“This is Phil Radnor!” barked the speaker. “We have a further report on Marco’s activities while he was employed at Blackstone Mental Hospital. He seems to have been very friendly with one of the patients-a Raymond Turnbull-who has escaped!”
CHAPTER 16
THE VULTURES RETURN
AS RADNOR PAUSED after his startling announcement that the mentally ill scientist was missing, Tom exclaimed:
“Rad, I want all the facts on the Turnbull escape! Get me the exact date.”
Radnor reported that the escape had taken place exactly one month before.
“And what a month it’s been!” Tom thought, remembering the attacks by crows on his jet plane and later the Sky Queen.
The loss of the relotrol had been followed by desperate attempts on the part of the Briggin gang to secure a robot. First the phony magician. Then the disguised Zoltan. Later Marco’s strange behavior. A bomb at the plant and now a crow nearby.
“There must be some connection,” Tom decided.
133
134 TOM SWIFT AND HIS GIANT ROBOT
After he finished his talk with Radnor, he turned to his father and expressed his suspicions.
“It seems incredible that a man of Raymond Turnbull’s reputation would stoop to associating with bank robbers,” Mr. Swift said. “But a sick mind can lead to odd actions.”
“Dad, how sure are you of Robert Turnbull’s loyalty? Could he be mixed up in this thing too?”
Mr. Swift replied thoughtfully, “I can’t believe he is guilty of any disloyalty to me. But I wonder how much he may know about his twin’s recent activities.”
“Don’t you think that we should talk with Robert Turnbull at once?” Tom urged.