“Put out all lights!” Tom ordered.
Bud flicked the master switch as they plunged through the dark overcast. At the last safe instant, Tom pulled out of the dive-then switched full power to the jet lifters. The Sky Queen shuddered and steadied into fixed position.
The sky was now hanging motionless in the darkness on jet lifters, at scarcely a thousand feet of altitude.
“Nice going!” Ort murmured to Tom. “Wish I’d had you for a wing man!”
“What now, skipper?” Bud asked.
“We’ll lie doggo here for a while and hope our little playmate can’t find us!”
Tom switched on the search radar. A blip of light on the scope showed the enemy jet passing overhead. It traced a zigzag course. Evidently the pilot was probing for them above the overcast.
72 TRIPHIBIAN ATOMICAR
“What if he has radar too?” Bud asked.
Tom grinned, his face barely visible in the glow from the instrument panel.
“We’re a fixed point, remember, and fairly close to the ground, so he’s not likely to read us on his scope. Besides,” Tom added, “we’re going to scram out of here the first chance we get!”
In a minute the enemy blip had disappeared from their screen as the jet passed far out of range. Tom, after reassuring the girls and Chow over the intercom, sent the Sky Queen streaking off on a roundabout course.
“I think we’ve lost them, Bud. Want to take over?”
“Okay.”
Tom and Ort joined the others in the lounge. “Good grief!” said Phyl shakily, “Who do you suppose it was? Some lunatic?”
“Could be,” Tom replied. “Anyhow, it’s all over.” He said nothing more about the mystery, since he did not want to alarm the girls further.