id of. They were already on the
reservation. Found out they'd have to be tested again, and vanished. One
a known suicide, but the body's still in the river."

"'Tested _again_'?" the President echoed.

"That's right, John. They'd gone through it before. This was just a
recheck for this particular project. Of course, I don't _know_ that they
were agents."

"Mmm! So they can't stand a recheck. All right, recheck everybody."

"John! A third of the population works for the government!"

"I mean everybody connected with new projects, the most important
installations. This might be a weapon for us."

When he received the Secretary's report a week later, John grinned
happily. The rechecks had begun, and the disappearances were mounting.
But the grin faded when he read the rest of it. Two of the men had been
caught attempting to escape. They had been lodged in a local jail to
await transfer to the capitol. During the night, the jailer became aware
of a blinding light from the cell-blocks and the stench of burnt organic
matter. By the time he reached their cells, the men were gone, and there
were only sickening fumes, charred ashes, and a pair of red-hot patches
on the floor. Somehow they had gotten incendiary materials into their
cells, and the cremation was complete--too complete to be credible.

Then the disappearances began to taper off--until finally, after a few
weeks, they ceased completely. He wondered: were the culprits all
ferreted out, or had some of them managed to get around the rechecks?

He had spoken to the Asian leader several times, and Ivan was growing
curt, even bitingly nasty at times. The President hopefully interpreted
it as a sign that his probe was successful enough to worry the Red. He
tried to strengthen his position with respect to the proposed
conferences, and made only minor concessions such as agreeing to a
coastal city in Mexico as the site, rather than the shifting capitol.
Ivan sneeringly made equally minute adjustments eastward from Singapore.
There was apparently going to be a deadlock, and John was somehow not
sorry.

Then the cold-eyed face on the screen did an abrupt about-face, and
announced, "I propose that the delegates, including the leaders of both
states, meet at a site of your selection in either of the neutral polar
regions, not later than Seventhday of Veto Week--which, I think is your
Fried Pie Week?--and come prepared to discuss and exchange information
relating to size