NARROW ESCAPE 53
“Yes, George,” Tom said. “Did you find out anything?”
“Yes. Ham Smith and I took two trucks out. We started work about two hundred miles apart. Each of us picked up the same high-frequency signal shortly after you went up in the Flying Lab, and so did the tower operator at Shopton. We began tracking at once, making a directional fix from each of the three locations. Here’s the result.”
Billing held up a large chart before the screen. He had added direction lines and decimal numerical ratings of ascending signal strengths. Using simple triangulation, he had marked in red the point at which all three lines converged. It was about twenty-five miles from Shopton.
“The enemies’ control station must be located here,” he said.
“I’ll go there at once,” Tom answered excitedly. “It’s almost directly below the spot where the crows first attacked us!”
Switching off the set, he telephoned to Radnor, then Ames and finally Bud at their homes, to meet him in his office at once. He himself went to get the chart.
When the four assembled, Tom said:
“I asked you to come here because I didn’t want anyone listening in on our phone conversation. We’re going on a highly secret mission.”
After giving them Billing’s report, Tom outlined his plan for surprising the owners of the crows. “The place may be hard to find and we’ll have to go part 54 TOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT ROBOT
way on foot,” he said. “The spot is some distance from the road. Get flashlights.”
They took the black sedan in which Bud had arrived, deciding that the license number of this car would not be known to Tom’s mysterious enemies. The last five miles of the trip were rough and progress was slow. It was nearly eleven o’clock before they parked and started through the desolate woods on foot.