"They've got ships waiting to get me as soon as I clear Mercury, and they're getting stand-by instructions from somebody on the ground. The somebody that Ward was making for."
Jill's breath made a small hiss. "Somebody's near the Project...."
Gray snapped on his transmitter.
"Duke Gray, calling all ships off Mercury. Will the flagship of your reception committee please come in?"
His screen flickered to life. A man's face appeared—the middle-aged, soft-fleshed, almost stickily innocent face of one of the Solar Systems greatest crusaders against vice and crime.
Jill Moulton gasped. "Caron of Mars!"
"Ward gave the game away," said Gray gently. "Too bad."
The face of Caron of Mars never changed expression. But behind those flesh-hooded eyes was a cunning brain, working at top speed.
"I have a passenger," Gray went on. "Miss Jill Moulton. I'm responsible for her safety, and I'd hate to have her inconvenienced."
The tip of a pale tongue flicked across Caron's pale lips.