“Any luck?” Tom called over the walkie-talkie.
Mel Flagler, one of the Swifts’ seacoptermen, reported, “That frogman went ashore down the coast, skipper. A car must have been waiting. We found tire tracks in the dirt road there. Anyhow, he’s gone.”
THE FRIGHTENED FROGMAN 61
Tom stifled his disappointment. “Okay. Thanks, Mel. Go ahead and secure.”
Bud and Neil Forman were as disgusted as Tom to think that the enemy agent had escaped.
“Well, it can’t be helped,” Tom said. “Want a lift back to Shopton, Neil?”
“No, thanks. I have a car.”
Tom and Bud resumed their flight to Enterprises. Presently a green glow of light could be seen ahead, floating over the highway near the plant.
“Good grief!” Tom exclaimed. “I rate the dope-of-the-week prize, Budl”
“How come?”
“That green balloon! If the revolving sign was a spy gimmick, this one may be too-I should have had Ames check it last night.”
Bud’s eyes widened. “Let’s take a look!”
Tom slowed the helijet and swooped down toward the balloon. With a blinding flash and tremendous roar, the balloon suddenly exploded!
CHAPTER VIII
GALLEY SPOOK
THE blast buffeted the helijet like a sonic boom. Tom and Bud were half blinded by its brilliance. The wave of heat left them gasping.
Car drivers slowed in panic on the highway below as bits of debris rained down from the sky. Bone-jarring vibrations rattled the Whirling Duck as Tom struggled with the controls.
“Our rotors must be damaged!” he exclaimed.
Gunning the main jet, Tom zoomed the heliplane skyward. He radioed the tower operator at Enterprises:
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127