“Sure thing, Dad.”
After a restful night’s sleep Tom took a taxi to the airport. Entering the hangar where his plane had been rolled, he saw that it was nowhere in sight.
64 TOM SWIFT AND HIS JETMARINE
“My name’s Tom Swift. Where’s my ship?” he called to a man who seemed to be in charge.
The other man stared at him in astonishment, saying, “You’re Tom Swift?”
“Of course I am,” Tom said, both puzzled and impatient at his reaction. “And I need my plane in a hurry!”
“Well,” the man replied, “if you’re who you say-it’s tough luck. Your plane’s gone.”
“What!” Tom almost shouted. “What do you mean-gone!”
“All I know is, a man came here for the plane last night-he had all the proper credentials-and said he was Tom Swift.”
CHAPTER 8
A WANTED SPY
“SOMEONE WAS posing as me!” Tom cried incredulously.
The hangar official nodded and said that the man who had taken Tom’s plane had displayed a wallet with several cards.
“What did he look like?” the young inventor asked.
The description fitted Dansitt’s friend at the apartment house! Tom groaned.
There was no telling what the man might do with the credentials or the plane.
“Have you any idea where he was going?” the young inventor asked.
“Not exactly. But he did ask for a report on weather conditions south of here.
They’re not good. This is the hurricane season.”
As Tom dashed to a phone, he wondered if his stolen plane was now at “Dog.” He called the police
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66 TOM SWIFT AND HIS JETMARINE
and the Air Patrol, reported the theft, and gave a complete description of the plane and the suspect. Then he put in a call to Bud Barclay in Shopton. Tom told him what had happened and asked his friend to come for him.