“No.” Iris moved instinctively, fatally, to the door which led to Cave, as if to guard it with her body.
There was a brief scuffle which ended with Iris and myself, considerably disheveled, facing two guns. With an apology, Stokharin pushed us through the door.
In a small sunroom we found Cave sitting before a television screen, watching the installation of a new Resident in Boston. He looked up with surprise at our entrance. “I thought I said....” he began but Iris interrupted him.
“They want to kill you, John.”
He got to his feet quickly, his face pale and his eyes glaring. Even Paul was shaken by that glance. “You read my last statement?” Cave spoke sharply, without apparent fear.
“That’s why we’ve come,” said Paul; he and Stokharin moved, as though by previous accord, to opposite ends of the little room, leaving the three of us together, vulnerable at its center. “You must do it here.” Paul signaled Stokharin who, after some fumbling, produced a small metal box which he tossed to Cave.
“Some of the new pills,” he said nervously. “Very nice. We use peppermint in the outer layer and....”
“Take it, John.”
“I’ll get some water,” said Stokharin; but Paul waved to him to keep his place.
Cave smiled whitely. “I will not take it. Now both of you get out of here before I call the guards.”