Right now he’s in a deep coma.”
Frowning thoughtfully, Tom studied the work—
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man. His face seemed familiar, but the young inventor was unable to place it.
Meanwhile, the floor nurse reported that the patient had carried no identification papers.
Tom put in, “The man working with him on the sign said he was going to follow the ambulance. Didn’t he get here?”
“Not as far as our records show.”
“Any idea what this letter Q means, or why he wanted to see you?” Sergeant May asked Tom.
“No,” Tom said. “Incidentally, Enterprises will pay his hospital bills. And we’d appreciate it if he could be kept under guard at all times.”
Next morning at the plant, Harlan Ames, the slim, dark-haired security chief, was as puzzled over the affair as Tom. “What I’d like to know, skipper,” he mused, “is why he became so terrified at the approach of the helijet.”
“I’d like to know, too,” Tom said. He paused. “Come to think of it, Harlan, when the accident happened, I remember thinking he looked vaguely familiar to me.”
“Think you can place him?”
Tom shook his head. “No, but let’s say I have run up against him before-maybe in connection with some criminal plot against Enterprises. The helijet has my initials in its registration number-N527TS. If he spotted them and knew it was my ship, he might’ve feared I had come close enough to recognize him. That would explain why he became so startled and terrified.”
38 3-D TELEJECTOR
“If he was afraid of you,” Ames pointed out, “why would he ask to see you later on?”