"Perhaps I can change your mind," suggested Heydrick. "Won't you sit down?"

"You flatter yourself," she snapped. "I can hear what you have to say standing up."

"I wonder if you can," Heydrick mused aloud. "First, who are you?" The ghost of fear trembled behind her mask.

Klathgar laughed. "Ask anybody who I am. Klathgar. The Red Leopard."

Heydrick threw Ria Tarsen's dossier card on the table, face up. Klathgar glanced at it without a flicker of emotion.

"Is that supposed to mean something to me?" she asked contemptuously.

"It should—it's yours."

Her laugh was shrill. "At least you have a new approach. In either case, you're mistaken. What's your racket?"

"Heydrick, I.P.S. If you're not Ria Tarsen, who are you? May I see your ident-card?"

The girl was growing angry. "It's in my dressing room; I'll get it."

Heydrick was on his feet. "If you don't mind, I'll go with you."

"I do mind."

"I'll go anyway."

The girl shrugged and led the way among the crowded tables, the leopard padding silently beside her. Curious glances went with them. Suddenly Klathgar turned. "On second thought, I have it here," she said. She knelt quickly and unsnapped the leopard's leash. Heydrick's hand reached for his gun, but the girl was holding a card out to him. Even as he took it, he wondered if the gesture were a trick to occupy his gun hand.

One glance at the card was enough. "I hope you didn't pay too much for this," he told her. "It's a clumsy forgery."

Klathgar muttered a low word to the leopard, then slipped through the sliding door of plastic. A bundle of furred muscle launched itself at Heydrick. It was touch and go for a minute. Deadly talons raked through the leather tunic like razors. The man got a grip on the jewelled collar and twisted savagely. He wrenched the great cat away long enough to get out a paralysis gun and fire it. The drugged needle went into a soft spot behind one furred ear. Instantly the beast let go and crumpled.

 Prev. P 5/19 next