be done. The plan was set in his mind but he had changes to
make.

He was barely conscious of the time slipping by as he lay, rarely
moving, in his chair, while Pierce worked at top speed.

By one o'clock the deck was cleared for action.

Bryce stood up, stretched, and checked his watch again. It was 1304
hours. A telephone call was scheduled in about another hour, and five
more successively about a half hour apart.

"Order us some lunch, Pierce, before I lift the drawbridge."

The food came in as he was instructing his staff to leave them
undisturbed for the rest of the afternoon.

By the time they had finished eating, their isolation was complete.
The office was a command post now, with only the slender, unattended
telephone wires connecting them with the outside worlds.

Bryce moved over behind his desk. He drew the telephone toward him and
dialed a number. Somewhere, in the locked safe, the phone rang.

From the case he took a toy dial phone. Pierce's eyes were on it, his
eyebrows lifted quizzically, but Bryce offered no explanation. The boy
was due for a series of surprises. And when it was over, he would know
everything without any explanations, and too late to interfere.

"Hi Al," Bryce said to the recorded "Yeah?" at the other end. He
dialed a number on the toy dial, the one receiver against the other's
back. After the usual ritual, Bryce said, "Hello George, how's
everything going?"

This is it, Bryce thought. This was the first part of the final blow
to UT. And the only instrument he needed in his delightfully simple
method was a telephone. Originally he had planned six brief warning
calls to the six key numbers of the ground organization. He would tell
them to refuse to take anything from the hands of the UT branch, and
break contact with them immediately after accepting cash for
miscellaneous items. That would set the stage.

The police trap would close on all members of the UT branch of the
organization while they were encumbered with a maximum of
incriminating objects to dispose of in too little time. Then would
come his anonymous tip to the police. He'd inform them that certain
employees of UT in a few listed cities would be found to be smuggling
in large quantities of drugs. The thing would be so simple. And the
whole works would blow up with the efficiency of the calculated
explosion of nuclear reaction.

That had been his original plan.

But things would be different now. The morning i