No sign. I kicked his shoulder, just gently, but the shoulder had had a hard day, and he winced. I stooped and grabbed an ear and started to lift him by it, and his eyes opened and focused on me. I let the ear go, hooked my fingers in his armpits from behind, raised his torso, and hauled him on up. He clutched at my sleeve and said something, and I took hold of his belt in the rear and started him for the door, and he did fine. I was afraid I might have to carry him up the steps, but he made it on his own, though I kept a good hold on the belt for fear he might tumble and break his neck and Wolfe would think I had pushed him. After that there was nothing to it. Halfway down the corridor I shifted from his belt to his elbow, and when we got to the door, in sight of Wolfe, I broke contact. I had some vague feeling that I preferred to have him go on to Wolfe without my touching him. He went to the rock and sat down, and Wolfe moved over a little.
“Well, Mr. Zov,” Wolfe said, “I’m glad you can walk.”
“Comrade Zov,” he said.
“If you like, certainly. Comrade Zov. We’d better be moving. Someone might come, and my son has done enough for one day.”
Zov looked at his wrists. It was just as well he didn’t have a mirror to look at his face. The flat nose and slanting forehead would never have been a treat, but with the sun on them, and still twitching from spasms, they were something special.
He looked at Wolfe. “You were in Titograd yesterday afternoon. How did you get here?”
“Surely that can wait. We must get away.”
“I want to know.”
“You heard me mention the Spirit of the Black Mountain. I had been told that one of its leaders could be found here near the border, and we came to find him. We did so, and talked with him, and we were disappointed. We decided to cross into Albania, and saw this fort, and were about to enter, when we heard a scream. We went in to investigate, and you know what we found. We interfered because we disapprove of torture. Violence is often unavoidable, as it was on your mission to New York, but not torture. If that’s how—”
“How do you know of my mission to New York?”