Mike the Angel spun around and looked at the door. It was just a trifle warped, and faint tendrils of vapor were curling around the edge where the seal had been broken. Mike sniffed, then turned and ran. He opened a drawer in his desk and took out a big roll of electrostatic tape. Then he took a deep breath, went back to the door, and slapped on a strip of the one-inch tape, running it all around the edge of the door. Then he went into the outer office while the air conditioners cleaned out his private office.
He went over to one of the phones near the autofile and punched for the operator. “I had a long-distance call coming in here from the Right Excellent Basil Wallingford, Minister for Spatial Affairs, Capitol City. We were cut off.”
“One moment please.” A slight pause. “His Excellency is here, Mr. Gabriel.”
Wallingford’s face came back on the screen. It had lost some of its ruddiness. “What happened?” he asked.
“You tell me, Wally,” Mike snapped. “Did you see anything at all?”
“All I saw was that big pane of glass break. It fell into a thousand pieces, and then something exploded and the phone went dead.”
“The glass broke first?”
“That’s right.”
Mike sighed. “Good. I was afraid that maybe someone had planted that bomb, rather than fired it in. I’d hate to think anyone could get into my place without my knowing it.”
“Who’s gunning for you?”