With a frustrated feeling, the young inventor gave up and returned to Fearing Island. Here he removed the tracking apparatus from the Sea Hound and flew it back to Enterprises.
Tom worked intently in his laboratory for the rest of the day. He redesigned the logic circuitry and the memory system of both the CO-AN and the CTS so that each unit could handle a greater input and process it more speedily. Chow brought in a tasty steak with French fried potatoes, but Tom barely noticed what he was eating.
It was late at night when the young inventor
THE SHARK MAN 101
finally stopped work. A strange theory had been forming in his mind. Tom wanted time to think it out. Stretching wearily, he got up from his workbench, went into the apartment adjoining his laboratory, and made some hot cocoa.
“If I’m right,” Tom mused, “those atomic sub traces are no coincidence-and they weren’t from a Navy sub, either. It might even explain why my aquatomic tracker goofed off so badly.”
Tom sipped his cocoa slowly, trying to keep his eyes open. Gradually his head sagged, and he dozed off.
Kapow! Tom was awakened by a muffled report, followed by a crashing noise from the laboratory.
Wide awake, Tom sprang up and rushed into the laboratory. The wax figure he had brought back from London lay face down on the floor!
“What happened?” Tom wondered. He dashed across the room and pushed open the door leading to the outside corridor.
A man was running down the hall toward the front door! He was clutching a revolver with a silencer attached to the muzzle I CHAPTER XII