Within two hours the investigation was complete enough to draw some firm
conclusions. Mr. Evans, of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and a
Captain Foster, of the U.S. Coast Guard, stood before the group. There
were many strange faces in the room. Some of the men were in uniform;
some were not. Eddie supposed most of them were government or police
officials of some kind.
Under close guard over to one side of the room were two dozen or more
men. They were all strangers. Their uniforms, although of a seaman’s
variety, were completely unfamiliar to Eddie.
There were also several men in civilian clothing being held under guard.
Among them Eddie saw the two unlucky fishermen he had come to know as
Harvey Simms and Roy Benton. They scowled darkly at him. Eddie scowled
back.
Mr. Evans seemed to have caught the exchange of glances. “Remember,” he
said to Eddie, “I mentioned that we should have no trouble grabbing them
whenever we wanted to. Well, we got them. A few others, too. Simms and
Benton were sitting outside that old fisherman’s shack, still holding
the battery lantern they used to signal the submarine.”
“Boy, oh, boy!” Eddie exclaimed.
“Now, gentlemen,” Mr. Evans went on, turning to the main group, “please
regard all that is said here as confidential until it is officially
released through the proper channels. If you are wondering why these two
young people are sitting in on this hush-hush session, I take great
pride and pleasure in informing you that, without their alertness and
curiosity over certain suspicious actions, that submarine might now be
on its way seaward carrying two secrets very precious to this country’s
security.”
Eddie blushed but felt mighty good. Teena looked at her hands, trying to
hide the pleased smile on her lips.
“Mr. Taylor and Mr. Ross,” the FBI man said, “this should also please
you. We found two more of those sealed metal cylinders inside the
submarine.”
“Then they hadn’t delivered them!” Eddie’s father said with obvious
relief.
“That’s right. In fact, the submarine commander has admitted that they
have been lying about thirty miles off the coast during the week.
Tonight was their third trip to the bay. Incidentally, it was scheduled
to be their last. They had plenty of the secret radioisotope, and
today’s blueprint delivery completed the main set on the new
missile-guidance system they also were after. If we hadn’t set the trap
tonight, we would have been too late—another reason for appreciating the
alertness on the parts of your son, Eddie, and Mr. Ross’s daughter,
Teena.
“Now,” Mr. Evans continued, “we haven’t had time to solve who was behind
all of this, or why. We have our ideas, of course, but it’s going to
take considerable investigation to draw a full and clear picture. At the
moment, I’m not free to reveal to what country that submarine belongs. I
did think, though, that you two gentlemen deserved to know that the
isotope and the blueprints are safe.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account