"Well, it's gone. And who else would have taken it?"
"Tony didn't. He hasn't been in this room, except last night when Chahda was here, and he didn't take the scanner then."
Scotty snapped his fingers. "You gave Angel your key and told him to clean up!"
Rick slumped down on the bed again. That was it, of course. It had to be. No one else had had the chance to get the equipment, barring the possibility that the hotel personnel were dishonest, and there was no reason to suspect them.
"Then the equipment went with him last night. And we didn't notice until now. But we would have noticed if it had been gone, wouldn't we? I've been to the closet a dozen times and so have you."
"Means nothing. I don't know why I noticed just now that the stuff was gone. But there was nothing to call our attention to it last night or this morning. Anyway, it was behind my big suitcase—I know. I knocked the suitcase over when I closed the closet door this morning, and I didn't stop to pick it up. It's still on its side. That's why I noticed that the earth scanner wasn't there."
"If we needed any proof that Angel is a bad one, probably in cahoots with Nangolat, we have it. Scotty, what are we going to do?"
"Call the cops," Scotty said grimly. "Now we have a theft to report." He strode for the phone, but before he could pick it up there was a sharp ring. Scotty answered. "Yes?" He listened, hung up hastily, and turned to Rick.
"The clerk says there's a Filipino in the lobby who wants to see us. Says he knows us."
"Chahda! It must be. He's posing as a pagan of some kind, and we don't know any other Filipinos."