"Haven't I?"
"The camp is surrounded."
"Sure." Their captor was amused. "That's why I grabbed you. The four of us are going to march out of here together. And you"—he jerked his head toward Major Coggleston—"are going to make your boys lay off. You'll go with me 'til I'm satisfied I'm in the clear. Then I'll turn you loose."
"And if we refuse?" grated the major.
The other shrugged.
"O.K. by me," he said. "We all blow up together."
There was a long moment of silence, pregnant with panic.
"You must have a great deal of confidence in your ability as a chemist, to prepare this explosive on such short notice and with limited equipment," Professor Paulsen commented at last.
The red-headed man laughed.
"Why shouldn't I have?" he demanded. "I may have been raised in Brooklyn, but I learned my business in Berlin, and they know how to teach there."