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with dots and lines on it. Tom examined the screen. There were small
labels-front lawn, hotel building, back lawn, swimming pool, air base
fence-and small green dots scattered around the screen. Tom stared. One dot,
just inside the air base fence, was pulsating green and red with the sound of
the bell.
It all hit Tom with crushing force. A homing device! Sidney was keeping track
of his suspects on this thing! Those pins! They must have been homing
transmitters! Sidney must have placed some that Tom hadn't got rid of! And now
at the wiener roast- The wiener roast? Oh, no, it was 11:45! As if everything
else weren't insane was late for the wiener roast!
enough, he e~%Qg&The flash`_
ing dot was moving in a smooth arc further and further onto air base property.
His heart missed a beat. One of Sidney's suspects had broken into the air
base!
It was unbelievable! Sidney had been right all
along! Tom wondered who it was-Waghorn, Vishnik, Bishop or Parson. Another
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thought occurred to him. Sidney couldn't see the screen! He would not know
that the operation had already started!
Tom stood up on the bureau, fists clenched. It was up to him, Tom Weston, to
save the western world! He leaped down, flung open the door and dashed out.
Two heads poked out from under the bed. Tom was gone. Both dogs flew out the
open door on the -dead run, away from the bells.
"Dick, what did you do to the guards?" whispered Cobber in horror in the
darkness of Hangar B. "Nothing permanent. They will simply have
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lel,uliilig iicaliatiica I WA a niiiic. cola aisaa4, vvr.wci.
Get into the cockpit."
"'Without a pressure suits In the Dsiris~ Are you crazy?"
"If you follow my instructions, you won't need a pressure suit," said Knight.
"You'll be flying relatively slowly and low. You do remember the plan?"
Cobber yawned. "Yeah, yeah, mate, okay. Should I leave immediately?"
"Not yet. Now listen carefully. Get in, switch on your radio and wait until
you hear from me. I have a transmitter that is on your frequency. When I give
the word, you press this remote control button"-he put a small switch-box into
Cobber's hand-"which will open the hangar door. Then you taxi out to the
runway as quickly as possible and take off."
"Got it, mate." Cobber climbed into the cockpit, gave Knight a thumbs-up sign
and yawned again.
Knight turned to leave. "Make sure you stay awake," he warned.
Cobber laughed. "Who could fall asleep in a spot like this?"
Knight climbed back out the window and was gone.
What a guy! thought Cobber admiringly. He looked at the gleaming control panel
and was relieved to find that he recognized it from the sketches in the
manual.
He reclined in his seat and yawned hugely.
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Why was he so sleepy? He wasn't really tired, and he ought to be wide awake
from tension V, m-. He picked tip t1 e snitch-hay K t t tad given him and
examined it. It looked more like a toy than anything else-or a disconnected
doorbell.
Cobber felt his eyes closing and snapped them open resolutely." If he fell
asleep and goofed this up ... He felt himself slipping again and started
slapping himself vigorously in the face.
The closer the time drew to the five hours of Sidney's delayed-action sleep
drug, the more trouble Cobber had staying awake. The remote switch dropped
from his fingers and bounced under the seat. His head nodded. At three minutes
to midnight Cobber was fast asleep.
The Pine Grove kennel keeper fed the last fox terrier his dog biscuit, hooked
his sixteen charges up to the large master leash and opened the gate. He was,
he reflected, the most unfortunate person on the staff. Absolutely everyone
was at that wiener roast; that is, everyone except him. He had to stay with
the dogs because Parson was afraid of another theft. Too bad somebody didn't
steal Parson. Now he was the only one missing the food, entertainment and free
beer.
He noticed as he walked that the dogs were a little skittish, probably because
of the big bonfire
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taken them out tonight.
The noise of the wiener roast covered the sound of two loping shadows
approaching from behind. As twin barks erupted from Blackie and Vishnik's dog,
the whole band of dogs wheeled, barking in reply. The wrench on the master
leash pulled the keeper to the ground.
From behind the clump of bushes where he had set up operations, Richard
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Knight's keen night-sight picked up the churning mass of dogs. He had been
expecting it. His watch read one minute to twelve. Without hesitation he
pushed down the small plunger on his control mechanism.
There was a loud explosion, and ten metres of the air base fence rose into the
air in a huge fireball and disintegrated. There were screams from the wiener
roast.
All sixteen hyperactive dogs broke their weakened leashes and trampled their
keeper as they sped, howling and yapping towards the explosion. Blackie and
Vishnik's dog were hot on their heels.
On the front steps of the Officers' Quarters, Captain Snider leaped to his
feet and began running madly towards the site of the explosion and the breach
in the fence. The other officers followed, and sentries converged from all
over the base.
"Cobber, take off!" commanded Knight into his transmitter.
A snore came in reply.
The wiener roast was in a panic. Almost five hundred people bev_an to run away
from the ex
plosion at the fence, towards the hotel. Then, spying the onrushing wave of
dogs, they turned around and ran back, bumping into each other. Sheer
pandemonium reigned. When the excited dogs caught up and started scattering
amongst the people, chaos spilled over through the breach in the fence onto
air base property.
"Cobber, take off! Cobber-Cobber! Wake up, Cobber!"
"Lemme sleep just five more minutes... "
"Hey," said one fireman to another in their pit, "I guess that's the signal to
start the fireworks. It's midnight." They shot the first big rocket up
into the air.
From the direction of the hotel came a red streak, the figure of Tom Weston
running at top speed. All fears cast aside, he ran courageously into the
boiling sea of dogs and people, darted through the crowd, leaped up onto the
bandstand, grabbed the microphone, inflated his lungs and bellowed,
"SHAKESPEARE!"
Sidney stared at his brother. "Shakespeare?"
Sidney's highly-trained assault teams instantly forgot the excitement of the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]