mouth were tense and hard. If they should be caught—he motioned for Heintz to follow.

They had not gone more than fifty feet on the main corridor toward the automatic elevators when one of them suddenly opened and out stepped a uniformed DIC mercenary!

Pell sighed under his breath and muttered to Heintz, "Pay no attention to him—just keep walking as casually as you can. When we reach him, we'll jump him and take his guns."

There was a single affirmative grunt from his rear. Pell watched the soldier tensely while the latter regarded them with a blank and incurious stare as he approached them. Suddenly a flash of suspicion crossed the mercenary's eyes and he slowed his pace uncertainly. Pell was no more than twenty feet from him when he charged, Heintz lumbering at his heels.

With an oath, the mercenary dragged at the heavy automatic pistol at his side. The impact of Pell's body sent him sprawling to the hard surface of the corridor. Like a cat, Pell scrambled on top of him and proceeded to throttle out the cries of the soldier. Heintz pulled him roughly aside and picked up the soldier with one hairy paw on the collar of his jacket and the other over his face, completely eclipsing it.

Swiftly Pell snatched the man's pistol from its holster and slipped it into his pocket. Then he unslung the soldier's machine-gun and handed it to Heintz. Motioning toward the auto-dropper from which the mercenary had just stepped, Pell helped Heintz shove the struggling soldier inside and let the door slide shut.

Heintz released the enemy soldier who immediately began to howl loudly. The fat man shook him and he ceased his useless cries. Terrified, he looked from Heintz to Pell and back again.

"Where's the atomic armory?" Pell asked.

The man remained silent.

Pell repeated the question more vigorously, but still the man remained silent.

Heintz unslung the captured machine-gun and pointed it at the other. He fumbled curiously at its levers and spoke softly, as if to no one in particular. "I wonder how this thing works—now, if I pull this thing here...."

The soldier looked pleadingly at Pell, but he merely yawned and watched disinterestedly.

The man made a strangling noise and capitulated. "Okay, you win. The sixth level—that's up." He looked 

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