Appleton, Victor – Tom Swift Jr 24 – And His 3D Telejector

“All right, Swift, you’ve had your chance!” he snarled. Wild-eyed, he aimed his dart gun at Tom. “Now you’ll get what’s coming to you!”

CHAPTER XIV

THE HIDDEN KEY

TOM froze, expecting Horst to fire. Instead, the red-haired man backed out of the lab and slammed the door. A key turned.

Pale and perspiring, Tom rushed to the door. It was too solid to break down and the formidable-looking lock appeared pickproof. The sound of a car engine told him that Horst was driving away.

Tom stood still, wiping his damp forehead. He was a prisoner miles from the spot where he had landed. Even though Ames had tracked him on radar, it might take hours or days for police to comb the area and locate the Quonset hut.

“But there must be some way to get out of here,” Tom thought, glancing around. The laboratory was windowless, its walls lined with workbenches and racks of equipment. Suddenly Tom grinned. His pencil radio lacked sufficient range to contact Enterprises. But what was to prevent 116

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him from making a two-way radio with a far more powerful transmitter?

“It should be a cinch with all the electronic gear around here!” Tom thought.

He began to search for parts. Suddenly Tom started as a voice spoke in the Quonset hut:

“This is Horst calling Tom Swift!”

Tom quickly spotted the source-a small radio receiver on a cluttered workbench.

Horst’s voice was edgy, almost hysterical. “I-• I’ve been under a great strain. I was afraid all my years of work would be wasted because of your 3-D TV, so I wanted to keep it off the market. Now I know it’s hopeless. I must have been out of my mind to resort to that bomb scare and-and what I planned for tonight.”