Show BOMBS BURST Nu GRAN VI LLE CH CHURCH SERVICE t TIIE STORY SO FAR FAIt Jeff Curtis and lJ I wife wire Lee arc are already on their way r W Tierra Libre when hen he receives a note om Zora Mitchell warning them not to toome ome When they arrive In n Libre they ey find both Zora and her husband t dead ad It Is Mitchells Mitchell's job as chief engl engl- Her er for a fruit company that Jeff has 1 f RU en called to fill Later Jeffs Jeff's friend friende e Lm sW Henderson Is killed and Jeff suspects ifs s employer Senor of oC murder murder- ZY Eig him and the Mitchells l because they d found round a clue to the strange things iZ i on at the plantation Other sinter sinter sin sin- ter figures are the company chemist and the flyers and estock A man nun named Collins ar are Ives ves from the Canal Zone to see sec Mitch Mitch- ell U. U A talk with Jerry McInnis has 21 oI r f revealed that Is part German rn Hinted d is dealing with the Nazis Jets Jeff has one cone one to find and Collins tt t u NOW INOW CONTINUE WITH THE TilE STORY U es 41 CHAPTER XVI e ea r t For sev several ral minutes neither man f oved ed Gradually Curt edged him- him lf if into deeper blackness got clos- clos o a put the figure between himself I re refund nd d light the light from the Col CoI Co- Co l I b z not far distant The out- out one ne looked like Collins He e called the name softly No answer He tried again Yes came the low ent Curt approached Looking around h 17 U No answer Find anything La Silence Then No Well my friend its it's time for foru 1 eu bu u and me to have a talk First our ur ur credentials Lets Let's see them s 1 iNo move from the other at first ten n an amiable Sure and Col- Col a. a als al's t ns reached into a pocket r better Lieutenant Na- Na ual Intelligence eh Glad to have 5 ou ou u. u Shake t tIt was the handclasp that turned ie trick Collins unbent I I need friend here he confessed You armed Yes Yes Had my service pistol I ched jj Good Good Its It's nearly eleven The age will be asleep by midnight I expect t Go back to your room your rear window screen I The sure you make no noise later I 1 did Got out that way Curt grunted Well go back to toed ed for a while Youve You've likely sized b Sp P the place and know who's here 1 A Sure Then when they're all abed and 7 l cave cave ve had time to get to sleep wake Monahan Hes He's in the last room t JuI I I know r s Bring him out along the main maine maint t e ack rack to the motorcar shed midI mide mid- mid Me I e- e Curt broke off stared toward B jAe e mess ess Some groups group were T l 11 aking up for the night judging S om om m the sounds middle of the ards Got that Enough for now et t back to your room Ill I'll see you tier lter Curt returned to his bungalow illins disappeared into the night the mess-hall mess Emilio was ving a few last words wi with to his r partners before heading 3 rJ ir r the engineering bungalow Curt ad barely time to climb in hook its ts window screen behind him hang hangS hangl r its l S clothes over a chair as they ad lt d been earlier and stretch out j wider der the mosquito bar Hed He'd have u J leave the magazine against the cor and hope that Emilio would e ire it no thought or at worst sup- sup ise ose se a freak burst of wind had p pocked it to the floor I tHe He heard Emilio fumble at the ck the slight scrape of the magane maga- maga lne me ne as the door pushed it back over Th ye floor A shadow blocked out the JCk at his bedroom door He sim- sim deep breathing and closed is lis lids until he could see only hough his lashes P Emilio looked and listened then Presently the porch light wJ trapped Snapped off the front door clicked hut Kut l t and Curt heard the mans man's steps t ps headed for the bachelor s fis rs S They sounded sharp on the they y t walk The luminous dial of his watch tit ld Curt it was 11 1130 30 Later than dad d thought He lay relaxed for few few w minutes but dared not close its AS eyes afraid he would fall asleep r ter ter his full day Soon 3 Soon he got up dressed again Alis is ds time taking his hat and let out the front way He rec- rec carefully Avoiding the street lamps Curt jade ade his way to the rendezvous a sAnd nd waited impatiently until at last wo figures little darker than the c itself came toward him e ae recognized Monahans Monahan's stride O. O t Good man Slats he said when hey Bey were close enough This will williO p iO you out of your sleen sleep hut but it IC Jt t be helped Get yourself a ar r and keep alert Collins and i will be gone C three or four hours Vc Ge mustn't be longer for the theace lacell ace cell U be stirring to life soon after R b t. t Hang out at my bungalow flats ats ts Anyone starts snooping dy round conk him Tie him up only w o n nt t let anyone find out Im I'm miss- miss g g and dont don't be recognized your- your Jelf elf Got me mt- Got yuh The The motorcar s shed had was an open t lJ i font building with three short I Bracks hacks His own car was headed out fortunately the first car on its track jurt H t remembered the speedometer c id d disconnected it There must be beitA itA fD mileage record of this trip Curt didn't open the car wide he 9 l e a engine was smooth enough but ra ron 1 n wheels on iron rails roils in ill this still it ight air rang alarmingly foud loud to toen en who needed silence Further I In V d in running without lights at high speed over an uneven roadbed even evena a snake unseen on the track might derail them Under way Collins turned to Curtin Curt Curtin in the scat beside him Ive followed followed followed fol fol- lowed blind so far Where are we headed Curt chuckled mirthlessly The Theone Theone one spot you want above all to vis vis- vis- vis it After a moment We better have it out Collins Suppose we begin with you How did you get in on this I reckon I know but Id I'd rather you told me I had a note from Bill Hender Hender- son He enclosed a letter from Mr Mitchell Mitchell- One thing Did you know of Mitchells Mitchell's murder before you left the Zone I Yes That's the reason I was sent Mitchell hinted in his letter at a Nazi movement here which would endanger the Canal and he wanted someone sent to confirm some serious discoveries hed he'd made and take action But the letter was so involved and guarded and vague that we thought it crank stuff We Ve get more of that than you'd suppose Nevertheless Nevertheless Nevertheless Never Never- we put out some feelers No matter how wild the yarn that comes in we cant can't ditch it in the waste basket Naturally we have some pretty good sources of information here and N Y a aI i I I r 1 S. S I 1 i I Iy y I II Ii i I i This This lower gate was locked there throughout these countries First thing was to check up on Mitchell the Mitchell the type of man how responsible responsible responsible re re- re- re he was and so on Well while we were doing that we got word of his murder So that seemed to indicate a pretty thorough investigation investigation investigation gation was needed I drew the de de- de- de tail While over in Soledad getting the lay of the land I heard of the other two deaths That clinched it The next step was to get in here on the ground ferret out what was going on Is that what you were doing snooping around the docks at Tem- Tem pujo tonight Curt chuckled What did you think you could learn there Listen Listed man retorted Collins in ina ina ina a huff I couldn't just walk in here look around and ask questions I had to get established first so as to tobe tobe tobe be accepted Youve You've planted me up upriver upriver upriver river where theres there's obviously nothing nothing nothing noth noth- ing to see Ive I've had one definite objective since our plane faked trouble the other day but its it's at San Alejo Meanwhile until I can get to it theres there's no harm looking around where I can Okay okay Curt apologized No offense Well We'll give you a crack at that objective right now Mitchell Mitch Mitch- ell wasn't hitting the pipe Ive I've been smelling trouble myself for the two weeks Ive I've been here but only tonight tonight tonight to to- night did I click on it He told Collins the story had given him about the hangars first built later abandoned to storage storage storage stor stor- age purposes because the flyers pointed out the bad location He told of the boxed airplane wings hed he'd seen the day of his arrival ar ar- rival I know put in Collins I had a talk with the men of that plane when they put down at Puerto Soledad Curt grunted and went on He told of Mitchells Mitchell's rising suspicions over a shipment from Japan Japan or or through Japan he added added of of eight long square-end square boxes Heavy boxes like overstuffed coffins Monahan Monahan Monahan Mon Mon- ahan had told him He told of having seen only yesterday yesterday yester yester- I day aay another pair of big heavy square boxes marked generators from Germany via Vladivostok So far as he knew and he was pretty familiar with the project by now they had hod no use for generators of that size nor were any on order that he knew of and hed he'd had access ac ac- cess presumably cess presumably to all engineering engineering engineer engineer- ing equipment orders then placed They reached the an airfield field spur Here a wide stand of manzanitas made a black blob on the land land- They dared not continue use of the motor for sound rises and San Alejo was not more than a kilometer ahead and above them Pushing the car up the branch line and backing out by the third leg of the Y uY onto the main line again they had the car headed for once more They left it in inthe inthe in inthe the blackness of the low trees Curt fumbled in the tool box stuck a chisel into a hip pocket and the two men struck off down the airfield branch Stars there were aplenty and they gave some light but there was no moon and the going was rough They followed the tracks to t the e spur that led lcd to the bodega at the lower end of the field then up tl this s spur to the fence This lower gate gaie was locked but Curt expected that He led the way along the fence until until until un un- til they'd turned the corner at the end of the field then on to the copse of trees that sheltered the big build build- ings The blackness here was so thick it felt solid as they pushed into itI itI it I doubt if we need to worry about a guard inside Curt muttered The fence is ordinary protection and they couldn't keep a watchman at this end of the field without his showing a light at times Lights down here would cause speculation if seen from San Alejo He seized hold of the fence and pulled and pushed experimentally I dont don't know he confessed but butI I suspect its it's strung along the top for alarm In any case it'd be darn near impossible for us to get over that barbed stuff in the dark Well We'll burrow under They used the flashlight playing it close to the ground Putting the chisel to work to loosen the earth Curt scraped away with his hands until they had a hole through which they could crawl He had a sudden thought Hey take off your clothes Ive I've got fresh ones at for myself myself myself my my- self but if I give you any others it might be noticed Right Collins stripped to his shorts for forthe forthe forthe the forage and minus a gun belt had to carry his automatic in his hand They circled the three buildings buildings buildings build build- ings cautiously the two hangars the adjoining shed-roof shed between duplicate duplicate duplicate du du- du- du plicate of the hangars at the other end of the field yet cut the grass here commented Curt Huh Probably dont don't intend to its to-it's its it's a better indication indication indication indica indica- tion that the buildings arent aren't in active active active ac ac- ac- ac tive use High in the walls was a continuous ous horizontal strip of windowing in ground glass Not the faintest glimmer of light showed anywhere Absolutely perfect camouflage from above growled Curt Look how they built the center portion around trees The trunks go up through the roof Ill I'll bet not a square foot of these buildings can be seen from the air Only the tracks leading in here would tell anything and they cant can't be avoided But even the tracks with the weeds not kept down probably look like a cart path They were now in front Down at the other end of the field only a afew afew afew few night lights showed This loading platform along the front went on Curt Its anchored only lightly to the buildings and the ground My guess is it could be picked up by a couple of dozen men and swung out of the way in a few minutes Pretty darn clever True this loading platform the height of a flat car was not solid It jiggled to a healthy push Well we cant can't force the doors obviously Can we dig under as we did with the fence or do you suppose theres there's a floor Curt pondered Bound to be a cement floor he decided Anyway Anyway Any way we couldn't tamp down earth down inside when we left No the wall is only corrugated sheet iron Lets Let's find a section to pry loose They searched along the back of the buildings coming finally to a aspot aspot aspot spot where Curt could use his chisel again with least likelihood of its being discovered It took some minutes minutes minutes min min- utes before they had one sheet of the sheathing sufficiently sprung to give them entrance There was noise to this job try as they would to muffle it but they seemed to have the field to themselves They crawled through the opening Only Curt had hod a flashlight He played it about experimentally then more boldly taking care that neither the beam nor a reflection from it should hit the strip of windowing Then it fell on something and stopped dead Directly above them spread wings of death By UBy God Collins What'd I tell you His words sounded hollow and echoes slapped back at them from the walls The finger of light picked out the fuselage of a huge plane that towered above the two men played along it back and forth A Along Along long slender shaped cigar-shaped body its nose of glass two-motored two its wings appearing stubby from this angleA angle A Heinkel exclaimed Collins and again echoes reverberated A Heinkel it was But on the under side of its wings and on the side of the fuselage was lettering and the within star a- a circle emblem to identify it as an American plane 1 10 TO UK UE CONTINUED |