the entire room.
After a few moments she said, “I’m starting to feel like one of those ships in a bottle. I know I’m in here, but I can’t see how they did it.”
She could discover no trace of a doorway.
“They popped me in here, so there’s got to be a way to get out.”
Anne climbed up onto the rickety chair and studied the stone ceiling of her cell.
She was still up there when a section of the far wall swung open. She turned, then laughed. “Sam, thank goodness! I don’t know how you found me, but . . .” The look on her editor’s face made her stop talking all at once. “Sam?”
There was a smile on Sam Hollis’s gaunt face, a twisted, unsettling smile. “I really can’t blame you, Anne,” he said. “You’re a pretty fair reporter, and any good reporter is going to dig once he smells a story. I wish, though, you’d kept out of this one.”
“Oh, Sam.” She climbed to the floor, sank into the chair. “You mean you . . . you’re one of them?”
Nodding, the rawboned man approached closer. “Yes, that’s right,” he answered. “You kept this story to yourself, mostly. Too bad, because if I’d known what you were up to a little sooner, I might have been able to steer you off the trail. Now, though, you’re too involved.”
“It’s not only me, Sam,” she reminded him. “It’s Dr. Ruyle and Mr. MacMurdie. If you harm them . . . you’re going to have to contend with Justice, Inc. I don’t know if you know who—”
“I know all about Justice, Inc., Anne. And about this self-styled Avenger,” cut in Hollis. “We can handle any of them, the same way we handled MacMurdie.”
“You did something to him . . . what did you do?”
“He came spying on a meeting, no doubt because of a tip you kindly supplied him,” answered Hollis. “We have him now, here.”
Shivering against her will, Anne asked, “Where is this place? Where are we?”
“You didn’t do enough digging into the background of Nightwitch, girl. I know, you were concentrating on the witch lore,” said the editor, chuckling. “In the last century, after the bay ceased to be an active port, there was quite a profitable smuggling trade carried on here. They were very ambitious in those days, and labor was cheap. So a series of tunnels and storerooms were built underground. The system links up with the harbor and also with the old Bald Hill Cemetery. It’s proved to be quite handy.”
“The witchcraft, then,” said the girl, “that’s not the important thing at all, is it?”
Hollis chuckled. “It’s important to most of the fools who have joined the cult, the female witches and the male warlocks. To them, people who yearn for the simple solutions of a bygone time, it is highly important.”
“But not to you, Sam, you don’t believe any of it.”
“I believe in the job I was sent here to do,” he answered. “Sent here nearly ten years ago to prepare for.”
Slowly, Anne nodded her head. “You’re a spy.”
“Much more than that, Anne. I’m an agent, an agent of change, a representative of the winning ideology in the world,” he said.
“And the meetings of the witch cult, that’s only a cover.”
“Most of the fools in the coven do not know that,” replied Hollis. “I did a great deal of research into the history of this community. I learned, as I told you, about this magnificent system of underground tunnels—something no one else in Nightwitch even realizes the existence of. I also discovered that a witch cult flourished here in the late seventeenth century. Now, I know these people, Anne. They’re simple, a lot of them, superstitious. I calculated that a witch group could be started up again, if it was handled just right.”
“You use it to cover the activities of your spies,” said Anne.
“For much more than that,” Hollis said, chuckling. “You see, Anne, we’re landing agents here in the harbor. It’s a tricky business, but we’ve been highly successful so far. With a
After a few moments she said, “I’m starting to feel like one of those ships in a bottle. I know I’m in here, but I can’t see how they did it.”
She could discover no trace of a doorway.
“They popped me in here, so there’s got to be a way to get out.”
Anne climbed up onto the rickety chair and studied the stone ceiling of her cell.
She was still up there when a section of the far wall swung open. She turned, then laughed. “Sam, thank goodness! I don’t know how you found me, but . . .” The look on her editor’s face made her stop talking all at once. “Sam?”
There was a smile on Sam Hollis’s gaunt face, a twisted, unsettling smile. “I really can’t blame you, Anne,” he said. “You’re a pretty fair reporter, and any good reporter is going to dig once he smells a story. I wish, though, you’d kept out of this one.”
“Oh, Sam.” She climbed to the floor, sank into the chair. “You mean you . . . you’re one of them?”
Nodding, the rawboned man approached closer. “Yes, that’s right,” he answered. “You kept this story to yourself, mostly. Too bad, because if I’d known what you were up to a little sooner, I might have been able to steer you off the trail. Now, though, you’re too involved.”
“It’s not only me, Sam,” she reminded him. “It’s Dr. Ruyle and Mr. MacMurdie. If you harm them . . . you’re going to have to contend with Justice, Inc. I don’t know if you know who—”
“I know all about Justice, Inc., Anne. And about this self-styled Avenger,” cut in Hollis. “We can handle any of them, the same way we handled MacMurdie.”
“You did something to him . . . what did you do?”
“He came spying on a meeting, no doubt because of a tip you kindly supplied him,” answered Hollis. “We have him now, here.”
Shivering against her will, Anne asked, “Where is this place? Where are we?”
“You didn’t do enough digging into the background of Nightwitch, girl. I know, you were concentrating on the witch lore,” said the editor, chuckling. “In the last century, after the bay ceased to be an active port, there was quite a profitable smuggling trade carried on here. They were very ambitious in those days, and labor was cheap. So a series of tunnels and storerooms were built underground. The system links up with the harbor and also with the old Bald Hill Cemetery. It’s proved to be quite handy.”
“The witchcraft, then,” said the girl, “that’s not the important thing at all, is it?”
Hollis chuckled. “It’s important to most of the fools who have joined the cult, the female witches and the male warlocks. To them, people who yearn for the simple solutions of a bygone time, it is highly important.”
“But not to you, Sam, you don’t believe any of it.”
“I believe in the job I was sent here to do,” he answered. “Sent here nearly ten years ago to prepare for.”
Slowly, Anne nodded her head. “You’re a spy.”
“Much more than that, Anne. I’m an agent, an agent of change, a representative of the winning ideology in the world,” he said.
“And the meetings of the witch cult, that’s only a cover.”
“Most of the fools in the coven do not know that,” replied Hollis. “I did a great deal of research into the history of this community. I learned, as I told you, about this magnificent system of underground tunnels—something no one else in Nightwitch even realizes the existence of. I also discovered that a witch cult flourished here in the late seventeenth century. Now, I know these people, Anne. They’re simple, a lot of them, superstitious. I calculated that a witch group could be started up again, if it was handled just right.”
“You use it to cover the activities of your spies,” said Anne.
“For much more than that,” Hollis said, chuckling. “You see, Anne, we’re landing agents here in the harbor. It’s a tricky business, but we’ve been highly successful so far. With a
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