We argued it back and forth without getting anywhere. “I’d give a lot to know Steele’s angle,” I said. “If you hear anything more on him, give me a buzz.” Jack nodded. “I’ll see what I can do. But I can’t dig too hard, or he’ll hear about it.” On the way out, I found a phone booth and called Splitt. “Foo fighters?” he said. “Sure, I remember those stories. You think those are your flying saucers?” I could hear him snicker. “Just checking angles,” I said. “Didn’t the Eighth Air Force investigate the foo fighters?” “Yes, and they found nothing to back up the pilots’ yarns. just war nerves, apparently.” “How about a look at the Intelligence report?” I asked. “Wait a minute.” Splitt was gone for twice that time, then he carne back. “Sorry, it’s classified.” “If all this stuff is bunk, why keep the lid on it?” I demanded. I was getting sore again. “Look, Don,” said Splitt, “I don’t make the rules.” “Sure, I know—sorry,” I said. I had a notion to ask him if he knew John Steele, but hung up instead. There was no use in banging my head against the Air Force wall. The next day I decided to analyze the Mantell case from beginning to end. It looked like the key to one angle: the question of an Air Force secret missile. Unless there was some slip-up, so that Mantell and his pilots had been ordered to chase the disk by mistake, then it would be cold murder. I couldn’t believe any Air Force officer would give such an order, no matter how tremendous the secret to be hidden. But I was going to find out, if possible. CHAPTER V For more than two weeks, I checked on the Godman Field tragedy. One fact stood out at the start: The death of Mantell had had a profound effect on many in the Air Force. A dozen times I was told: “I thought the saucers were a joke-until Mantell was killed chasing that thing at Fort Knox.” Many ranking officers who had laughed at the saucer scare stopped scoffing. One of these was General Sory Smith, now Deputy Director of Air Force Public Relations. Later in my investigation, General Smith told me: “It was the Mantell case that got me. I knew Tommy Mantell. very well—also Colonel Hix, the C.O. at Godman. I knew they were both intelligent men—not the kind to be imagining things.” For fifteen months, the Air Force kept a tight-lipped silence. Meantime, rumors began to spread. One report said that Mantell had been shot, his body riddled with bullets; his P-51, also riddled, had simply disintegrated. Another rumor reported Mantell as having been killed by some mysterious force; this same force had also destroyed his fighter. The Air Force, the rumors said, had covered up the truth by telling Mantell’s family he had blacked out from lack of oxygen. Checking the last angle, I found that this was the explanation given to Mantell’s mother, just after his death, she was told by Standiford Field officers that he had flown too high in chasing the strange object.