"Well, this is a switch!" I remarked. "The kingpin needs a hand!"
"It is a comedown," Baxter said wryly, "but you see, my late agent's fatal heroics have had a distressing side effect."
"Oh?" I said, looking about the shards of room that were still extant on the corridor side. "I don't see anything."
"That," Baxter remarked, "is precisely the point, Mister Delvin. A moment or two ago, not three yards to the left of where those fools were sitting—no, don't bother looking, there's only empty space there now—there was a small sending set. I brought it all the way from Earth with me. In fact, that is the reason I was sitting in this room tonight. Had my agents reported to my satisfaction that you were present among the Ancients, I should have used that set to detonate the atomic bullet in the false Amnesty. However—"
"Your trigger went bye-bye," I finished. "Need I say I am elated?"
"I take it the woman, the one wearing the false Amnesty, means something to you?" Baxter said. "The Ancients seemed to set some store in her captivity's coercive power over you."
"She does," I admitted. "Which is why I'm happy you no longer possess the means to set that damned thing off."
I had no particular love for the Ancients, but I didn't much like the thought of Snow being blasted into radioactive rubble.
"Well, then, if you desire to save her, you and your friend are going to guide me down to that cavern where they dwell, and—"
Footsteps pounded down the corridor, and then a squad of armed guards came into view. They saw Baxter and halted, and their leader stepped forward.