Another bouncing crash shook the Lancaster.
The radio was rambling on and on as John Bundy gave the world a blow by blow description of the first action made toward its ultimate death.
"—and to those people who have stood out against the expenditure of monies for arms and training, I say they should witness this attack upon an enemy of society. Yes, warfare is dead, but the conflict goes on against evil and ruthlessness, and only by preparedness of strength and preparedness of mind—to be as ruthless as the fiends that bore from within—can mankind combat his own weaknesses.
"They are evacuating the area now. Farradyne is trapped and unless he surrenders within the next half hour, atomic weapons will be used. We may never learn the thoughts of the mind that has directed the decay of the moral fiber of our people. We may never know why a man, given the opportunities that many finer men have been denied, chose as his life's work—"
Carolyn laughed hysterically and Farradyne went below for a look.
Morgan and Roberts fell upon him and hauled him down the stairs. They pinned him to the deck and held him there. Carolyn stood above him.
"We don't mind dying," she said, "in order to take you with us! You and your money and your paid agents and your bribed officials! Permit you to surrender? To stand mock trial and be acquitted? Never!"
The Lancaster shook with the throb of depth charges.
Farradyne struggled against his captors. He'd been as blind a fool as he had ever been, to let them sit there without taping them separately.
"Let me up!" he stormed. "Let me up so we can escape this bombing—"