chess, Jared. Don't you know that all geniuses are supposed to play chess?"
"Sorry," Jared said solemnly, his lips twitching. "I'll try to rectify that fault at the earliest opportunity. The game wasn't exactly popular in that coal town where I grew up in West Virginia." He fell into step with McCord to cross the highly polished floor of the gymnasium. "You don't enjoy our poker games, then?"
McCord flinched. 'That punishment is worse than the karate. I think I just may ask the senator to recall me to Washington . . . unless you're ready to use my other talents to a greater extent. You know you're bored as hell, Jared. Why don't you let me equip a lab for you here at the chateau? Corbett will get you anything you need or want."
"I'm well aware of that." Jared smiled grimly. "Sam Corbett is much too astute a man not to hedge his bets any way he can. It makes him distinctly uneasy that the key to a complicated piece of work is in my head, and not
written on a slip of paper locked in a safety-deposit box somewhere."
"Can you blame him?" McCord's blue eyes were sober. "Your discovery will probably change every aspect of our existence as we know it. It's not very reasonable of I you to insist upon carrying it around in your head. You owe it to society to safeguard that knowledge."
"But that's what I'm doing, Kevin. Safeguarding it," 1 Jared said. "I'm keeping the key. Without it my notes, papers, models, computer printouts are of little use. As long as the last piece of knowledge is mine alone, I can control it." His facial muscles tightened to flintlike I hardness. "And I will control it, Kevin. I'll be damned if I'll let a bunch of bureaucratic bastards get their hands on this!"
"Okay, okay." McCord threw up his hands in surrender. "No lab." He sighed. "I guess I'll just have to resign myself to the role of buddy." He rubbed the small of his back in painful reminiscence. "If my muscles will survive the strain."
Jared chuckled. It was almost impossible not to like McCord, despite the wariness he'd conditioned himself to feel in the presence of any one of the battery of Corbett's underlings who surrounded him here in the senator's stronghold. McCord possessed not only an incisive mind, but almost a quiet charm that drew people to him. God only knew, Jared reflected, how out of his mind with boredom he would have been here without McCords presence. Not that he wasn't nearly to I that point now, he thought, suddenly impatient with himself as well as the situation he was in. The offer of a 1 lab had come at a diabolically tempting time because his need to get back to work was almost a physical ache. And 1 he hadn't the slightest doubt that McCord understood too well.
"You’ll survive, McCord," Jared said as he pushed
open the door and entered the shower area. "You may even get a rest cure in the near future. I've been thinking of flying to New York for a few days."
A troubled frown replaced the grin on Kevin's face. "Betz will foam at the mouth when he hears what you're planning. He was nearly climbing the walls when you left the chateau last time."
Jared shrugged. "Too bad. I was stumbling over one of his security men whenever I turned around in New York. That should be enough for him; if not, he'll just have to foam away."
"Believe me, he will. Betz is practically a fanatic about his precious security measures, and the senator's told him that if anything happens to you, he'll be axed." Kevin hesitated. "It's only another six weeks, Jared. Why chance it?"
"Drop it, McCord," Jared said curtly. He rapidly stripped off the loose white jacket and pants of his gi and reached into the shower cubicle to turn on the spray. "I won't tolerate interference from you any more than I will from Betz." He ducked into the shower and closed the frosted door.
"Whatever you say," Kevin called to him. "I'll see you at breakfast, after I bake the aches out of these muscles in the sauna." His massive shadow moved away from the translucent
"Sorry," Jared said solemnly, his lips twitching. "I'll try to rectify that fault at the earliest opportunity. The game wasn't exactly popular in that coal town where I grew up in West Virginia." He fell into step with McCord to cross the highly polished floor of the gymnasium. "You don't enjoy our poker games, then?"
McCord flinched. 'That punishment is worse than the karate. I think I just may ask the senator to recall me to Washington . . . unless you're ready to use my other talents to a greater extent. You know you're bored as hell, Jared. Why don't you let me equip a lab for you here at the chateau? Corbett will get you anything you need or want."
"I'm well aware of that." Jared smiled grimly. "Sam Corbett is much too astute a man not to hedge his bets any way he can. It makes him distinctly uneasy that the key to a complicated piece of work is in my head, and not
written on a slip of paper locked in a safety-deposit box somewhere."
"Can you blame him?" McCord's blue eyes were sober. "Your discovery will probably change every aspect of our existence as we know it. It's not very reasonable of I you to insist upon carrying it around in your head. You owe it to society to safeguard that knowledge."
"But that's what I'm doing, Kevin. Safeguarding it," 1 Jared said. "I'm keeping the key. Without it my notes, papers, models, computer printouts are of little use. As long as the last piece of knowledge is mine alone, I can control it." His facial muscles tightened to flintlike I hardness. "And I will control it, Kevin. I'll be damned if I'll let a bunch of bureaucratic bastards get their hands on this!"
"Okay, okay." McCord threw up his hands in surrender. "No lab." He sighed. "I guess I'll just have to resign myself to the role of buddy." He rubbed the small of his back in painful reminiscence. "If my muscles will survive the strain."
Jared chuckled. It was almost impossible not to like McCord, despite the wariness he'd conditioned himself to feel in the presence of any one of the battery of Corbett's underlings who surrounded him here in the senator's stronghold. McCord possessed not only an incisive mind, but almost a quiet charm that drew people to him. God only knew, Jared reflected, how out of his mind with boredom he would have been here without McCords presence. Not that he wasn't nearly to I that point now, he thought, suddenly impatient with himself as well as the situation he was in. The offer of a 1 lab had come at a diabolically tempting time because his need to get back to work was almost a physical ache. And 1 he hadn't the slightest doubt that McCord understood too well.
"You’ll survive, McCord," Jared said as he pushed
open the door and entered the shower area. "You may even get a rest cure in the near future. I've been thinking of flying to New York for a few days."
A troubled frown replaced the grin on Kevin's face. "Betz will foam at the mouth when he hears what you're planning. He was nearly climbing the walls when you left the chateau last time."
Jared shrugged. "Too bad. I was stumbling over one of his security men whenever I turned around in New York. That should be enough for him; if not, he'll just have to foam away."
"Believe me, he will. Betz is practically a fanatic about his precious security measures, and the senator's told him that if anything happens to you, he'll be axed." Kevin hesitated. "It's only another six weeks, Jared. Why chance it?"
"Drop it, McCord," Jared said curtly. He rapidly stripped off the loose white jacket and pants of his gi and reached into the shower cubicle to turn on the spray. "I won't tolerate interference from you any more than I will from Betz." He ducked into the shower and closed the frosted door.
"Whatever you say," Kevin called to him. "I'll see you at breakfast, after I bake the aches out of these muscles in the sauna." His massive shadow moved away from the translucent
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