They stopped at the corner and Monty stepped off the curb into the street. "See that light down there," he said, pointing down the block, "the one just above the door?"
Tom turned to look. "Where—?"
He suddenly felt a sharp jolting pain in the back of his head and then everything went black.
"Nice work, Cag," commented Monty.
"What'll we do with him?" asked Cag.
"Throw him in the back of the truck and get outta here," said Monty, pulling Tom's limp form into the shadows of an alley. "I'll get in touch with the boss and tell him what's happened. And you better send out word to get Pistol. He must know something."
"Right," said Cag. "Gee, Corbett's getting his nice clean uniform messed up."
Dirty gutter water flowed over Tom in the dark Martian alley as the boy lay deathly still.