“I’ll send along an armed rocket for escort,” Ken insisted.
There was no attack, however, and the boys landed on Fearing without incident. Tom immediately notified his home and reassured his family.
“Oh, Tom, I’m so relieved that you’re safe,” Mrs. Swift sighed over the phone.
“George Billing reported that you’d been rescued, but we were still worried.”
“You can relax, Mother.” Tom laughed. “Bud and I are both fine. See you this evening.”
A few minutes after landing at Enterprises the boys were in Mr. Swift’s big double office. He was still seriously concerned about the attack.
“If our enemies will go this far, there may be worse trouble ahead,” he pointed out.
“Let’s talk to Ames,” Tom suggested. He phoned the security office and asked Ames to come over at once.
“Right, skipper,” Ames replied. “And I have some important news for you.”
When the security chief arrived, he told the Swifts that he believed it was a Brungarian spaceship which had attacked Tom and Bud.
Tom nodded. “How about that news you mentioned?”
Ames said that his men had learned the identity of the prisoner Tom had captured during the
STRANDED IN SPACE 77
raid on Fearing. “His name is Nijin Devsky,” Ames revealed. “He’s a known spy and was working as a servant for Otto Jantree!”
The listeners were startled.
“Then why doesn’t the FBI arrest Jantree?” Bud demanded.
“Not enough proof yet. Anyway, we have a better plan!”
CHAPTER IX
A POWERFUL TAKEOFF
“LET’S HEAR your plan,” Tom said eagerly.
Ames explained that a cousin of Jantree’s had been caught carrying top-secret United States government papers. “Luckily we have an agent who closely resembles this man. Name’s Josef Warturo. He was born in Brungaria and speaks the language like a native, but now he’s an American counterspy. We’ve planted him as Jantree’s new servant.”