"We're heading north!" he called out. "San Diego isn't north of us!" Both Colonel Welsh and Freddy Farmer jumped as though they had been shot. They turned and stared at him, wide-eyed. The redhead stared at him, too. But his eyes were slightly narrowed, and his perpetual grin stiffened slightly. He didn't say anything. "Well, what is the idea, anyway?" Colonel Welsh finally boomed angrily. "San Diego is west and south of here!" The redhead shrugged and nodded, but the pilot didn't even turn his head. "That's right, isn't it?" he called out. "Well, what do you know about that? I guess we ain't heading for San Diego, Colonel. Kind of looks that way, don't it, huh?" Colonel Welsh blinked and looked blank for a moment. Then his face reddened and he started up out of his seat. "See here!" he thundered. "What in--?" The redhead made a quick motion, and the chief of U. S. Intelligence choked off the rest. But it was the automatic that suddenly seemed to jump right into the redhead's hand that really stopped him. He froze motionless half up out of his seat. The redhead waved the gun a little. "Relax, and sit, Colonel!" he said in a voice that sounded like small stones on a tin roof. "I couldn't let you have it down there, but up here it's easy. Relax and get smart. And that goes for you two kids, too!" CHAPTER TEN _Vulture's Nest_ For a long minute there was no sound inside the cabin save the faint drone of the plane's engine. Like three men suddenly struck dumb, Dave, Freddy, and the Colonel stared at the redhead. Rather, they stared at the automatic he held in his right hand; held so that at the bat of an eyelash he could send a bullet into either of them, or into all three of them, for that matter. Then, finally, Colonel Welsh broke the silence. "What in thunder _is_ this?" he demanded. "Who are you two? What's the idea?" The redhead hunched his shoulders and half nodded his head toward the pilot. "That's Ike, and I'm Mike," he said with a chuckle. "But it isn't any act. We're just keeping you on ice for a while, Colonel. Be nice and you'll get back into circulation again in time. Be dumb, and you'll be dead." As the Colonel struggled for words, Dave leaned forward a little, arms resting on his knees. "This isn't the plane you flew last night," he said. The redhead grinned all the more and shook his head. "Nope," he said. "And that makes you a bright little boy--Flight Lieutenant Dawson. And that was nice flying last night. I thought that second time I had you cold. I guess you're as good at the controls as I've heard tell you were. Or was this English kid, Farmer, doing the flying?"