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The Great Drought Page 2

reported.

  "Who? Oh, Thelma. Where was she?"

  "No one seems to know. She left yesterday afternoon and hasn'treturned."

  "Oh, well, since I am out of the city, I expect she decided to take avacation. Women are always undependable. Did you get hold of therest?"

  "They'll be down at midnight, all but Davis. He'll come down in themorning."

  "Good enough! Now, Colonel, if you'll have the officers who are goingout to-morrow assembled, we'll divide the territory and make our plansfor the search."

  * * * * *

  A week later, the situation was unchanged. Secret service operativesand soldiers from the Proving Ground had covered, foot by foot, squaremiles of territory south of the Proving Ground, but without result.Not a single unexplainable thing had been found. Sensitive instrumentssent down from the Bureau of Standards, instruments so sensitive thatthey would detect an electric light burning a mile away, had yieldedno results. As a final measure, General Merton had ordered a dozenplanes with steel-cylindered motors to the Proving Ground and they hadrepeatedly crisscrossed the suspected territory, but had acquired nostatic charge large enough to affect them. It was evident thatSaranoff's device, if it existed, had been moved, or else was not inoperation.

  Also, to Carnes' openly expressed and Dr. Bird's secret worry, ThelmaAndrews had not returned to the Bureau of Standards. The Russian girl,formerly known as Feodrovna Androvitch, a tool and follower of IvanSaranoff, had acted with Carnes and the doctor in their long drawn-outfight with the arch-communist often enough to be a marked woman.

  Urged by Carnes, Bolton, the head of the Secret Service, put a dozenof his best men on her trail, but they found nothing. She haddisappeared as thoroughly as if the earth had opened and swallowed herup. At last, as the combing of the Aberdeen marshes yielded noresults, Dr. Bird acceded to Carnes' request, and the detective leftfor Washington to take personal charge of the search. Dr. Bird satalone in his quarters at the Officers' Club, futilely wracking hisbrains for a clue to his further procedure.

  The telephone rang loudly. With a grunt, he took down the receiver.

  A feminine voice spoke with a strong foreign accent.

  "I vant der Herr Doktor Vogel, plees!"

  "You want who? Oh, yes. Vogel--bird! This is Dr. Bird speaking."

  The voice instantly lost both its foreign accent and its gutturalquality.

  "I thought so when you spoke, Doctor, but I wanted to make sure. Thisis Thelma Andrews."

  "Where the devil have you been? Half the Secret Service is looking foryou, including Carnes, who deserted me and is in Washington."

  * * * * *

  "He is? I'm sorry. Listen, Doctor, it's a long story and I can't gointo details now. I got a clue on the day you left. As I couldn't getin touch with you, I followed it myself. I've located Saranoff's mainbase in the Bush River marshes."

  "You have! Where is it?"

  "It's underground and you've passed over it a dozen times during thepast week. It's unoccupied now and the machines are idle until yoursearch is over. I know the way to it. If you'll join me now, we canget in and hopelessly wreck the device in a short time. To-morrow youcan bring your men down here and take charge of it."

  Dr. Bird's eyes glistened.

  "I'll come at once, Thelma!" he cried. "Where are you?"

  "I'm down on Romney Creek. Come down to the Water Impact Range belowMichaelville, and I'll meet you at the wharf. You'd better come alone,because we'll have to sneak."

  "Good for you!" cried the doctor. "I'll be down in an hour."

  "All right, Doctor. I'll be waiting for you."

  At Michaelville, Dr. Bird left his car and stepped on the scooterwhich ran on the narrow gauge track connecting the range house withthe wharf on Romney Creek. He started it with no difficulty and itcoughed away into the night. For three and a half miles, nothing brokethe monotony of the trip. Dr. Bird, his hand on the throttle, kept hiseyes on the twin ribbons of steel which slid along under theheadlight. The road made a sharp turn and emerged from the thick woodthrough which it had been traveling. Hardly had the lights shot alongthe track in the new direction than Dr. Bird closed the throttle andapplied the brakes rapidly. A heavy barricade of logs was piled acrossthe track.

  * * * * *

  The doctor pressed home on the brake lever until the steel shoesscreamed in protest, but no brakes could bring the heavy scooter to astop as swiftly as was needful to avoid a crash. It was stilltraveling at a good rate of speed when it rammed into the barricadeand overturned.

  Dr. Bird was thrown clear of the wrecked scooter. He landed on softmud beside the track. As he strove to rise, the beam of a flashlightstruck him in the eyes and a guttural, sneering voice spoke throughthe darkness.

  "Don't move, Dr. Bird. It will be useless and will only lead to yourearly death, a thing I should regret."

  "Saranoff!" cried Dr. Bird.

  "I am flattered, Doctor, that you know my voice. Yes, it is I, IvanSaranoff, the man whom you have so often foiled. You drove me fromAmerica and tried to bar the road against my return, but I onlylaughed at your efforts. I returned here only for one purpose, tocapture you and to compass your death."

  Dr. Bird rose to his feet and laughed lightly.

  "You've got me, Saranoff," he said, "but the game isn't played outyet. I represent an organization which won't end with my death, youknow."

  A series of expletives in guttural Russian answered him. In responseto a command from their leader, two men came forward and searched thedoctor quickly and expertly, removing the automatic pistol which hecarried under his left armpit.

  "As for your organization, as you call it--_pouf!_" said the Russianscornfully. "Carnes, a brainless fool who does only as you tell him, afew half-wits in the Bureau of Standards, some of them already in mypay, and one renegade girl. She shall learn what it means to betraythe Soviets and their leader."

  "You'll have to catch her first," replied Dr. Bird, a sardonic grin onhis face.

  "I have but to snap my fingers and she will come whining back, lickingmy hand and imploring mercy," boasted the Russian. "Bring him along!"

  * * * * *

  TWO men approached and Seized the doctor by his arms. Dr. Bird shookthem off contemptuously.

  "Keep your filthy paws off me!" he cried. "I know when I'm bested, andI'll come quietly, but I won't be dragged."

  The men looked at their leader for orders. From behind his light, theRussian studied his opponent. He gave vent to a stream of gutturalRussian. The men fell back.

  "For your information, Doctor," he said in a sneering tone. "I havetold my men to follow you closely, gun in hand. At the slightest signof hesitation, or at the first attempt to escape, they will fire. Theyare excellent shots."

  "Lead on, Saranoff," was Dr. Bird's cheery comment.

  With a shrug of his shoulders, the leader of the Young Labor partyturned and made his way along the track toward the wharf. Dr. Birdlooked anxiously ahead as they approached, fearing that FeodrovnaAndrovitch would be discerned in her hiding place. Saranoff correctlyinterpreted his gaze.

  "Does der Herr Doktor Vogel eggspect somevun?" he asked in the voicewhich had first come over Dr. Bird's telephone. The doctor started andthe Russian went on in the voice of the doctor's secretary. "I'm soglad you came, Dr. Bird. I am going to take you directly to the mainbase of our dearly beloved friend, Ivan Saranoff."

  An expression that was a mixture of chagrin and relief spread over Dr.Bird's face.

  "Sold, by thunder!" he cried.

  The Russian laughed sardonically and tramped on in silence. Tied tothe Romney Creek wharf was a boat with powerful electric motors,driven by storage batteries. At a nudge from his captors, Dr. Birdtook his place in the craft. It glided silently away down the creektoward the Chesapeake's mouth.

  * * * * *

  In the bay, the boat veered to the sou
th and ran along the shore untilthe mouth of Bush River opened before them. It turned west up theriver, coming to a halt at one of the occasional bits of high groundwhich bordered the river.

  "We get off here, Doctor," said Saranoff. "My base, which you havewasted so much time seeking, lies within a hundred yards of thispoint. Before I take you there, you may be interested in watching usconceal our boat."

  Before the doctor's surprised gaze, the edges of a huge box rose abovethe surface of the water, around the electric boat. The boat wasraised and water could be heard running out of the box which held it.When the box was drained, a man leaped in and made some adjustments.