Beth said, "It must have been a terrible nervous strain, killing him. You look very disturbed."
"You've overturned all the values of my life," Harris said glibly. "That can shake a man up."
"You didn't think I'd succeed!" Beth said triumphantly to Coburn. To Harris she explained, "Coburn didn't think you could be trusted."
"I can't," Harris said bluntly.
He activated the concealed subsonic.
The first waves of inaudible sound rippled out, ignoring false flesh and striking through to the Medlin core beneath. Protected by his three-foot shield, Harris nevertheless felt sick to the stomach, rocked by the reverberating sound-waves that poured from the pellet embedded in his thigh.
Coburn was reaching for his weapon, but he never got to it. His arm drooped slackly; he slumped over. Beth dropped. The other two Medlins fell. Still the subsonic waves poured forth.
To his surprise Harris saw that the two giants still remained on their feet and semi-conscious, if groggy. It must be because they're so big, he thought. It takes longer for the subsonic to knock them out.
Wrynn was sagging now. His wife reeled under the impact of the noiseless waves and slipped to the floor, followed a moment later by her husband.
The office was silent.