“Philosophically,” she told him. “I just told him the project had been put back for a few days. He complained about having to juggle his precious time, but that’s all.”
“Good. Navis is a good man. He’ll keep his mouth shut. When he sees what’s to be gained from this, he’ll be so busy with his tests he’ll forget that what he’s doing is illegal.”
“We may have to cut him in,” she observed.
“I’m prepared for that,” Huddy told her. He sipped at the liquor. “It’d be impossible to exclude the doctor running the tests from participating in any benefits. Two more days. He changed his mind once, maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll do so again. If not, I’ll have another chat with Drew. We’ll go ahead and make arrangements for the van, just in case. We may have to go with a hot one.”
“Surely that’s not necessary.”
“Might be simpler and safer than trying to disguise a company vehicle, and any rental could be traced. Damn,” he frowned. “This isn’t my department. The clean-up was one thing. This sort of deal is petty.”
“Would you like me to handle it?” she asked. “You’ve been working awfully hard. First the clean-up, now this, not to mention your regular work.”
“That’s alright. How can I ask you to take over details when you don’t really believe in what I’m doing? You don’t, do you?”
“Not really. Not yet, no.”
“Then I can’t ask you to take risks for something you don’t feel strongly about. Look, you’re right. I’m worrying too much. We’re dealing with one solitary old man.”
“What happens to him when you get him into Navis’ hands?” she wondered. She recrossed her legs, showing smooth tanned skin all the way up to her silk.
“He’ll be sedated, told he’s been transferred temporarily to a hospital ward. That’s no problem. An old man like that with heart trouble could expect to wake up in a hospital bed anytime. Then Navis can begin his tests. I expect if there’s anything to my suspicions Pickett will be with us for a long time.”
“Suppose he doesn’t cooperate?” Somerset asked. “Suppose he decides he doesn’t want to perform his little tricks for Doctor Navis?”
“Oh, he will,” Huddy murmured softly, “he will. I’ve already talked to Navis about that possibility. He isn’t worried about getting Pickett to cooperate.”
VII
“Mandy, I don’t understand. So much fussin’ over my health. Even the people at the hospital don’t show that much interest in me.”
“Uncle Jake,” Amanda said inside his head, “don’t you understand yet? That card that man gave you proves it. Consolidated Chemical and Mining. That’s a big corporation, Uncle Jake. And you showed one of their representatives how you can make things slipt. A man who probably has a good background in science and engineering. A man who’d know right away that you just don’t make things slipt.”
“It wasn’t much of a trick,” Jake murmured innocently. “All I did was—”
“I know what you did. Bottle caps and road dirt. It was obviously enough. I’ve warned you about this before, Uncle Jake. You should’ve known better.”
“I’m sorry, Mandy, but what’s done is done. Still, it seems like a lot of fuss over some dirty hubcaps and beer. I wish I knew more about how I make things slipt. I know you’ve tried to explain what you think it is.” He rolled over in the bed. “I just don’t—”
“Don’t apologize, Uncle Jake. I don’t really understand it. I’m just making guesses. Medical exam, huh? These people aren’t interested in how your heart’s doing. They want to look at your head.”
“Well, would that really be all that bad, Mandy?” said Jake a little belligerently. “What if I went ahead and took their exam? Maybe they could tell me how I make things slipt.”
“Uncle Jake, I’ve told you, people like this, if they get interested in you, they’re going to want to make use of you and your ability. For money.”
“But how can they do that?” he whispered into the darkness. “I don’t know how I do it. Besides, there are easier ways to open bottles and clean cars.”
“How do you know that’s all you can do, Uncle Jake? You’ve never tried anything else. These people are going to make you try, whether you want to or not. How do you know you can’t make something else slipt?”
“I don’t, but….”
“It’s something you should think about,” she murmured to him. He could see that she was sitting by the window again, because he could see the light on Lavaca Bay in his own thoughts. “The exam doesn’t worry me that much, Uncle Jake. What does worry me is that big corporations rarely care much for the well-being of the people they use. These people only care about your ability. They’re going to push you as far as they can in their tests, and with your heart….”
That got to him. Jake Pickett was a strong man, tall and full of compact, wiry strength, but that damn bad engine he carried around inside his chest made him vulnerable.
“I told you,” he said, “this fella Huddy seems like a nice sort.” He could hear her sigh mentally.
“Uncle Jake, in some ways you’re an awfully smart man, but you haven’t had to deal with people much. I’ve spent a lot of time in hospitals. There are good doctors and bad doctors. There are medical people who want to help you and those who look at you like you’re something to be cut and sliced and put under a microscope. I haven’t met this Mr. Huddy, but from what you’ve told me he sure sounds like the microscope type.”
“Well, I told him already that I’m not going with him or his people for any exam.”
“His people?”
“He brought a couple of others with him last time. I think they were his assistants. I guess they were.”
“Two of them,” Amanda muttered.
“Yeah. Come to think of it, they were pretty husky fellas. Neither of them said much.”
“That settles it, Uncle Jake,” she said decisively. “I want you to leave. You get out of that house. You get out right now.”
“But I told them I wouldn’t take the exam.”
“Oh, you’ll take it if you stay there, Uncle Jake. That ‘nice sort’ will see to that. I know it. I can feel it. You get out of there right now before they come back for you.”
“Get out? But….” This was not at all how he’d expected the conversation to go. He sat up in the bed, seeing nothing in the dark room. “Get out where? This is my home. Maybe I can talk to these people.”
“You’ve already talked to them. Uncle Jake. That’s part of the problem.”
