JOE’S BODY SLUMPED, almost in weakness. Then he galvanized into a human whirlwind. The gun cracked but Joe was not there. He’d spun quickly, diving for the cubicle door, flinging a chart as he fled. The flying chart disturbed Arden’s aim. The gun blasted, and Joe felt the wind of the bullet fanning his cheek.
Then Joe was in the sloping passageway, sliding down the ramp. He heard the crack and the banshee wail as another bullet struck the duralloy wall and ricocheted.
He hurled his body toward the branch passage that led toward the power room, and then a communications speaker ahead of him cried out, bringing Arden’s voice from the pilot’s cubicle:
“Kill Joe Wilding—but for your life don’t touch him!”
Joe stopped running abruptly then.
He was trapped, for that communications system ha
