“That was the past,” the professor said, unconvinced. “Today, they can protect me.”
Casey was still shaking his head. “Let me show you just one tool of our trade.” He took up his camera and removed the back. “See this little device? It’s a small, spring-powered gun which projects a tiny, tiny hypodermic needle through the supposed lens of this dummy camera. So tiny is the dart that when it imbeds itself in your neck, hand, or belly, you feel no more than a mosquito bite.”
The professor was motivated more by curiosity than fear. He bent forward to look at the device. “Amazing,” he said. “And you have successfully used it?”
“Other operatives of our organization have. There are few, politicians in particular, who can escape the news photographer. This camera is but one of our items of equi
