“We’ve had troopers, detectives, and fire inspectors swarming all over Latty’s place,” Captain Rock reported. “They examined his house, the garage, two sheds out back, and every inch of the grounds. But there’s no indication of any place where a bomb might have been planted to cause an underground explosion in Shopton.”
The fire chief nodded confirmation. “So that clue peters out,” he said.
With the waning of daylight, the other groups had finally abandoned their search of the Shopton
SECRET CACHE 45
area without turning up any information. “I’ll notify the FBI immediately,” Chief Slater said.
Nevertheless, he promised that his men would continue their efforts the next day.
“Even if we find nothing more, that arms cache was worth all the trouble,”
Slater added. “The country owes you a vote of thanks, Tom. A bunch of enemy agents could have hurt a lot of people with an arsenal like that!”
“That’s for sure,” Captain Rock agreed. “It was a good day’s haul, Tom.”
The two boys drove back to the Swift home and had a quick shower. Bud borrowed clean clothes from Tom. Then they sat down to enjoy a warmed-up but tasty supper, served by Sandy and Mrs. Swift.
As they ate, the boys listened to music on the radio, interspersed with eager questions from Sandy about the bomb search.
Suddenly the radio announcer broke in. “We interrupt this broadcast to bring you an important news bulletin 1”
CHAPTER VI
BRUNGARIAN COUP
TOM, Sandy, and Bud listened as the radio announcer continued: “Reports just in say that Brungaria has been taken over by a rebel group.