John Blaine - Rick Brant 12 by The Electronic Mind Reader

Author:The Electronic Mind Reader [Reader, The Electronic Mind]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2012-06-05T11:16:34+00:00

[116]

Duke Barrows got out of the car, nursing his head.

“Two men jumped us when we started to get into the car,” he answered shakily. “One smacked me on the head with something hard and almost knocked me out. If Jerry hadn’t put up a good fight, they’d have had us—although I don’t know what for.”

“Were they holdup men?” Rick asked quickly.

“They didn’t wear signs,” Duke answered grumpily. “But holdup men usually say something, don’t they? ‘This is a stickup.’ Or something like that.”

Jerry Webster examined bruised knuckles in the glare of the car head lamps. “They didn’t say anything,” he added. “Not a word. When you yelled, they broke off and ran into the woods.”

Scotty scratched his head. “Mighty funny,” he mused. “What could they have wanted?”

Duke Barrows brushed dirt off his jacket. “They probably were reporters from a Newark paper,” he said caustically, “trying to find out about the mysterious visitors on Spindrift.”

It hit Rick then. “Duke,” he exclaimed, “you look like Dr. Morrison! I’ll bet it was a case of mistaken identity!”

The editor looked at him keenly. “Could be,” he agreed. “That means you have reason to believe someone would be interested in harming Dr. Morrison.”

“I’m just assuming,” Rick said hurriedly.[117]

“Uh-hum.” The editor grunted his disbelief. “And what should we do about it?”

Rick looked at Scotty, who shrugged. The shrug said that probably nothing could be done now, so far as Duke and Jerry were concerned, but that the case was far from closed.

“Better notify Captain Douglas,” Rick suggested. “I can’t think of anything else.”

Jerry Webster flexed an arm that appeared to be aching. “Sure that won’t conflict with your security people?” he asked.

Rick assumed an air of wide-eyed innocence. “Now, Jerry! Who said anything about security people? I just suggested you notify the State Police. Who else would you notify when someone attacks you?”

Duke climbed into the car. “Come on, Jerry. We’ll get no satisfaction out of these two. Let’s go rub liniment on our wounds, and then we’ll make a report to the State Police. Good night, lads. And I hope your mystery bites you. Let me know if it does, so I can say ‘I told you so’ in print.”

The boys waved as Duke drove off, leaving them in darkness. As they made their way back to the speedboat, Rick spoke his thoughts aloud.

“I guess the enemy uses muscles, too, huh?”

Scotty answered thoughtfully, “Looks like it. Unless they really were holdup men.”

Rick shook his head, even though Scotty couldn’t[118] see the reaction. “Pretty unlikely. But suppose the enemy kept a watch on movements in and out of Spindrift? From a distance they might assume that Duke was Morrison. So it would make sense for them to keep a watch at the pier in case he came back—which he did.”

“And when he came back, they’d either murder him or kidnap him?” Scotty sounded disbelieving. “I doubt it. Nothing the enemy has done so far points to that kind of tactic. Why should they start using muscle methods now?”

Rick had no good answer.

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