Stan pressed the stud and the violet beam flashed out and splashed on the car door six inches from the man's hand. The paint flared into a smoking fire and a neat, thin line raced down the metal, cutting cleanly through the body and the upholstery and the steel frame.
He'd let him squirm for a second, Stan thought coldly, and then move the beam back and cut the ape in two.
Now!
He never touched the man. There was a spanging sound and the pillar Stan was leaning against suddenly showed concrete chips. He fell backwards and sprawled on the pavement, the violet beam from his heat gun crazily scorching the concrete overhead.
Somebody yelled to the man crouched by the car....
"Run! Run, you fool!"
The man in the pork-pie hat dodged up the ramp. Stan tried to pick him off but the pillar showered concrete again and his aim was spoiled. Then the man was gone and Stan's mind turned to his own problems.
The opposition had finally put in an appearance....
"Come out now and you can come out alive. Fight, and we'll bring you out dead!"
A woman's voice, he thought coldly. Coming from a car about a hundred feet down....