LITMIR.BIZ

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      She stood there for a moment, looking at him, and Drake took the opportunity to study the girl more closely. At last, she said: “So you’re Anson Drake. You’re even better looking than I’d heard you were. Congratulations.”

      “I have a good press agent,” Drake said modestly. “What’s on your mind?” He waved his hand at a nearby chair.

      “The same thing that’s on yours, I suspect,” she said. “Do you have a drink to spare?”

      Drake unlimbered himself from the bed, selected a bottle from the menu and dialed. The robot bellhop whirred, a chute opened in the wall, and a bottle slid out. Drake poured, handed the tumbler to the girl, and said: “This is your party; what do you have in mind?”

      The girl took a sip of her drink before she answered. Then she looked up at Drake with her deep brown eyes. “Two things. One: I have no intention or desire to compete with Anson Drake for the Necklace of Algol. Both of us might end up in jail with nothing for our pains.

      “Two: I have a foolproof method for getting the necklace, but none for getting it off the planet. I think you probably have a way.”

      Drake nodded. “I dare say I could swing it. How does it happen that you don’t have an avenue of disposal planned?”

      She looked bleak for a moment. “The man who was to help me decided to back out at the last minute. He didn’t know what the job was, and I wouldn’t tell him because I didn’t trust him.”

      “And you trust me?”

      Her eyes were very trustful. “I’ve heard a lot about you, Drake, and I happen to know you never doublecross anyone unless they doublecross you first.”

      “Trade about is fair play, to quote an ancient maxim,” Drake said, grinning. “And I am a firm believer in fair play.”

      “But that’s neither here nor there. The point is: what do you have to offer? Why shouldn’t I just pinch the gems myself and do a quick flit across the Galaxy? That would give me all the loot.”

      She shook her head. “Belgezad is on to you, you know. He knows you’re here. His own private police and the Shan’s own Guard will be at the Coronation to protect all that jewelry.” She cocked her pretty head to one side and looked at him. “What’s between you and Belgezad, anyway?”

      “I stole his toys when he was a child,” said Drake, “and he hasn’t trusted me since. How do you propose to get the Necklace of Algol if I can’t?”

      She smiled and shook her head slowly. “That would be telling. You let me take care of my part, and I’ll let you take care of yours.”

      Drake shook his head—not so slowly. “Absolutely not. We either work together or we don’t work at all.”

      * * * *

      The girl frowned in thought for a moment, and then reached into the belt pouch at her side and pulled out a square of electro-engraved plastic. She handed it to Drake.

      Underneath all the flowery verbiage, it boiled down to an invitation to attend the post-Coronation reception. It was addressed to “Miss Caroline Smith” and was signed and sealed by the Shan of Thizar himself.

      “I’m ‘Caroline Smith’,” she said. “I’ve managed to get in good with the family of Belgezad, and he wangled the invitation.

      “Now, the plan is this: Right after the Invocation, while the new Shan is being prepared in his special Coronation Robes, the Nobles have to change their uniforms from red to green. Belgezad will go into his suite in the Palace to change. He’ll be accompanied by two guards. One will stay on the outside, the other will help Belgezad dress. I’ve got the room next to his, and I’ve managed to get the key that unlocks the door between them. I’ll use this—” She pulled a small globe of metal from her belt pouch. “It’s a sleep-gas bomb. It’ll knock them out for at least twenty minutes. No one will come in during that time, and I’ll be able to get the necklace and get out of the palace before they wake up.”

      “They’ll know you did it,” Drake pointed out. “If you’re still missing when they come to, the thief’s identity will be obvious.”

      She nodded. “That’s where you come in. I’ll simply go out into the garden and throw it over the wall to you. We’ll meet here afterwards.”

      Drake thought it over and smiled devilishly. “It sounds fine. Now let’s co-ordinate everything.”

      They went over the whole plot again, this time with a chart of the palace to mark everything out and a time schedule was arranged. Then they toasted to success and the girl left.

      When she was gone, Anson Drake smiled ruefully to himself and opened a secret compartment in his suitcase. From it, he removed a long strand of glittering jewels.

      “A perfect imitation,” Drake said. “And you’re very pretty. It’s a shame I won’t be able to hang you around the neck of Belgezad in place of the real Necklace of Algol.”

      But his original plan had been more dangerous than the present one, and Anson Drake was always ready to desert a good plan for a better one.

      * * * *

      Coronation Day dawned bright and clear, and the festivities began early. There were speeches and parades and dancing in the streets. A huge fleet of high-flying rockets rumbled high in the stratosphere, filling the sky with the white traceries of their exhausts. For all of Thizar, it was a holiday, a day of rejoicing and happiness. Cheers for the Shan filled the streets, and strains of music came from the speakers of the public communications system.

      Anson Drake missed most of the fun; he was too busy making plans. The day passed as he worked.

      Thizar’s sun began to set as the hour for the actual Crowning of the Shan approached. At the proper time, Drake was waiting in the shadows outside the palace walls. There were eyes watching him, and he knew it, but he only smiled softly to himself and waited.

      “Sssssst!”

      It was the girl, on the other side of the wall.

      “I’m here,” whispered Drake.

      Something that glittered faintly in the soft light of the twin moons of Thizar arced over the wall. Drake caught it in his hands. The Necklace of Algol!

      He slipped it into a small plastic box he was carrying and then glanced at the detector on his wrist. The screen showed a pale blue pip which indicated that someone was hidden in the shadows a few yards to his right.

      Drake didn’t even glance toward the spy. He put the plastic box containing the necklace into his belt pouch and strode away from the palace. He had, he figured, about twenty minutes.

      He headed directly for the spaceship terminal. Never once did he look back, but the detector on his wrist told him that he was being closely followed. Excellent!

      Inside the terminal, he went directly to the baggage lockers. He found one that was empty, inserted a coin, and opened it. From his pouch, he took a plastic box, put it in the locker, switched on the lock with his key, and strolled away.

      * * * *

      He glanced again at his detector. He was no longer being followed by the same man; another had taken up the trail. It figured; it figured.

      He went straight to the Hotel Gandyll, making sure that his tail didn’t lose him. Not until they were in the lobby did he make any attempt to shake the man who was following him. He went into the bar, ordered a drink, and took a sip. He left his change and the drink on the bar and headed out the door in the direction of the men’s room. Whoever was following him wouldn’t realize for a minute or two that he was leaving for good. A man doesn’t usually leave change and an unfinished drink in a bar.

      Drake took the lift tube up to his room, attended to some unfinished business, and waited.

      * * * *

      Less

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