CHAPTER XIV

Nerves of Steel

"A bomb!" Frank shouted frantically.

"That's right!" the steward cried.

"Where is it?" Frank demanded, shaking Tim-ken violently.

"In the nacelle of the left engine! You can't reach it!"

Frank dashed to the pilot's compartment to tell McHugh, who looked out his window at the stretch of rocky coastline below. "I no' can land in this area, lad!" he said grimly.

"But we have only minutes!" Frank looked out at the cowled engine, located beneath the left wing. "There's just one thing to do!"

"What's that?" the pilot asked.

"Climb out on the strut and try to reach that engine nacelle. I'll do it."

"But I no' have any parachutes aboard," Mc-109

110 The Secret Agent on Flight 101

Hugh told him. "The slipstream might pull ye off the strut!"

"I must take that chance," Frank declared, "or we're goners!"

He went back to Timken. Seizing the steward by his collar, Frank pulled him to his feet. "Exactly where in the engine nacelle did you place the bomb?" he demanded.

"I ... I put it just inside the access door to the oil-filler cap!" Timken stammered. "But it's too late! There's nothing you can do!"

Frank grabbed a screwdriver from the pilot's tool kit and slipped it in a pocket. He asked Joe and Chet to help him kick out the window located directly above the strut leading to the left engine.

As the boys kicked with all their might, the window cracked in several places, then shattered and disappeared below. The thunderous roar of the slipstream echoed through the interior of the fuselage.

Frank squeezed his body out the window. Hooking his legs around the strut, he pushed himself away. The force of the slipstream felt like the hand of some vengeful giant trying to hurl him off into space.

Frank, crouching low, locked his arms about the strut. He then proceeded to shimmy, at a painfully slow rate, toward the engine nacelle. Drawing closer, he moved into the area of the propeller blast and the engine exhausts. The

Nerves of Steel 111

sound was deafening, and the fumes and heat stifled him. However, they made him insensitive to the fact that he was hanging thousands of feet above the ground. Once Frank almost lost his grip.

McHugh reduced power on the right engine in an effort to ease Frank's ordeal. Joe and Chet watched anxiously, their nerves stretched almost to the breaking point.

Frank tightened his grip on the strut with one hand. With the other he took out the screwdriver and reached for the Dzus fasteners which secured the small aluminum access door on the nacelle.

The wind lashed against his outstretched arm, but he continued to probe for the fasteners. Finally the door loosened. It popped open and flapped violently.

Frank reached in through the opening and desperately felt for the bomb. Nothing! He stretched his arm in farther, his efforts becoming more frantic as his strength began to ebb. Then his hand felt something cylindrical in shape and about the size of a flashlight. Frank locked his fingers around the object and slowly drew it out. There was a small timing device at one end, revealing that the bomb had only seconds to run!

Now to get rid of it!

Looking down, Frank saw that they were still flying over a desolate stretch of coast. He flung

112 The Secret Agent on Flight 101

the bomb from him and watched it hurtle down and behind the plane. It was almost out of sight when a white-and-black puff of smoke appeared. Seconds later the faint, thudding sound of an explosion could be heard.

Frank slowly worked his way back to the window and with the help of Joe and Chet dragged himself inside. Exhausted, he slumped to the floor.

"Whew!" Joe exclaimed. "That was close!"

"You can say that again," Frank said shakily. "Another ten or twenty seconds and it would have taken searchers a year to pick up the pieces."

"That was a brave deed, lad!" McHugh shouted from the cockpit. "And I'm grateful to ye for saving my ship! Do you want to go back to lanburgh with your prisoner?"

"No," Frank replied. "Let's continue with the flight as planned. Timken isn't going to give us any trouble."

The boys returned to Timken. Joe asked, "Who put you up to this?"

"I didn't want to plant the bomb in your plane," Timken muttered, "but Vordo . . ." The UGLI assistant stopped short. Obviously their prisoner was fearful of what might happen to him if he talked.

"And Vordo got his instructions from Hexton, didn't he?" Frank pressed.

Beads of perspiration oozed from the steward's

The pilot reduced power to ease Frank's ordeal

114 The Secret Agent on Flight 101

forehead. "I don't knowl Vordo threatened me. I had to do it!"

"When did you and the others arrive in Scotland?" Joe questioned.

"The day after you tried to stop our take-off in the helioplane," Timken answered. "While we were at an airport near New York City, the plane was impounded by a Federal agent. When I told Vordo and Bleeker, they decided to get out of the country right away."

The steward's answer confirmed what Mazer, the pilot of the helioplane, had told the Hardys.

"Besides the pilot, there were four men that day," Joe said. "Who was the fourth?"

"One of Hexton's cronies. A guy named Arnold."

"Is he a spy for UGLI?" Frank snapped.

Timken jumped. "You know about-" The steward caught himself. "I won't talk to you lunks. I've said too much already!"

Joe spoke up. "Don't get so nasty, Timken. You forget that my brother saved your life. What kind of gratitude is this?"

Still no reply.

"Listen, buddy," Joe continued, "you know you're going to prison for trying to kill the rest of us. You might get a lighter sentence if you answer a few questions. For instance, what was your racket on the Great Circle flights?"

Nerves of Steel 115

"I won't squeal!" Timken shouted, and clamped his lips together.

Joe shrugged. "Have it your way." The boys left their prisoner.

The plane landed at Stornaway and was quickly unloaded. After a conference, McHugh and the boys decided to return the UGLI agent to lanburgh. On the return trip the pilot adjusted his course so the boys could take more aerial shots of Hexton's castle.

Back in lanburgh, the Hardys handed their prisoner over to the chief constable, who was thunderstruck at the bomb story. He then let them develop their latest photographs. Frank spread the prints out on a table and they all scrutinized them closely. But the pictures revealed no clues.

"The ground around the castle is as clean as a whistle," Joe observed. "We couldn't possibly sneak up on the place without being seen."

"What about climbing up the surrounding wall?" Chet suggested. "Robin Hood used to do it all the time."

"Not a bad idea." Joe grinned. "But it brings us back to the original problem. How do we get inside the fence and up to the wall without being seen?"

Frank's brow creased in contemplation. "I'm afraid this is a tough one." He signed. "Whatever

116 The Secret Agent on Flight 101

plan we come up with will have to be pretty far out."

At that moment Inspector Clyde arrived. He carried a long, slim black umbrella, which he hooked to the coat rack when he entered the room.

"Ah, there you are," the inspector said. "I have some interesting news for you chaps. Mr. Dell telephoned from the States while you were gone. He's leaving for Scotland immediately. Something very important and highly secret has come up!"