“Let’s hope our flame throwers don’t start a forest fire!” Bud muttered.
“They’re aiming inward over the cleared grounds,” Tom replied. “Besides, the Forest Service told me the woods are moist just now.”
Wraithlike figures could be seen pouring out of the sanatorium building in a frantic effort to escape. But state troopers and FBI men landed from the low-hovering plane and began rounding them up. Some suspects tried to get away over the wall but were seized by the men waiting outside.
In the eerie brilliance of the giant searchlight, ROUNDUP RAID 149
the prisoners were herded back into the building. One, under prodding from Wes Norris, switched, off the mist-spreading device.
A few minutes later Hank Sterling boarded the Queen. “A-OK, skipperl The mopping up is all over!”
Tom and Bud climbed out of the plane and hurried toward the building. Inside they found Dr. Grimsey safe and beaming with gratitude for his rescue. Then Tom received a report from Harlan Ames. The security chief gestured toward the sullen-faced prisoners.
“From what these men say and the secret records we’ve turned up, there were thirty-seven members of Group Q here. We have thirty-six. The one man who escaped was the gang’s leader.”
“Did you get his description?” Tom asked.
Ames nodded grimly and held out something in his hand. “We found this in his office.”
Tom’s face blanched as he saw what Ames was holding-a small crystal cube containing a carved black cobra-the symbol of a powerful enemy they had thought deadl
CHAPTER XVIII