Paying no heed to either of his hosts, Brice walked across to the unmovedly smiling Hade, and placed one hand on the latter's shoulder.
"Mr.Hade," said he, quietly, "I am an officer of the Federal Secret Service.

I place you under arrest, on charges of--" With a hissing sound, like a striking snake's, Rodney Hade shook off the detaining hand.

In the same motion, he leaped backward, drawing from his torn pocket an automatic pistol.
Brice, unarmed, stood for an instant looking into the squat little weapon's black muzzle, and at the gleaming black eyes in the ever-smiling white face behind it.
He was not afraid.

Many times, before, had he faced leveled guns, and, like many another war-veteran, he had outgrown the normal man's dread of such weapons.
But as he was gathering his strength for a spring at his opponent, trusting that the suddenness and unexpectedness of his onset might shake the other's aim, Rodney Hade took the situation into his own hands.
Not at random had he made that backward leap.

Still covering Gavin with his pistol, he flashed one hand behind him and pressed the switch-button which controlled the electric lights in the hallway and the adjoining rooms.
Black darkness filled the place.