After filling the unit with red-dyed water, Tom squatted in front of the glass window in the pump model to view the flow through the kicker. He flicked on the power and listened to the even whirring of the pump.
“It’s perfect!” he murmured elatedly, as he watched the scarlet liquid bubbling through the unit.
Satisfied, Tom turned off the power. As the laboratory became deathly still again, Tom was aware of a slight noise in the adjacent lab. Thinking it might be one of the chemists back to shut off an experiment, Tom, eager for company, hurried into the room.
THE FUEL KICKER 17
The bright light of his laboratory revealed the intruder’s face. Gates!
“Halt!” Tom shouted. Gates raced into the corridor with Tom after him. But before Tom lunged through the doorway, he pressed a button to sound the alarm. As it clanged, he looked up and down the corridor. There was no sign of the intruder.
“Gates must have ducked into the chemical-supplies room to hide,” Tom decided. “There’s no other possible place!”
Tom leaped into the dark supply room opposite his lab. Before he could snap on a light, a fist shot out and struck him. Tom lurched backward against a table with shelves. Flasks, condensers, and test tubes on it cascaded in all directions onto the concrete floor, shattering to bits.
Then everything became still. The only sound now was the drip of the acid off the shelves. A moment later Tom staggered to his feet and cautiously snapped on the light switch. No one was in the room but himself!
“Gates slipped out!” Tom groaned.