Sam was so furious that he couldn"t even think straight. When the two men climbed out of the car and started walking toward the house, Sam ran back into his study, pulled open his desk drawer, and took out the .38 Special he kept there. It was the work of seconds to thumb six cartridges into the chambers and swing the cylinder shut.

The door chime sounded.

Sam went back into the front room with the revolver in his jacket pocket and his hand ready to fire it.

"Who is it?" he called, in what he hoped was a steady voice.

"We"re Special Agents of the FBI," said a voice. "May we see you for a few moments, Mr. Bending?"

"Certainly. Come on in; the door"s unlocked." _Just walk in, you phonies! Just trot right on in, he thought._

And they did. The two men walked in, removing their hats as they did so.

"We--" one of them began. He stopped when he saw that he was addressing a round, black hole that was only a fraction more than a third of an inch in diameter but looked much, _much_ larger from his viewpoint.

"Get your hands in the air and turn around very slowly," said Bending.

"Lean forward and brace your hands against the wall."

They did as they were told. Bending frisked them carefully and thoroughly, thankful that the two years he had spent in the Army hadn"t been completely wasted. Neither one of them was carrying a gun.

Bending stepped back and pocketed his own weapon. "All right. You two can turn around now. If you want to try anything, come ahead--but I don"t advise it."

The two men turned around. Neither of them was exactly a small man, but the two of them together didn"t outweigh Samson Bending by more than fifty pounds.

"What"s the idea of the gun, Mr. Bending?" the taller of the two asked.

He seemed to be the spokesman for the team.

"I"ll ask the questions," Bending said. "But first, I want to tell you that, in the first place, you can get in trouble for impersonating a Federal officer, and, in the second, I don"t like being followed. So you just trot right back to the boys at Power Utilities and tell them that if they want to play rough, I am perfectly willing to do likewise. That if they come after me again, I"m going to do some very unpleasant things. Understand?"

"I think we understand," said the spokesman, still relatively unruffled.

"But I don"t think _you_ do. Would you care to look at our credentials, Mr. Bending?"

"Credentials?" Sam looked startled. Had he made a mistake?

"That"s right. May I take my billfold out?"

Bending took his gun out again. "Go ahead. But slowly."

The billfold came out slowly. Bending took it. The identification card and the small gold badge said very plainly that the man was a Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

"I ... I"m sorry," Bending said weakly. "I thought you were someone else.

Some men were following me this afternoon, and--"

"That was us, Mr. Bending. Sorry."

"May I verify this?" Bending asked.

"Certainly. Go right ahead."

Bending phoned the local office of the FBI and verified the ident.i.ties of the two men. When he cut off, he asked dazedly: "What was it you wanted?"

"Would you mind coming with us--downtown? We"d like to have you see some people."

"Am I under arrest?"

"No." The agent smiled a little. "I suppose, if we had to, we could get you for speeding and reckless driving; that was pretty fancy dodging you did. But we"re not supposed to be traffic cops."

Sam smiled feebly. "What"s this all about?"

"I haven"t the faintest notion, Mr. Bending. Honestly. We were told to stick with you until we got word to pick you up. We got that word just shortly after you ... hm-m-m ... after you left us. Fortunately, we found you at home. It might have been difficult ..."

"Can we go in my car?" Bending asked. "I"d rather not leave it unguarded just now."

"Certainly. I"ll go with you, and Steve can follow." He paused. "But I"m afraid you"ll have to take that revolver out of your pocket and put it away."

"Sure," Bending said. "Sure."

Bending"s mind simply refused to function during the drive back to the city. The FBI agent beside him just sat silently while Sam drove the car.

Once, Sam asked: "Who is it that wants to see me?"

And the FBI man said: "Sorry, Mr. Bending; I can"t answer any questions. My job is over as soon as I deliver you."

A little later, Sam had another question. "Can you tell me where we"re going, at least?"

"Oh--" the agent laughed, "sure. I thought I had. The General Post Office Building, on Kenmore Drive."

After that, Sam didn"t say anything. That this whole affair had something to do with the Converter, Sam had no doubt whatsoever. But he couldn"t see exactly what, and none of his wild speculations made sense.

He pulled up at last into the parking lot behind the Post Office Building. The second FBI man came up in the steel-blue Ford, and the three of them got out of the cars and went towards the building. It was quite dark by now, and the street lights were glowing against a faint falling of February mist. Bending, in spite of his topcoat, felt chilly.

They went in the back way, past the uniformed Postal Service guard, and took an elevator to the sixth floor. None of the three had anything to say. They walked down the hall, toward the only office that showed any light behind the frosted gla.s.s. The lettering on the gla.s.s simply said: _Conference Room A-6_.

The FBI man who had driven with Sam rapped on the door with gentle knuckles.

"Yes?" said a questioning voice from the other side.

"This is Hodsen, sir. Mr. Bending is with us."

The door opened, and Sam Bending felt mild shock as he saw who it was.

He recognized the man from his news photos and TV appearances. It was the Honorable Bertram Condley, Secretary of Economics for the President of the United States.

"Come in, Mr. Bending," the Secretary said pleasantly. Unnecessarily, he added, "I"m Bertram Condley."