He took her by the shoulders. She had had too much, but he could have no hysteria now.
"Martha, we can't stop them, they'd tear us to shreds! And what difference does it make now? Don't you realize—in four months this town and all towns will be destroyed anyway!"
Their prisoner, back in the darkness, suddenly raised his voice. Wales leaped back, pressed his pistol against the pudgy man's body.
"You call out and you get it now!" Wales warned savagely.
Pudgy looked up at him, and said hoarsely, "Are you crazy? Those maniacs aren't friends of mine! They're going to burn this whole town like they burned others—we got to get out of here!"
The frantic fear in the man's voice was utterly sincere. And to Wales, crouching beside the captive, came a shattering enlightenment.
He said, "Then you and your pals aren't working for the Brotherhood? Then it wasn't the Brotherhood that took Lee Kendrick, after all?"
"They're maniacs!" said Pudgy, again. "For Christ's sake, Wales, are you going to let them burn us alive?"
Wales stooped, grabbed the man by the throat. "It's not the Brotherhood who took Kendrick, then. All right—who was it? Who wants to see millions of people trapped on Earth? Who sent you after me? Who?"
Pudgy's voice turned raw and raging. "Get me out of here, and I'll tell you. But if we stay here, we're goners."