Thorsen forced himself not to give things away by reaching for his weapon yet. He fastened his attention on the two doors into the cafe.
The shot blew most of Thorsen's lungs away, but the electronic wiring in his muscles kept the shock from killing him outright. He turned and managed to get off one shot before death started climbing up his arms from his fingers, and the weapon fell.
He should have kept in mind that no one had ever seen Baker and lived to tell it. Now he had seen Baker and he was not going to live either. But then Baker was dead even now, in spite of Thorsen's mistake.
Before he died, Thorsen took one last look at the figure with the long golden hair lying on the threshold of the ladies' room.
X
"This story is absolutely authentic," the director said. "Several ETI agents saw the whole thing. But somehow in the confusion somebody stole Baker's body."
"Really, Director!" Street said. "You don't actually believe Baker was a woman."
"Are you suggesting a disguise?"
"It had to be. Baker's body disappeared by getting up and walking away. The only way it could do that was for it to be armored. The only way Baker could get into that building was for his armor to be hidden. There was only one way he could hide the two spheres of electronic equipment necessary to project the cuirass field, and he couldn't do it if he really had been a woman."
XI