He meant it—almost, anyway. Somehow the thought of cutting Gail Melvin's throat persisted. He forced the thought back. No price was too high!
"I, too, would give much to destroy the drug traffic," Quong Kee said softly. "George Melvin and I operated an establishment in Lidice, Venus—until neoin appeared. We were doing excellently. But then George became involved in a crusade against the drug peddlers. He found out some things—I do not know exactly what.
"But he disappeared. And things began to happen to our establishment. Things like bombs, bullets, poison in the food—I was forced to close and barely escaped with my life."
He picked up the mounted photograph that Barnard had vaguely noticed on the desk and turned it for the reporter to see. Barnard recognized Quong Kee and—George Melvin! But a George Melvin whose eyes were young and intelligent and flashing with the joy of living!
"Gail located him," said Quong Kee, "through the Missing Persons Division. He was here in Kainor, in the condition in which you saw him tonight. Gail and I packed what we could into George's space ship, the Chicago, and we came here, where I opened this—ah—place of refreshment."
"Chicago," Barnard mused. "I should have guessed that."
"Gail recognized you standing out there this evening," said Quong Kee. Again the haunted smile crept over his lips. "I can't understand her motivation for intervening in your quarrel. She told me you were a great reporter who might expose the criminals and she had to save you."
"Isn't that reason enough?" Barnard demanded suspiciously. "What did she say to him?"
"She told him you were a higher-up in the neoin organization and would see that his supply was stopped if he harmed you. A clever girl—but foolish."
Barnard didn't ask why. "Where is George Melvin now?" he demanded.