The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1939-07-04
CHAPTER sIxTEEN

The days slid swiftly By. Win
the situation unchanged 50 far a.
Rick was concerned.
Barringer vas in no hurry 10
press the charges against him ana
bring him To trial.
Instead. he believed that oy
playing a waiting game he would
get the information he 20 desper-
ately needed TO pin definite evil
dence against Leslie.
He was elated when Rick told
Filestone he was ready to talk,
and partially involved Karl Vorhis.
when thieves fall out he
smiled. and waited patiently for
yorhis to retaliate by bringing
counter charges against Leslie.
He was not In the least worried
when they failed to appear.
He was patient man and con-
tent to bide his time.
"A few more days. and Leslie
will break he told Duncan File
stone. When he opens up and
really tells what he knows. the
whole thing will be cleaned up.
Meanwhile. at least. we've stopped
any further leaks of information"
Snug Attitude
His SNUG attitude was rudely
shattered the following day, when
a long distance phone call from
Washington informed him that
new copies of the Hendon bomber
plans had been discovered in the
custody of steward employed on
a s-Atlantic liner.
The discovery had come about
by accident. The steward, en- route
to the dock, had been run down by
a taxicab and seriously injured.
At the hospital. when he was
stripped. several blue prints had
been found sewed into a belt
around his waist. next to his skin.
An alert intern, who had some
flying experience, recognized the
plans as pertaining to planes and
notified the New York office of
the Intelligence Service. and turn
ed the papers over to them.
They were Immediately traced
back to the Hendon plant, but how
they came into the stewards pos
session was mystery that prob
ably never would be solved.
Without regaining consciousness,
the man died shortly after an
operation was performed to re-
move brain pressure resulting
from a smashed skull.
The orders which came over the
phone to Barringer jerked him out
of his complacency and brought
about an immediate change in the
Hendon factory.
Either stop those leaks. or you
will be returned to active duty
and all Hendon contracts will be
cancelled" were the words that
set Major Barringer into action.
Moves to Office
After calling on Hendon he him.
self moved into the office occu-
pied by Tom Rayburn, with a staff
of immediate aides drawn from the
Intelligence Service.
Rayburn was promoted to vice
president in charge of all produc-
ton and at Hendon's suggestion,
heartily approved by Barringer, he
took Ellen as his private secretary.
THE girl has earned promotion, /"
Hendon said. She certainly came
through on her end" He signed
an order which nearly doubled her
pay, and sent for her to commend
her personally for her good work.
She tried to look pleased and
thanked the head of the firm for
her promotion, but she could get
no real satisfaction from it.
I've gotten ahead, rapidly" she
told herself, but at what a cost,
I've betrayed the one man in the
world who means everything to
me-"
She tried desperately to think of
some way to help Rick. and spent
hours devising various schemes
whereby she might be able to trap
the real culprits.
Il know Rick never did such a
thing" she said to herself. But
how am I ever going to prove it ,"
She had a vague notion, too. al.
though she resolutely put it aside
that if she were able to extricate
Rick from his predicament his at
titude toward her might change.
But when she thought that over
at length. she decided it was a
foolish hope.