Chapter 49

Quarrier reached his destination without incident, but as he went up the winding stairway of the office building to his private sanctum he was oppressed by an uneasy sense that all was not as it should be. Those elevators--they were seldom out of order. Perhaps.... But, panting a little from his climb, he found his floor, and the door of his private office. For just a split second he hesitated; then, unlocking the door, he flung it wide and went in. And then, for the third time that evening, he had another shock: f…