“Good grief, Harlan!” Tom exclaimed. “That was supposed to be top-secret!
I’m sure it wasn’t
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THE SECRET FORMULA 115
in the article when Dad and I went over the papers!”
“You’re right,” Ames said. “It wasn’t. We got hold of the original typewritten manuscripts from the printer and found that someone had inserted the formula in pencil.”
“Who was the ‘someone’?” Tom asked.
“We haven’t been able to find out yet,” the security chief said, “but I have a hunch it was an inside job.”
“An inside job!” Tom was shocked. Then he remembered again the eavesdropper who had knocked over the chemical equipment in his office, and also the suspected sabotage of the printing plates. Perhaps the same person was responsible for all three incidents. “Any clues, Harlan?”
“Not so far. But we learned that Miss Warner left the papers on her desk while she went out to lunch. In fact she didn’t take the papers to the printer until late afternoon. That would have given the culprit plenty of opportunity to write in the formula.”
“But why? What’s the angle?” Tom puzzled.
“Only one reason that I can figure out,” Ames replied. “Remember, that formula was long and complicated, with a bunch of mathematical signs and Greek letters in it.”
“So?”
“So it was probably too tough to memorize,” Ames went on. “And it was too risky to carry it out of the plant written down on paper, since every employee is checked at the gate. But this
116 SPACE SOLARTRON
way he could get the formula outside Enterprises without any danger of being caught.”