Part 2

_Don't call my bluff_, he prayed. _Don't!_

All Merrill had to do to release the bomb was to trip a cryotonic relay; fiery death would descend on Washington within minutes. Stiffly Conroy moved toward him.

"Keep your hands in the air, Merrill."

A blaster lay to one side--the blaster, no doubt, with which Merrill had overpowered the Wheel's officers. Conroy edged toward it.

And then Merrill put his head down and charged desperately toward Conroy.

Dave's hand wavered on the gun for a moment; he still could not fire. Cursing, he hurled the blaster to one side and met Merrill's charge.

The Commissioner was in his fifties, but heavyset and muscular. He tore into Conroy with a madman's fury. Gasping from a stomach blow, Conroy reeled backward, locked his hands, brought them down with all his force on Merrill's bull-like neck.

_Forget he's Janet's dad_, he ordered himself. _Hit him or he'll kill you._

He drove his fists mercilessly into the Commissioner's bulk. Merrill kept coming in his suicide attack. Finally Conroy crashed a fist into the older man's jaw, and he sagged to the ground.

"Thank God!" Commandant Naylor exclaimed, wrestling in furious impotence with his bonds. "That madman was about to bomb Washington!"

"I know," Conroy said tiredly. "I know."

* * * * *

Later, he held a sobbing Janet Merrill in his arms, felt her soft warmth against him, soothed her as she wept.

"Easy, baby. Your Dad'll be all right once the psych-crew calms him down. He had space-sickness; it can happen to anyone. He went out of his mind temporarily--and instead of preventing the saboteur from bombing, he _became_ the saboteur!"

"But the disgrace--"

"It'll be hushed up," he said. "It could happen to anyone. When he comes out of it he'll forget the whole thing."

She started to calm. "And what about you?"

Chuckling, he said, "You don't think they're going to condemn me after all this, do you? I had a talk with the Commandant. They're going to investigate the whole filthy business of the jetroom and replace those men with robots. And I'm completely cleared."

"That's wonderful, darling," she said.

"_Darling--?_" he repeated. "But I thought--"

"I was a fool, Dave," she said. "I didn't have enough faith in you--_then_."

"How about now?"

She looked up at him and wiped tears from her glittering eyes. "We've wasted three years, darling. When can we start making up for lost time?"