“An acid bomb!” Colonel Bates breathed fiercely and bent over to inspect the short length of small pipe in Major Hawks’ hands. “Well, by George! What do you know about that? The war right in our laps! I guess they picked on just one ship, Major, so’s we’d think it was a short circuit, or something. Why, the black-hearted skunks. I wonder when it was put there?”
“It must have been at Albuquerque, sir,” Lieutenant Kelley spoke up. “It wasn’t there when we took off from Seattle. And Albuquerque was our next stop.”
“Well, I’ll make a report to Intelligence about this!” Colonel Bates said grimly. Then, smiling at Dawson, “But I guess you want to clean up a bit, don’t you, Captain? Your little adventure sort of mussed up your uniform a bit. And yours, too, Farmer. We’ll hunt up something for you to wear while the field cleaners fix up your uniforms. And is there anything else I can do for you, to show how grateful I am for your job?”
“Thanks, sir,” Dave said. “Farmer missed his lunch on account of the fire, so I know he’s starved. He has six meals a day, sir, you know. Doctor’s orders, I think he once said. But, seriously, I guess we all could do with a bite, if it wouldn’t be much trouble. And later—later, could Farmer and I have a word with you?”
“All the words you want, Captain,” Colonel Bates said lightly, but shot Dave a keen stare. “First, though, a little food all around. And if you can stand a Base Commandant eating with you, I think I’ll join the party. It’s for all the bomber crews, of course, Major Hawks.”
“I accept for all of them, Colonel,” Major Hawks said with a laugh. “Even if the others ate en route, it wasn’t more than just a light lunch. Thank you very much, sir.”
A little over an hour later the ferry bomber crews and their two distinguished passengers had eaten their fill. Inwardly Dave breathed a great sigh of relief when Colonel Bates pushed back his chair and stood up. Not that he hadn’t enjoyed eating with the pilots and bomber crews. It was simply that he and Freddy were the two heroes of the day, and the other bomber members made them repeat their stories over and over again. Of course that led to much talk about sabotage, and how the pencil incendiary had gotten in there in the first place? And particularly who could have done it?
Dave didn’t have a correct answer to the last, of course. But both Freddy and he certainly knew why. And to sit there and shake their heads and look as puzzled as the next man was the kind of an ordeal they didn’t want to go through every day, or every week, or month, for that matter.
Finally, though, Colonel Bates signalled that the meal was at an end by pushing back his chair and standing up. He glanced down the table at Freddy and Dave.
“And, now,” he said, “you two want to chat with me? Let’s get along to my office. Excuse us, Gentlemen.”