Worked like a charm, tool” Jackson added with a flash of boastfulness.
Tom’s steel-blue eyes blazed accusingly at the locksmith. “But you used the same kind of ray machine that you gave your buddies who tried to kill me!” he snapped.
“No! I swear that’s not true I” Jackson said.
156 MEGASCOPE SPACE PROBER
His tone was so vehemently fearful that Tom was convinced he was telling the truth. If so, the scorings on Tom’s car must have been accidental scratch marks caused when it overturned.
Tom decided to try a gentler approach. “Okay, Jack, you sound as if you’re leveling with me,” he said. “But why did you slip those plans for my helium machine to Jacques Gaspard?”
The question took the locksmith off guard. He gave a guilty start, and the color drained from his face. Evidently he had not known the Swifts were aware of that theft, Tom realized.
“J-Jacques Gaspard is my cousin,” Jackson stammered. “He had the idea for such a machine before you did, anyhow. Besides, yours will be used for military purposes. Cousin Jacques’ was intended solely for the good of humanity. Of course, it failed-and you know why.”
Tom thought grimly that this must have been the “sly trickery” Jackson had accused him of, “To whom did you give the plans?” he asked.
“I don’t know the name of the person who received them. That’s the truth. All I know is they were to be passed on to my cousin.”
Tom felt sure that Furster had been the middle man in the plot. “How did you transfer the plans without taking them from Enterprises?” he went on.
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119