“While we were in the jungle, one of our group sighted a large animal which has not yet been identified,” he told the reporters. When a reporter SENSATIONAL NEWS 91
asked if the animal looked like a dinosaur, Tom smiled noncommittally. “Sorry, no comment.”
Mr. Swift and Harlan Ames were waiting at the Queen’s, underground hangar.
“I thought we had better let you deal with the press as you saw fit, son,” Mr. Swift explained, as he gripped Tom’s hand warmly.
Tom told them the whole story. “Do you think I was right, Dad, in refusing to give any details?”
“Absolutely,” Tom Sr. agreed. “Scientists the world over would condemn us for issuing such a sensational yarn without supporting evidence.”
“The question is, how did the story leak out?” Ames said. “Any idea, skipper?”
Tom shook his head. “Not a clue, Harlan.” He explained that the only person to whom he had mentioned the incident was Hans Macklin.
“I’ll check back with him,” Ames promised. “And the news wire services, too.”
The security chief hurried to his office and phoned Consolidated Press in New York.
The editor informed Ames that the story had originated in a cable dispatch from Lagos, Nigeria.
“Will you please check with your correspondent there-at our expense-and try to pin down the source?” Ames requested. “It’s important.”
“Okay, but it may take a while.”
Next, Ames placed an overseas telephone call to Hans Macklin in Copperville. After half an hour of waiting, the call was routed through.
92 REPELATRON SKYWAY
“I assure you, I never breathed a word of the story to anyone,” Macklin told Ames.
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