thing out very
nicely. If ionization made air a high-resistance conductor, then an
ionizing beam would make a high-resistance short between the power
terminals of a stun-pistol. With the power a stun-pistol carried, that
short would get hot. So would the pistol. It would get hot enough, in
fact, to scorch cloth in contact with it. Which had happened.

If the effect had been produced in the soles of policemen's feet, Hoddan
would have given every cop a hotfoot. But since they carried their
stun-pistols in their hip-pockets--

The thought of Nedda diminished his satisfaction. The note could be pure
forgery, or the police could have learned about it through the treachery
of the servant she sent to the Embassy with it. It would be worthwhile
to know. He headed toward the home of her father. If she were loyal to
him--why it would complicate things considerably. But he felt it
necessary to find out.

He neared the spot where Nedda lived. This was an especially desirable
residential area. The houses were large and gracefully designed, and the
gardens were especially lush. Presently he heard music ahead--live
music. He went on. He came to a place where strolling citizens had
paused under the trees of the street to listen to the melody and the
sound of voices that accompanied it. And the music and the festivity was
in the house in which Nedda dwelt. She was having a party, on the very
night of the day in which he'd been framed for life imprisonment.

It was a shock. Then there was a rush of vehicles, and police trucks
were disgorging cops before the door. They formed a cordon about the
house, and some knocked and were admitted in haste. Then Hoddan nodded
dourly to himself.

His escape from the Embassy was now known. No less certainly, the
failure of the trap Nedda's note had baited had been reported. The
police were now turning the whole city into a trap for one Bron Hoddan,
and they were looking first at the most probable places, then they'd
search the possible places for him to be, and by the time that had been
accomplished they'd have cops from other cities pouring into the city
and they'd search every square inch of it for him. And certainly and
positively they'd take the most urgent and infallible precautions to
make sure he didn't get back into the Embassy.

It was a situation that would have appalled Hoddan only that morning.
Now, though, he only shook his head sadly. He moved on. He'd gotten into
trouble by tryi