“Then I’ll eat supper tomorrow night and the next on you two,” grinned Bert.
“I’ll buy your suppers for a week,” promised Timms, “if we know by midnight where this mysterious plane went.”
The doctor in charge of the little emergency hospital which was a part of the National Airways equipment at Bellevue informed them that Dubra, or Cliff Bolton as he had been listed on the payroll, was resting easily and in condition to talk.
The Gerka agent was in a private room and a soldier was seated across the hall, facing the door. The windows were barred and there was little chance that Reikoff’s secret agent would go free until Uncle Sam decided he had paid the penalty for his treachery.
Dubra was propped up on pillows, reading an evening paper. He looked up expectantly when they entered but the moment he saw Timms he became sullen. The radio down the hall was plainly audible and Andy recognized the music of the dance band they had heard over the receiving set at the hotel. Unquestionably Dubra had heard the emergency announcement. Andy wondered if there had been any connection between Dubra’s attempt to wreck the hangar that morning and the arrival of the Rubanian plane. It was logical to believe that it was part of a carefully laid out plot. He had thought the Goliath safe from an air attack by a jealous foreign country but if the gray plane they had sighted that afternoon proved to be a Rubanian ship, they would have to station several fast army pursuit ships at the field or perhaps install searchlights to ward off any night attack. Possibilities of destruction of the Goliath by an air attack were limitless and Andy grew sick at the thought that the great ship, which represented the labor and love of hundreds of men, was in danger and he looked at the wounded agent of the Gerka with little sympathy.
“How do you feel tonight?” Timms asked Dubra.
“How do you suppose?” was the sullen reply. “I’ve got two bullet holes in my right leg and another in my left one.”
“You’re lucky you didn’t get one through the heart,” replied Timms cheerfully.
“You’ll suffer for this outrage,” promised Dubra, whose eyes shifted from the secret service agent to Andy, then to Bert, and back to Timms.
“Just as soon as my government learns of this unwarranted attack you’ll be in enough trouble to last you the rest of your life.”