Arriving at his father’s one-story all-glass laboratory, Tom hurried into the building. A secretary stopped his mad dash.
“Your father’s not here,” she said. “I’ve been trying to get him at the underground hangar but he doesn’t answer. An urgent telephone call from the Navy Department has just come in.”
“I’ll take it,” Tom offered. Picking up the phone, he said, “Hello.”
“Is this Mr. Swift?”
“Tom Jr. speaking.”
“I see,” the voice continued. “This is Admiral Hopkins-Navy Intelligence.”
“Yes, sir. Dad’s often spoken of you. What can we do for you?”
“Tom, we need the Swifts’ scientific help on these Caribbean attacks. Frankly we’re baffled by the blackout technique.”
The admiral explained that his department had 4 TOM SWIFT AND HIS JETMARINE
been unable to figure out by what method persons on the victim ships were knocked unconscious just before the looters came aboard.
“We’ve proved it’s not an inside job,” he said, “but that only makes the problem worse. Who are these mysterious raiders, and how can they disappear so quickly after plundering the ships? If we weren’t so practical, we could almost believe the attacks were engineered by space pirates!”
Tom chuckled, then became serious. “We’ll certainly help you all we can, Admiral Hopkins. Dad and I have a special reason of our own for wanting to clear up this mystery.”
This would not be the first mystery Tom had solved. In his Flying Lab he had tracked down a group of clever spies responsible for the kidnaping of several scientists.
When Tom told Admiral Hopkins about Ned Newton, the officer expressed his concern. He said that since the Nantic was the first ship to be sunk, his department believed that it might be because something had gone wrong in the attackers’ plans.