“Why should I let you see that?” Burlow snapped.
“The engineering details and specifications could save us a lot of time in sizing up the project.”
Burlow snorted. “If you think I’m about to help a competitor, you’re wrong!”
“The Ngombian government paid for your survey,” Tom pointed out. “Surely they should be able to make use of the results.”
“Then ask them. They have copies.”
“They did have,” Tom explained, “but every copy has been stolen. The last ones were stolen from the secretary of the Ngombian official who came to see us yesterday.”
Burlow stared in amazement, then burst into a loud bray of laughter. “Too bad, Swift. In that case, I guess you’re just out of luck!”
Tom stifled the angry retort that rose to his lips. “Then you won’t cooperate?”
34 REPELATRON SKYWAY
“That’s right. If you geniuses at Swift Enterprises want to take on the job and show us up, go ahead and find out the facts for yourselves.”
Burlow’s eyes crinkled in a foxy smile as he added, “I’ll tell you one thing, though, boy-you have a real unpleasant surprise coming if you think you can lay a highway straight across that jungle swamp. You’ll soon find out why we called for the detour that jacked our price up so high!”
Tom realized that it would be useless to press Burlow further. Changing his tack, he questioned the enginer bluntly about the devil doll and the spear incidents, as well as the kidnapping of Kwanu’s secretary. Burlow seemed genuinely bewildered-so much so that he even failed to take offense at Tom’s implied suspicions.
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