Ludens listened to Tom’s story of the tie-in between the Briggin gang and Raymond Turnbull, first with disbelief, then with a growing sense of defeat.
“All right, Swift,” he growled. “So we have been working with Prof Turnbull.
He helps us. We help him. This job was his idea.”
“What was the reason?”
“To delay the opening of your atomic energy plant. He didn’t tell us why.”
“Where is Turnbull now?” Tom queried.
“I don’t know.”
A CLEVER FOIL 183
Flash Ludens refused to say any more about Turnbull, so Tom changed his line of questioning. “Who was the stowaway on the other plane?” he asked.
“I got a pal of mine to work the job. If you want to know who he is, find him,”
the prisoner sneered.
Though he did not expect to receive an answer to the question, Tom was about to ask how the stowaways had slipped into the Enterprises grounds, when Flash Ludens burst into a raucous laugh.
“Getting into your place was so easy it makes a bank job seem really tough,”
he bragged. “One of those tape recordings told what day those arms were going to be shipped. So my pal and I-we studied all your workmen and picked out two that looked enough like us to fool the gatemen. This morning we just conked ‘em in a lonely spot and took their credentials. No trouble at all getting in.”
The inventor and his friends looked at one another. Admittance to the plant from now on was going to be double-checked!
A few minutes later the police arrived and arrested Flash Ludens. The country officers seemed overawed to be in charge of such a famous underworld character. After they had gone, Tom, using the facilities of the shop aboard the Flying Lab, repaired the crippled cargo ship’s instrument panel. The plane then went on to its destination. This time both cargo ships reported in and the mechanical arms were safely delivered to the Citadel.
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