“Then I’m afraid that there is truly no hope at all, your excellency.” As Chilko turned to leave, Torsky waved a restraining hand at him.
“Wait a moment, Chilko, where in America can we get in touch with this scientist?” Torsky pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed as the tension of the past few days began to tell on him. “Perhaps our ambassador in Washington will be able to do something for you, through the United States Government.”
The secretary of state handed the message to Balfort, the head of the secret service, and waited for the reaction.
“Well, I’ll be damned!” he muttered through a broad smile. “The Reds are offering their co-operation on this bomb nullifier project. I never thought they’d ever co-operate in anything.”
“Think we can risk it?” Halwit asked anxiously.
Balfort looked through the thick smoke of his cigar and shook his head as he spoke.
“I don’t know now, there’s no doubt they’re a slippery bunch. Did you ask Hartnell about our side of it?”
“I called him an hour ago,” Halwit said. “He told me we’re still stymied on the nullifier project. He also said that he would be very happy to confer with Chilko. Claims he met Chilko back in the ’20s and rated him a top man in the field. He’s all for the idea.”
“Those intellects never are much on politics,” Balfort grunted as he rubbed his chin in thought. “Personally, I say no deal. We have too much to lose. We’re way ahead of them in atomics, and I’ll just bet that those Reds would love to get a peek at the insides of our labs.”