"Appleton, Victor - Tom Swift Jr 02 - And His Jetmarine" - читать интересную книгу автора (Appleton Victor)

"Another Caribbean ship attack, Tom." Walking in front of some palm trees,
the telecaster continued, "I'm at Marlin Bay, talking to survivors. I have bad news.
A passenger freighter, the Nantic, has been sunk. Your uncle is among those
missing!"
"Uncle Ned!"
"He's reported lost along with the captain and purser. The rest were picked
up in lifeboats." Kane
i
2 TOM SWIFT AND HIS JETMARINE
passed the microphone to a stout man who was saying nervously, "-but I
really don't know what happened. Neither does anyone else on board. I was
sitting on deck reading when-poof-everyone blacked out! As I came to, the ship
was sinking and I got into one of the lifeboats. A schooner picked us up."
"Did you hear any gunfire, any explosions before the blackout?" Kane asked
him.
"No. Nothing but the whistle of an airplane."
"Do you think the missing men might be in other boats that weren't picked
up?" Kane questioned.
"It's possible."
A Coast Guard officer stepped into view. He told Kane that survivors of
similar attacks on other vessels had also mentioned hearing a plane just before
everyone had blacked out.
"In those attacks the robbers took everything of value before the passengers
revived," the officer said. "But they didn't sink the ships."
"Kane, I'm signing off," Tom announced, then dashed out of the office.
He leaped into a jeep and drove rapidly toward his father's laboratory. On the
way his anxiety for Uncle Ned increased by the minute.
"The news will be a shock to Dad," Tom murmured worriedly.
Ned Newton and Mr. Swift, close friends for years, had worked and fought
their way together through countless tight situations. The two men had combined
also in the building up of the old Swift Con-
WING-TIP ESCAPE 3
struction Company, a widely known concern which manufactured Mr. Swift's
various inventions.
In its many branches throughout the country the company had installed its
own TV network. This was used also by the new Swift Enterprises, a gleaming
four-mile-square stretch of modern buildings and crisscrossed airstrips where
Tom and his father carried on experiments.
At this moment Tom's usual smile of pride in them was absent. His thoughts
were centered entirely on the terrible climax to Uncle Ned's business trip to South
America.
Arriving at his father's one-story all-glass laboratory, Tom hurried into the
building. A secretary stopped his mad dash.
"Your father's not here," she said. "I've been trying to get him at the
underground hangar but he doesn't answer. An urgent telephone call from the
Navy Department has just come in."
"I'll take it," Tom offered. Picking up the phone, he said, "Hello."
"Is this Mr. Swift?"
"Tom Jr. speaking."
"I see," the voice continued. "This is Admiral Hopkins-Navy Intelligence."