Thurston eyed him coldly. “Very well,” the CIA man decided. “You have my word.”
A SUSPECT TALKS 71
Narko sat down on his cot, breathing heavily. Then he looked up at the three Americans. “Your nation’s capital, Washington, B.C., is going to be blown up!”
the Brungarian asserted.
His words struck like a bombshell. Chief Slater and John Thurston stared at Narko in openmouthed astonishment.
Then Slater scowled. “What a preposterous story! I suppose they’re going to fly a plane over and drop an atom bomb-just like that!” He snapped his fingers.
Thurston was also inclined to doubt Narko’s story. Any such bold move by the Brungarians, he declared, would amount to an act of war.
“It is the truth!” Narko shouted. “Do not forget-you have made a promise.”
Tom Swift did not share Chief Slater’s and Thurston’s skepticism. Narko’s words had chilled him with dismay. He called the other two aside and gave them a quick whispered briefing on the theory he had discussed with the government scientists, asking them to keep it confidential.
If the Brungarians indeed had a means of producing artificial shock waves, Tom pointed out, they could easily destroy Washington without the slightest risk to themselves.
Both Thurston and Chief Slater were alarmed. Turning back to Narko, they grilled him for clues. But it seemed obvious that the Brungarian was 72 THE VISITOR FROM PLANET X
telling all he knew-or, at any rate, all he intended to reveal.
“We’re wasting our time,” Thurston said finally, with a look of disgust. “But I made a promise in the name of the United States government and the promise will be kept.”