" he said faintly. "I don't know anything about poisons. Or contagion. It's not my field—you know that."
Thaddeus waited.
"I don't know what happened to him," Cadel insisted. "Honestly. I mean, I can't be sure. It's too weird..."
Thaddeus blinked slowly, almost lazily, and Cadel felt his defenses giving way. It didn't matter, though. Not really. Not if his confession was incomplete.
"Brendan was marking my homework," Cadel admitted. "I saw it in front of him—"
"Your
homework
?"
"I took it away. I'm sorry. I thought—I didn't want—I was afraid it might be the reason for what happened." Cadel didn't have to fake the anxiety in his tone. He began to move his hands about, not knowing what to do with them. "It probably didn't," he continued. "I was probably being stupid, but I ... I didn't want to get involved."
"Very admirable," said Thaddeus dryly. "And may I ask what the homework was?"
"A money-laundering tree."
"Ah." Though the psychologist's expression didn't change, Cadel sensed an easing of some hidden tension. "Well," said Thaddeus, "your misgivings are understandable, but I wouldn't worry. I don't believe that a money-laundering tree, no matter how complex, could lead to an electrical short circuit of the brain. Where is this tree, anyway?"
"I—I destroyed it."
"Ah."
"In case ... well, you know."
"In case it implicated you?"
"In case it had the same effect on anyone else," Cadel replied, before realizing that this was an ill-judged remark. Why should he care what happened to anyone else? He was a student of the Axis Institute.
"A wise precaution," Thaddeus said slowly. "Perhaps, though, you should have considered its possible uses. If your homework was really that deadly, why not test it out on that Brezeck woman? Putting
her
in a catatonic state would save you an awful lot of trouble."
There was a hint of reproach in this last observation. Cadel wondered if Thaddeus was referring, in a roundabout way, to the fact that Mrs. Brezeck still hadn't been "dealt with."
"I'm getting there," Cadel assured him. "I know what I'm doing. I've got access to her mail."
"Good."
"It's the homework. It gets in my way. If I didn't have so much homework..."
"Yes, of course. The homework." Although Thaddeus nodded sympathetically, there was a glint in his eye. "Never mind, Cadel. If that money-laundering tree is anything to go by, you won't be given homework for much longer. No one will
dare
give it to you, for fear of what it will do to them."
"Oh." Cadel was confused. Was Thaddeus joking, or...? "But you just said it probably wasn't my fault. That we couldn't be certain—"
"Cadel, Cadel." Thaddeus squeezed his shoulder. "What are you fretting about? I'd be pleased as punch if you
had
blown Brendan's mind—even more pleased if you had done it on purpose. Why all this soul-searching and double-talk? Surely your conscience isn't troubling you? Or were you afraid that I'd be disappointed?"
"Well, yes," said Cadel. "You hate it when I miss embezzlement."
"Oh come, now, give me some credit. You think I can't find another embezzler to take Brendan's place? I could find ten of 'em in a week. Don't trouble yourself with my concerns. You concentrate on your own."
"But—"
"Come on, Cadel. We've more important things to do. Your father might be waiting."
Silently, Cadel began to help Thaddeus erect the transmitter. He was feeling distinctly odd: a bit sweaty, a bit shaky, a bit light-headed. He felt the way he had several years before, when a motorbike had almost knocked him down.
It occurred to him that he'd just had another narrow escape.
That night in bed, Cadel lay thinking about Sonja and her mysterious conundrum. It was hard to believe that the wretched thing had crippled Brendan's powers of reason. After all, it hadn't had the same effect on Sonja. And Sonja was rather like Brendan. Both were obsessed with math. Both had certain weaknesses, though Sonja's was a weakness of the body rather than the mind. Both were to some degree cut off from the world. Why would Brendan have crumbled when Sonja hadn't?
Perhaps because Brendan's strange condition had nothing to do with any brainteaser?
Cadel wished that he could talk to Sonja about it, but he couldn't. He didn't dare. He couldn't risk even thanking her until he had made his escape and they were both beyond the reach of Thaddeus Roth and his minions. Cadel could not be sure how long that would be. A week, perhaps? Certainly no longer. If Thaddeus hadn't uncovered his plan by then, the Virus would have.
The next morning, Cadel headed straight for the Axis Institute. He reached Hardware Heaven at around eight o'clock, only to find Dr. Vee installed there. The Virus was in a grumpy mood; he had a streaming cold and a touch of asthma, and didn't even look up when Cadel entered.
Cadel wondered, with a sinking heart, how long he would have to wait. He couldn't check the network while Dr. Vee was around. Yet he had to, as soon as possible. There was no telling what might have happened since the previous afternoon.
"What's this?" he asked, upon reaching his computer. There was a sealed envelope propped against the keyboard.
Sealed envelopes could be dangerous things at the Axis Institute. Cadel didn't even want to touch this one before he found out where it had come from.
"Vee?" he said. "Do you know what this letter is?"
The Virus made an impatient noise. He rubbed his red, bleary eyes and said, "The spaceman left it."
"Gazo?"
"He was in here this morning. Now shut up, for god's sake, my head's killing me."
Obediently, Cadel fell silent. He opened the envelope and found a sheet of blue cardboard tucked inside, with the word
done
written on it.