On his way to lunch, Tom stopped in the lobby to inform the desk clerk about the van coming to pick up the crate. While Tom was talking, he noticed a wiry muscular-looking man with a deeply tanned face seated in a chair nearby, reading a newspaper. Tom sensed that the stranger was listening to his conversation with the clerk.
“His face sure looks familiar,” Tom thought, as he made his way to the dining room. “Wonder who he is?”
Tom ate a quick lunch of grilled lamb chops, followed by an apple tart. Then he started back through the lobby to take the elevator up to his room. The man with the newspaper was still there. He shot a quick glance at Tom.
“Who is that fellow?” Tom puzzled. “I’m positive I’ve seen him before.”
Going up in the lift, Tom continued to rack his brain about the man’s identity.
In his room he stretched out for a short nap. Perhaps, Tom thought, the man had been dressed differently the
66 AQUATOMIC TRACKER
last time he saw him. Or maybe he had had a beard or a mustache.
“A mustache!” Tom sat bolt upright. “I saw that fellow at the press conference on Fearing-. and he did have a mustache then! So did the man Chow spotted coming out of my lab!”
Tom swung himself off the bed. “I’ll bet he’s the phony reporter who posed as Venuto Giraud! I’m going down and have a little chat with that guy!”
Just then the telephone rang. Tom answered.
“Two van men are here to pick up your crate,” the operator said.
“Oh, yes. Send them up, please.”
Tom waited impatiently. In a few moments there was a knock at the door.
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