MIPS.’
Raper, whose eyes had continuously roved around the assembled company, stiffened suddenly.
‘I think they’re here, Manalone. That tall man over there. I’m sure I’ve seen him before.’
‘I don’t recognize him, but Cain has a pretty extensive clientele. I don’t know all the faces.’
‘I’m sure he’s one of the Central London men. What the hell’s he doing here?’
Slightly sceptical, Manalone dismissed the idea, and tended his ComCredit card for a further round of drinks. As he did so, a shock of realization shot up his forearm like a bolt of electricity. ComCredit cards were credit-verified by the National Credit Computer. Obviously one could locate the whereabouts of any being in the country within hours simply by having on-line access to the credit computer facilities.
‘Don’t get paranoiac, Manalone. It could be coincidence … only you aren’t very fond of coincidences.’
‘Has he seen us, Paul?’
‘Not yet, but he seems to be searching. It’s only a matter of time before he looks this way. I’m damn certain he’s a member of the MIPS.’
Manalone caughtCain’s eye, and his outstretched hand, palm down, was a signal he had often seen at the club but never had occasion to use. Cain was slightly surprised at Manalone stepping out of character, but he read the urgency in the scientist’s eyes. The bar-hatch came open and Manalone and Raper, bending low, were ushered discreetly behind the bar and then into a level storeroom cluttered with pails and brushes. A window on the far side of the store gave unexpectedly on to area steps in some dark mews, and the two men climbed out unobserved into the dark sharpness of the night.
‘I could have been wrong,’ said Raper, when he had taken stock of his surroundings, ‘but it’s better to take no chances. I was certain that nobody followed me from London.’
‘Once they know your identity, they don’t need to follow,’ said Manalone. ‘All they have to do is sit on a credit computer readout terminal and watch the progress of your Com-Credit card. There’s not many hours go past without you registering a charge somewhere.’
‘Of course!’ Raper’s face was almost ashen with the sudden realization. ‘Thanks, Manalone! You’ve already answered a lot. I wondered how they always managed to pop up on all the wrong occasions. That would explain how they know not only where you are, but roughly what you’re doing and who you’re with. Look, Man, this thing is even more dangerous than I’d thought. If you want to back out now, I wouldn’t blame you.’
‘What price Don Quixote without Sancho Panza?’
‘Don’t joke, Manalone. I can see now how a man in Coventry came to acquire a headful of cinders. We’d better break this up for tonight.’
‘The damage is already done,’ said Manalone. ‘If they were watching us both they must have seen the coincidence of us both using ComCredit cards at Cain’s. But why the hell shouldn’t we? We’re long-term associates.’
‘You have a touching faith in human nature. If they weren’t sure of you before, they will be now.’
‘So I’m in it, win or lose. Believe me, Paul, if they start to make trouble for me, they’ll find they’ve made a lot of trouble for themselves. I suggest we carry on just as if tonight’s conversation had never occurred. Are you coming back to stay the night?’
Raper brushedthe hair back from his forehead. ‘Thanks, but I have to return to London tomorrow to start the election coverage. I promised Kit I’d spend the night with her on the raft. Come to think of it, the raft is probably a very good place to be. They don’t use ComCredit in that territory, and now I can see a very good reason why.’
Manalone walked with him, selecting the darker, quieter streets until the lights of the raft came into view spreading far out across the sea. By evening the raft, with its wilful jumble of coloured lights and enigmatic darkness, seemed almost an