"Elise on Venus?" he asked, "what the devil is she doing there?"
"She went with Tony Andrews. He was finishing the job you started, and she stowed away in his ship. When I found the note she left, it was too late to do anything."
The blur of hate in Val Kenton's mind then was a savage thing that seemed to drain all strength from his body. He whirled, faced the gray stone wall, afraid the other would see the murder-lust that lay so near the surface of his eyes.
"To hell with Tony," he grated between set jaws, "he was the one who squealed on me!"
Colonel Barber's mouth tightened in distaste, and for one interminable second his hand toyed with the butt of his disruptor pistol; and then he was his old competent self again.
"He only did his duty, Val," he said slowly, "after all, you broke your oath and the Interplanetary laws, when you smuggled those drugs and gasses from Mars."
Val Kenton turned, blazing eyed, and so twisted were his features that the patrolman took an involuntary step backward.
"I swore I'd get him for that!" he spat sibilantly, "I swore I'd get revenge for what he did to me! And now this is my chance." He shook his head. "I'll not help rescue him," he stated flatly.
"But Lord, Val, you can't let Elise and Johnson, the chemist, die just because of an insane hate against a man who did not harm you maliciously!"