"Watch the door on the chopper that just landed. It appears that the two coppers have been rotating flying, while the other refuels. Both crews are armed, and look anxious. But what is really interesting is that my civilian seems to be flying round the clock. Watch him change aircraft. See."

"He is heading for base operations."

"I think the lavatory. Here, get right up to the window and concentrate on catching a glimpse of him when he comes out.

"Jed! That is Buzz Sayer. What is he doing here?"

One possible way to find out was to search Sayer's room. This didn't provide the answers they were looking for, other than proof that the civilian was not to be trusted. In his closet Jenny recognized an attache case her mother had given the Colonel as a birthday present, just before she had been killed. He had prized it over all of his possessions. Now it was laying in a dusty corner, empty. The pigskin lining had been sliced open. The locks had been forced.

Jed would not have paid any particular attention to the case, as he had come across a number of puzzling papers and memoranda that identified the occupant of the room as John Bartleson, civilian employee of the Department of Army, Division of Supply. For the moment, however, Jenny's discovery overshadowed the questions of why Sayer was masquerading as Bartleson, wearing a handgun, on an Air Force Station. The fact that Colonel MacPherson would not have discarded one of the few personal mementos left from his happy marriage to Jenny's mother led to the inescapable deduction that whatever had happened to Hap, it was foul play.

They had followed an obscure clue north. Had penetrated the compound of a super secret radar station, not knowing if their stealth was justified. They easily could have found Jenny's father snoring away in bed, and an explanation that his messages had not caught up with the curious pair. The tag on the B-4 bag could have had a logical, even if extremely sad, interpretation. The vandalized briefcase could not.

Sitting down on the cot, covered with a blue blanket tucked in with hospital corners, Jed hugged a stunned Jenny. Consoling her, they almost missed the warning given by the helicopter rotor being collected into a landing flare, that Sayer was returning. They made a dash for the storeroom. Then Jenny remembered she had been carrying her father's flight cap for comfort. Rather than trying to explain to Jed that she had left the tell-tale clue that someone had opened the stored suitcase, Jenny jerked her hand away from his, and ran back to Sayer's room. The hat was on the bed. She tucked it into a pocket, ran out into the hall again, and was grabbed from behind.