CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The message, from the managing editor of the News, was brief and to the point.
“Ralph kidnapped this afternoon. Come home.”
The shocking news paralyzed Tim’s brain and he leaned helplessly against the clerk’s desk, his face drained of all color.
“Are you ill?” asked the clerk.
“No, I’ll be all right in a minute,” Tim managed to say. “Just some surprising news from my managing editor.”
The flying reporter went to a nearby lounge and sat down.
Ralph kidnapped.
It must be impossible; it was impossible, he told himself. Yet there was the telegram from Carson—so simple and yet so startling.
“Ralph kidnapped this afternoon. Come home.”