Finally he looked at Raymond and said, "What have you idiots done?"
"We—we thought—"
Raymond stopped. Barchet said, "We all agreed on it after you left yesterday. We would bring him here and try—try to convince him that we were right. But he had a heart attack and d-died. So—"
In the yellow light of the unshielded incandescents the lie stood out in bold relief on Barchet's face. It was Lurie who said finally, "We might as well tell the truth. We had Thurman kidnapped and we chloroformed him. Now we're going to revive him and tell him he died of natural causes but was reanimated. We figure he'll support us if—"
Wobbly-legged, Harker groped for a lab stool and sat down heavily, cradling his suddenly pounding head in his hands. The monstrosity of what had been done behind his back stunned him. To kidnap Thurman, kill him, hope that in reviving him he would be converted to their cause—
"All right," Harker said tonelessly. "It's too late for saying no, I guess. You realize you've condemned all of us to death."
"Jim," Raymond began, "do you really think—"
"Kidnapping, murder, illegal scientific experimentation—oh, I could strangle you!" Harker felt like bursting into tears. "Don't you see that when you revive him he's bound to throw the book at us? Why did you have to do this when I was gone?"
"We planned it a long time ago," Barchet said. "We didn't think you'd be back in time to see us doing it."
Vogel said, "Perhaps if we don't carry out the resuscitation, and merely dispose of the body—"