Tom, after one look at the stranger, was sure he could never forget the man’s face, with its long features and cruel but intelligent expression. Could this be the scientist?
Tom leaped away from the wall.
“Hold on, Dansitt. I want that film.”
The student’s jaw dropped in amazement when he recognized Tom, but quickly regaining his composure, he sneered, “It happens to belong to me, wise guy.”
“For a scientist, you don’t operate with the ethics of our profession,” Tom accused him. “You sneaked those photos.”
Dansitt glanced at his companion, standing beside him with fists clenched, and laughed sarcastically. “Ethics, bah! You’re still wet behind the snorkel, boy!”
Then he assumed a pose of bravado. Holding the package toward Tom, he rasped, “Okay, whiz kid. They’re yours if you can get ‘em!”
In one whirlwind motion Tom accepted the challenge. His arm flew out so fast that it was a blur in
IN ENEMY TERRITORY 61
the darkness. He snatched the film, at the same time hurling his body against the two men. They fell to the sidewalk, the wind knocked out of them.
Thrusting the package under his jacket, Tom tugged the zipper upward and ran toward his waiting taxi.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw a burly doorman spring from the entrance toward him. Tom pivoted and plunged between two parked cars in an effort to get up the street to his taxi. His right leg caught against a rear bumper and he fell sprawling into the street.
As he started to get up, Tom saw the big doorman coming through the narrow space straight at him. At the same moment that the man flung himself forward, Tom shot his legs upward. The movement caught his assailant in mid-air with a stomach blow that sent him flying backward.
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