"Hi, boss!" Chow bellowed in his foghorn voice. As usual he was wearing a gaudy cowboy shirt. "Who"s the new buckaroo?" the cook added, squinting at the stranger with open but friendly curiosity.
"Why--actually I don"t know his name yet, but he"s looking for a job,"
Tom replied. Turning to the stranger, he added, "What _is_ your name, mister?"
The stranger glared from Tom to Chow, as if not certain what to answer.
Chow"s eyes narrowed. He had detected something strange in the way Tom addressed the fellow as "mister," and had also noticed how the man kept one hand hidden in his pocket. Looking to Tom for a lead, Chow suddenly noticed the young inventor make a quick "thumbs down" gesture.
"My name is..." The man"s voice fell to a mumble, obscuring the syllables. "Frankly I am not yet sure I desire a job here, but being an engineer, I thought perhaps--"
[Ill.u.s.tration (Tom and Chow fight the intruder)]
The man"s gaze switched back to Tom, and in that instant Chow jumped the intruder. With surprising agility for his rotund bulk, the cook bore down on him and let fly a gnarled fist at the stranger"s jaw. Tom followed up like lightning, grabbing the man"s wrist and yanking his hand out of his pocket.
He was clutching a snub-nosed automatic. Tom twisted it from his grasp as the man landed, writhing on the hard ground. Chow quickly pinned his other arm and drove a knee into the man"s solar plexus.
"Jest lie quiet now, you varmint, or you may git yourself roughed up a bit," Chow warned, then added, "Who is he, Tom?"
"Search me. He stopped my car on the road and forced me to drive him in through the private gate. Boy, was I ever glad to see you, old-timer!"
Tom emptied out the clip of sh.e.l.ls. Then he searched the stranger while Chow continued holding him down. The man carried no wallet, papers, or other means of identification.
"Brand my tumbleweed salad," Chow grumbled, "he sure wasn"t takin" no chances on people findin" out who he is! Which proves he"s some sort o"
crooked cowpoke! Honest ones ain"t afeared o" showin" their own brand!"
The man muttered something angrily in a foreign tongue. Chow merely pressed down harder with his knee. "What"ll we do with him, boss?"
"Let him up, Chow," Tom said. "Security should be here any second."
Even as he spoke, Tom glimpsed a jeep speeding toward them in the distance. The young inventor knew what had happened. Since the stranger did not have the special electronic wrist amulet worn by all Swift employees, his presence had automatically shown up on the master radarscope. A security squad was coming to investigate.
As Chow released the man, he got to his feet slowly. Then, without warning, he suddenly b.u.t.ted the cook square in the stomach. Chow was knocked sprawling!
Before Tom could counter the surprise attack, the man"s fist cracked against his cheekbone. Tom, though stunned, lashed out. More punches flew back and forth. Tom landed a stinging blow to his opponent"s midriff, then took a punishing one himself.
Suddenly Tom felt the stranger"s hand clawing at his pocket for the key to the gate. With all his wiry strength, Tom locked his arms around the man and wrestled him to the ground.
The stranger fought like a tiger. But a second later a jeep screeched to a stop. Three security guards, led by stocky Phil Radnor, leaped out.
Within moments they had the man subdued.
Tom quickly briefed the security men on what had happened.
"All right, mister, start talking!" snapped Radnor, head security police officer.
The man"s only reply was a scowl of rage.
"Okay, take him away till he cools off," Tom ordered.
Disheveled and still panting, the man was bundled into the jeep and driven off to the security building.
Tom arrived there by motor scooter several minutes later. Harlan Ames, the slim, dark-haired security chief of Enterprises, had taken charge of the case, and the prisoner was now being fingerprinted and photographed.
"Any leads?" Tom inquired.
Ames shook his head. "He won"t talk and we"ve nothing on him in our files. His clothes have no tags or laundry marks, but I"d say they"re of foreign make."
Tom nodded. "He"s definitely foreign. He spoke with an accent and he also muttered something at Chow--I didn"t catch it, but it certainly wasn"t in English."
Ames frowned. "I don"t like the looks of this, skipper. He may be a spy."
"Have you notified the police?" Tom asked.
"Right. Also the FBI. They"re on the way right now to pick him up. Maybe they"ll be able to worm something out of him."
Tom spent the morning in routine work in the big double office which he shared with his father in Enterprises" main building. It was equipped with huge twin modern desks, deep-pile carpeting, and roomy leather chairs.
Each of the two inventors had his own drawing board, designed to swing out from the wall at the press of a b.u.t.ton. Small scale models of some of their most famous inventions were also placed about the office, including a red-and-silver replica of Tom"s first rocket ship, the _Star Spear_; a blue plastic model of the jetmarine in which he had fought a band of undersea pirates; and also a gleaming silvery model of Tom"s latest, unique s.p.a.ce craft, the _Cosmic Sailer_.
Because of his father"s absence in Washington, the burden of administering the vast experimental station now fell on Tom"s youthful shoulders. Telephone calls, letters, and other detailed work occupied him until noon.
Chow broke in, bringing a lunch tray with milk, a hot chicken sandwich, and a chocolate eclair. Tom ate hungrily.
"Kind o" peps up the ole supercharger, eh?" said Chow, lingering to chat.
"Sure does," Tom agreed.
"Wal, jest remember that, an" don"t go missin" any meals--or sleep, either," Chow advised as he gathered up the tray. "A brainy young hombre like you needs plenty o" rest an" vitamins to keep from burnin" himself out."
"I"ll remember." Tom grinned affectionately as the leathery-faced old Texan took his leave. The Swifts had first met Chow when they were on an atomic research expedition in the Southwest. Chow had become so attached to Tom that he had returned to Shopton with the Swifts as a permanent employee.
Soon after Chow left the office, the telephone rang. Tom took the call and had just finished talking with Harlan Ames when Bud came strolling in.
"Any more news on that nut who jumped you this morning?" the young flier asked. "Ames told me about it."
"Not yet, but there may be soon," Tom said. "Harlan just phoned and said he"d had a call from Washington, asking us to stand by the videophone at one-thirty sharp."
Ames arrived in person shortly before the scheduled time. Moments later, a red signal flashed on the control board of the Swifts" private TV network. Tom flicked on the videophone and two men appeared on the screen.
One was Blake, the Swifts" Washington, D.C., telecaster. He introduced the other man, a calm-faced, balding individual in a dark suit.
"This is John Thurston of the Central Intelligence Agency, Tom," Blake said. "He thought it might be better to discuss this with you face to face."
Tom, Bud, and Ames were also visible to the pair in Washington.
"Glad to know you, sir," Tom said, and introduced his companions.
"We"ve identified the man you captured this morning," Thurston began.
"He"s in the United States on a French pa.s.sport under the name of Jacques Renard. But we"ve just learned from the International Police Organization that he"s actually a Brungarian. His name is Samson Narko."