SABOTAGE! 103
The burden of their complaints was always the same: Don’t let Tom Swift carry out any more of his crazy experiments on public property!
When the young inventor arrived home that night, he felt drained of energy.
Hardly had he sunk down in an easy chair when the telephone jangled.
“You leave this one to me,” his sister Sandy called from the telephone alcove. “If it’s someone being nasty, I’ll bite his head off!”
A moment later she approached her brother with a surprised and slightly uneasy look on her face.
“Tom, it’s the mayor! He wants to speak to you.”
Tom walked to the telephone and took the receiver. “Yes, sir?”
“Tom, I’m afraid this situation is getting out of hand!” Mayor Drummond sounded worried and harassed. “The public outcry is so bad that half the Town Council wants to call off the whole project.”
Tom protested. “But the machine wasn’t at fault. The bomb fragments prove that. It was obviously a case of sabotage!”
“That’s just the trouble! Some people think that more bombs may have been planted!”
Tom stiffened with a sudden shock of alarm. This was a possibility that had not occurred to him.
“Tell everyone we’ll take immediate precautions,” he promised. “And I’ll report back at once if there’s any further sign of danger!”
Calling Harlan Ames, he ordered plant security 104 TOM SWIFT AND HIS ATOMIC BLASTER
men to guard the digging area at all times. Then he contacted Hank Sterling and told him to organize a crew of technicians, armed with mine detectors.
“Drive them out to Pine Hill on a company truck. I’ll be waiting for you there.”