"The words he used. Like putting together an atomic symbol and Russian money to make "troubles," and using "umbra" instead of shadow. I"m sure in a big book like _The World Almanac_ troubles and shadows are mentioned somewhere. But he didn"t have time to search. He took the first possibilities that came along."
Rick nodded approval. "That figures. But why didn"t he have time?"
Scotty shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe better."
Julius Weiss, who had tired of the discussion and started to the lab, ran back into the house. "There"s a plane heading this way," he announced. "I"m sure it"s coming here, because it"s down pretty low."
The conversation ended abruptly. Rick and Scotty were first out on the lawn. The engine noise of the plane was loud.
Rick saw it first, a sleek, four-place cabin job, circling wide out over the water, losing alt.i.tude. In a few moments it banked sharply behind the lab building, straightened out, and cut the gun. Rick was running toward the end of the gra.s.s strip even before the plane settled smoothly to the ground.
"Steve Ames," he said to himself. "I"ll bet it is." The JANIG officer had wasted no time!
Sure enough, Steve was the first out of the plane. Rick saw that he was the only pa.s.senger. The pilot got out then, and Rick recognized him as one of the JANIG operatives who had chased the Whispering Box gang across Washington.
Steve and Rick shook hands, grinning at each other, then Rick greeted Mike, the pilot.
"Didn"t think we"d be needing Spindrift again so soon," Steve said. He walked to meet the others and shook hands all around. "Let"s get busy,"
he said to Hartson Brant.
Rick, Scotty, and Barby followed the two into the library. Mrs. Brant took the pilot into the dining room for coffee while Professor Weiss excused himself and went on to the laboratory. His apparent lack of interest would have amazed anyone who didn"t know him, but Rick knew that when Julius Weiss was wrapped up in one of his theoretical math problems, nothing else on earth could find room in his mind.
Steve looked at the scientist. "What caused you to reconsider?"
"This." Hartson Brant handed him the translation of Chahda"s cable, then the original. "We broke the code last night. It was a book code, using _The World Almanac_. Chahda knew we"d be able to puzzle it out."
Steve scanned the number groups briefly. "Clever," he commented. He read through the clear copy twice, and his jaw tightened. "This explains something that has puzzled me."
"A good thing," Rick said. "Because all we got was the puzzlement. No explanations."
Steve tapped the cable thoughtfully. "I hate to ask you to tackle this job, but you must have some ideas about it or you wouldn"t have sent that wire."
Hartson Brant nodded. "I explained my situation to you on the phone when you called a few days ago. The situation hasn"t changed, but I must admit this cable from Chahda puts a new light on the matter. That boy is a member of the family."
"Then you"ll go?"
"I don"t want to, quite frankly. I will if there is no alternative. I lost a lot of sleep last night making that decision. But first, I want to propose that some member of my staff go in my stead."
Steve walked to the desk and perched on its edge. "Which one?"
"You know them all. You also know their specialties. Which of them would fit your requirements best?"
"Zircon. He"s a nuclear physicist."
Rick held his breath. Steve was continuing:
"Chahda urges Rick and Scotty to get jobs, too. I hadn"t considered that, but it"s not a bad idea."
Rick closed his eyes and let out his breath in a sigh of relief. Scotty nudged him.
Hartson Brant asked, "Then you will consider Zircon as my subst.i.tute?
Always on condition that he will go, of course."
Steve nodded. "I"d prefer you, but I"ll take Zircon, if I can make a condition of my own, and that is that you"ll fly to the Far East on a moment"s notice if he and the boys can"t handle it."
Rick looked at his father anxiously. Hartson Brant had not given his permission for them to make a trip, but evidently it was all right. The scientist nodded.
"I"ll agree to that." He went to the telephone and picked up the instrument. "Operator, I want to place a long-distance call."
Steve winked at the boys. Then, as Hartson Brant placed the call to Zircon in New Haven, Connecticut, the JANIG man said, "Going to be a couple of tourists at government expense, huh? Pretty soft."
"Maybe," Rick said, grinning. "That cable doesn"t sound like anything soft."
Steve got serious. "You two proved yourselves in Washington, so far as I"m concerned. You can make yourselves useful, and you"ll provide a good cover for Zircon."
"What kind of cover?" Barby asked.
Steve smiled at her. "Women can"t keep secrets, I"m told."
"I can," Barby retorted swiftly.
Steve held up his hand for silence. Hartson Brant had Zircon on the line. The scientist outlined Steve"s proposal in a few words, and gave Zircon the contents of Chahda"s cable. Then he listened to Zircon while Rick fidgeted anxiously. Finally, Hartson Brant said, "All right, Hobart. Tell your people up there that I"ll take your lectures. We"ll see you later today." He hung up and nodded at Steve.
"Hobart had lectures scheduled for next week, but I can take them for him. He"ll be down this afternoon, and, he says, he"ll be ready to leave in the morning if necessary."
"Good!" Steve nodded at Barby. "Even if you can"t go on the trip, you can make yourself useful. Want to place a call to Washington for me?"
"Yes," Barby said eagerly. "Where to?"
Steve gave her the number. Then, while she was placing the call, he said, "Now, I"ll tell you what I know."
Rick"s heart beat faster. Now he would learn what was behind Chahda"s cable!
"The day before I phoned here," Steve began, "my office received a message from Carl Bradley. It was a top secret message sent to us via the American consulate general"s channels from Singapore. I"d better explain first that Carl is a JANIG man. His knowledge of that part of the world has made him invaluable, and he works for us secretly while doing his routine work as an ethnologist. That is top secret information that must never be repeated outside this room."
"You can depend on us," Hartson Brant a.s.sured him.
"I know it. To go on. His job is gathering information about persons who show too much interest in operations within our emba.s.sies and consulates. However, the cable we got from him wasn"t quite in that line."
Steve paused to see how Barby was getting along. She was trying to listen to him and the operator at the same time.
"This cable," Steve continued, "said he had accidentally made a discovery of something potentially dangerous to America. He asked for a competent nuclear physicist, and he named you, Hartson, to be sent to Singapore at once to check on his finding, and to locate, if possible, the source of the stuff he had discovered. We haven"t heard from him since. From Chahda"s cable, it"s evident something has happened to him.
And on the basis of the cable, I think we"ll send Zircon and you boys to Hong Kong first."
Scotty put into words the question that was in Rick"s mind. "What was it that he discovered?"
Steve"s lips tightened, then he said: "_Heavy water!_"