“It’s possible your Uncle Ned might not have blacked out,” the admiral suggested.
“Which would mean,” Tom added, “that the pirates, fearing he’d guessed their secret blackout method, took him prisoner.”
“If it’s true, and we can locate Mr. Newton,” Admiral Hopkins replied, “it may lead us to the hideout of those devils!”
“Nothing would suit me better than to find them,” Tom said.
WING-TIP ESCAPE 5
The conversation ended and he ran from the laboratory. Hopping into the jeep, he sped toward the underground hangar on the Enterprises grounds. Tom beamed his electronic key on the door and watched it inch open.
Down in the vast space below ground, where the Sky Queen, the Swifts’
Flying Lab, was housed, he found his father and told him the alarming news. Mr.
Swift listened intently.
“Ned missing!” he murmured. “Oh, no!” Then he added hopefully, “Tom, you know Ned always was very resourceful. If he’s alive, he’ll find some way to communicate with us.”
“Yes, he could use that miniaturized twenty-meter transmitter and receiver I built inside a pencil and gave him before he went away,” Tom said. “I hope the pirates didn’t take it from him. Well, if Uncle Ned contacts us, we’ll be ready to go to his aid on a minute’s notice!”
“We certainly will,” Mr. Swift agreed.
“But even if Uncle Ned can’t contact us, I’d like to start a search for him, anyway.”
“How?” his father asked.
“First, let’s take up the Sky Queen and scan the general area of the ocean where the Nantic was attacked,” Tom replied. “It’s just possible Uncle Ned may be adrift, instead of being a captive. If that fails, the next step would be to speed up the finishing touches on my new two-man sub and go after those pirates. I don’t think they can be taken by a surface vessel.”