“Oh, say,” Sandy interrupted, coming in from the kitchen. “Phil Radnor called you on the videophone just a few minutes ago. He wants to talk to you about fingerprint verification. He said that it was urgent, so I told him you’d call back as soon as you came in.”
Tom reached for the direct private videophone coaxial to the plant. He waited while one of his operators in the main building terminal made the switching connections on the huge cable board, which linked the company’s coast-to-coast private television
28 TOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT ROBOT
network. When Radnor’s face appeared on the screen, he looked excited and distraught.
“What is it, Rad?” Tom asked.
“I have a report for you from the police. Some of the prints identified belong to an escaped Federal prisoner!”
“What!”
“He’s ‘Flash’ Ludens of the Briggin gang.”
“The Briggin gang!” Tom exclaimed. “They’re the cleverest, most dangerous bank robbers at large today!”
“That’s the outfit,” Radnor said. “The other two members are ‘Slick’ Steck and Tins’ Zoltan.”
Tom was completely mystified. “Rad,” he said slowly, “what would bank robbers want with my relotrol? It doesn’t make sense!”
CHAPTER 4
MENACING BIRDS
BY MORNING not only the Swift family but the whole Enterprises organization was buzzing with the exciting news that a well-known bank robber, and perhaps his confederates, was now an enemy of Tom’s.
In his office, the young inventor was talking with Bud, Radnor, and young Harlan Ames, head of the plant’s security division. They were looking at rogues’