Jerry grinned. “Maybe,” he drawled, “that was because he knew all the time.”
Penny was dumbfounded. “You mean—” she stammered, “You mean that Dad’s been acting a part? Pretending to admire Mrs. Deline while actually he didn’t?”
“Something like that. You see, your Dad became interested in the outlaw radio station and the men who operate it. By making inquiries before he left Riverview, he obtained information that made him think Mrs. Deline might be involved in some way. He knew she never had been in China but spent many years in Japan. He learned also that instead of being a newspaper correspondent, she had carried on secret work for various governments.”
“Dad knew all that! And he never let on to me!”
“He couldn’t very well, Penny. If you had guessed the truth, you’d have given it away by your manner—no matter how much you tried to act natural.”
“What a little nit-wit I’ve been!”
“You have not,” Jerry denied warmly. “Anyone else would have acted the same. Without knowing it, you helped your father a lot. You turned up evidence he never could have obtained alone.”
“Where do you fit into the picture, Jerry? Did Dad send for you?”
“You don’t send for anyone in the Army,” Jerry explained, grinning. “By pure luck I was assigned here on a special mission. Your father learned I was coming, so we united forces.”
“Then you’ve both known from the first about Mrs. Deline?”
“We’ve had a dark brown suspicion, Penny. But no proof until tonight.”
Penny drew a deep breath. Before she could ask another question, her father came hurrying down the hotel corridor.
“Mrs. Deline’s not in her room!” he reported. “She doesn’t answer.”
“She went upstairs only a few minutes ago,” Penny recalled.
“Yes, she did, but she’s not there now.”
“Maybe she’s asleep,” Jerry said, “and failed to hear the ’phone. We’ll have to check.”
Without explaining why the matter was urgent, Mr. Parker arranged with the desk clerk to have one of the hotel maids go to Mrs. Deline’s room. While the trio waited in the upstairs corridor, the woman rapped several times on the bedroom door, and failing to get a response, unlocked it with her master key.
“Mrs. Deline!” she called, softly at first, then in a louder voice.
There was no answer.
The maid then snapped on the light. “Why, there’s no one here!” she cried. “The bed’s not been slept in!”
“That’s what I was afraid of,” muttered Mr. Parker.
With Jerry and Penny, he entered the bedroom. Everything was in perfect order. However, Mrs. Deline’s suitcase was gone and all her belongings had been removed from the closet.
“She’s skipped without paying her room rent!” the maid exclaimed. “I’ll call the manager!”
Penny was peering into the waste paper basket beside the desk.
“Look!” she drew the attention of her father and Jerry. “Burned letters and papers!”
Digging into the basket, she brought up several charred sheets of paper. They were unreadable and crumpled in her hand.
“This was a bad break for us—Mrs. Deline getting away!” Jerry exclaimed in disgust. “Evidently her work at Sunset Beach is finished. She’s moving on to another pasture.”
“But she can’t be far away,” Penny reasoned. “After all, we know when she came to her room.”
“There still may be a chance to nab her,” Mr. Parker said. “We’ll notify the police to guard all the roads and the airport. I’ll report to Major Gregg too.”
Without awaiting the arrival of the hotel manager, the trio hastened to the lobby. There Jerry and Mr. Parker made several telephone calls.
“Now let’s be on our way up the beach,” Jerry urged anxiously. “We’ve killed too much time as it is.”
Penny half expected that her father would refuse permission for her to go along. To her delight he merely said:
“I suppose there’s no keeping you here, Penny. Well, come with us. I guess you’ve earned the right by your good work.”
It was a dark night, warm but misty. No lights were showing outside the hotel, though far up the beach the powerful lighthouse beacon cut swathes across the black sea.
“What’s the plan?” Mr. Parker asked Jerry.
“The entire coast for fifty miles is being watched. I thought just on a chance we might keep vigil at the place where Mrs. Deline buried the package of explosives. Someone may show up there. On the other hand, Penny tipped off the fact that she knew where the bundle was buried.”
“Mrs. Deline watched Louise and me through a spy glass,” Penny recalled ruefully. “She knew we didn’t find the package though.”
“That’s our assignment anyhow,” Jerry said. “To keep watch of that particular place until relieved by Army men.”
The Parker car was on the hotel lot close by. Getting it, the trio took the beach road but stopped some distance from the lighthouse. Not wishing the car to attract the attention of any passer-by, it was left parked on a private driveway. Jerry, Penny and her father then crossed the dunes afoot and proceeded up the beach until they came to their station.
“Think this is the place?” Penny asked skeptically.
“I know it is,” Jerry replied. “Remember what I told you about taking observations? Let’s see if the package is still here?”
He began digging in one of the dunes. Almost at once he came upon the box of explosives.
“Exactly as we left it,” he reported, replacing the sand. “No one’s been here.”
“I doubt anyone will come,” Mr. Parker commented. “Probably afraid.”
High overhead and out of sight, Penny heard the drone of planes on coastal patrol. She stared up into the dark sky and then toward the sea. The tide was coming in and long rolling waves washed the beach, dashed themselves on the shoreline and retreated.
“We’ll have to get down out of sight,” Jerry warned. “Mustn’t be seen from the road or the ocean either one.”
“How about this spot?” Mr. Parker suggested, pointing to a hollow between two giant dunes.
The place seemed exactly right, so the trio flattened themselves on the sand. Jerry looked at the luminous dial of his watch.
“One fifteen,” he announced. “No sign of activity.”
“And no sign of any soldiers,” Mr. Parker added. “I hope that whoever is to take over here shows up before long.”
“I don’t,” Penny said, snuggling close between her father and Jerry. “I’m having fun!”
“If anything should develop, it’s apt to be serious business,” Jerry warned. “I’m inclined to think that we tipped our hand and nothing will happen.”
An hour elapsed. During that time there was no sound save the roar of the restless sea. The warm sand made a comfortable couch, and despite her best intentions, Penny caught herself dozing. She had all she could do to keep awake.
“What time is it now?” she presently asked.
“Two thirty-five,” Jerry answered. “It doesn’t look as if there’s to be any activity, but then the night’s young.”
“The night may be, but I’m not,” Mr. Parker grumbled, shifting into a more comfortable position. “Wonder when our relief is to show up?”
“Must be some mix up on orders. We’re probably stuck here for the night.”
“In that case, Penny should return to the hotel.”
“Oh, no. Dad! Anyway, if I left now I might attract the attention of anyone watching this place.”
“You thought that one up!” her father chuckled. “Except for ourselves, there’s no person within a quarter of a mile of this place.”
“You’re wrong about that,” murmured Jerry, stiffening to alert attention.
“What’s up, Jerry?” Mr. Parker said quickly. “You act as if you were seeing things!”
“I am, Chief! Look to the right—between us and the lighth
ouse!”
Mr. Parker and Penny gazed intently in the direction indicated.
“Can’t see a thing,” Mr. Parker whispered. “Your eyes must be tricking you, Jerry.”
“Wait just a minute.”
Even as Jerry spoke, a shadowy figure emerged from the mists. The man came swiftly down the beach, making no sound as he walked. When he was very close, the revolving beacon of the lighthouse singled him out for a fleeting instant. Brief as was the moment of illumination, Penny recognized the man.
“George Emory!” she whispered tensely. “What’s he doing here?”
CHAPTER 24
OUT OF THE SEA
The answer to Penny’s whispered question soon became obvious. George Emory looked carefully about the windswept beach. The three tense watchers thought that he might approach the dune where they lay hidden, but he did not.
Instead, the man paused while several yards away and gazed toward the sea. A moment he stood thus, silhouetted against the sky. Then using a glowing flashlight, he began making wide sweeps with his arm.
“A signal!” Jerry whispered. “He’s trying to attract the attention of a boat out at sea!”
“Shall we go for him?” asked Mr. Parker.
“Wait!” Jerry advised. “He’s not the only one we’re after. We’re stalking bigger game.”
At intervals for the next fifteen minutes, George Emory repeated the flashlight signals. Then he turned off the light and waited.
Anxiously, Jerry, Penny and Mr. Parker kept their faces turned to the sea. They sensed that the hour of action was at hand, and it worried them that Army men had failed to arrive.
“Look, Dad!” Penny suddenly whispered. She had glimpsed far from shore a long shadowy object which easily could be a boat. No lights were showing nor had she heard any sound.
“I don’t see a thing,” Mr. Parker whispered back. “Yes! Now I do! Jove! It looks like a submarine that’s surfaced. I can make out the conning tower!”
“But why would it dare come here?” Penny speculated. “Won’t it be detected by the patrol planes?”
“Tonight’s a bad night,” Jerry pointed out. “Besides, the shore is so indented at this point of coast that perfect protection is almost impossible. They’re sending a boat, that’s sure!”
A small craft had been launched from the wave-washed deck of the submarine. Manned by two men who rowed with muffled oars, it slowly approached the shore. When it was very close the watchers behind the sand dune saw by its grotesque sausage shape that it was a large, rubber boat. Like a gray ghost it slid over the water.
Mr. Parker gripped Penny’s hand in an encouraging squeeze.
“Wish you were safe at the hotel,” he whispered. “I was a fool to let you come.”
Penny’s heart pounded but she shook her head vigorously. Not for anything would she have missed the adventure. However, she was cool headed enough to realize that the situation was not shaping up well for her father and Jerry.
There were two men visible in the rubber boat, unquestionably armed. Then George Emory must be reckoned with and the arrival of others might be expected at any moment. Jerry carried a revolver but her father had no weapon. Already it was too late for any member of the trio to safely go for help.
“That sub may intend to land Secret Agents here,”Jerry speculated. “But from the code message we deciphered, it’s more likely they plan to take aboard one or more passengers.”
“Perhaps that escaped flier,” Penny supplied.
“He’s a valuable man to them. Well worth the risk they’re taking to try to rescue him.”
“If passengers are to go aboard, where are they?”Penny whispered. “There’s no one here but George Emory.”
“We must wait and watch. We’ll soon see enough or I miss my guess.”
The rubber boat had reached the surf and was being churned by the waves. Two men in full military uniform, leaped out and guided the boat to the beach. George Emory waded out to meet them. Shaking the hand of each, he spoke rapidly in German. Though Mr. Parker understood the language, he was unable to catch a word.
Tensely, the trio waited and watched. At any moment they feared that the men from the submarine might seek the cache of explosives hidden not far away. Soberly Jerry and Mr. Parker considered trying to reach the box in the sand. To do so they must cross an open, unprotected span of beach with every likelihood of being seen.
“Let’s wait and see what happens,” Mr. Parker advised. “We shouldn’t risk calling attention to ourselves.”
George Emory and his two companions obviously were awaiting someone. Nervously they paced the beach. Several times Mr. Emory looked at his watch. Then from far down the road came the sound of a car traveling at high speed. Tires screamed in protest as the auto came to a sudden halt on the paved road back from the beach.
“That’s why they’ve waited!” Jerry whispered.
Barely a minute elapsed before two figures were seen coming swiftly from the direction of the road. A man and a woman crawled through the bushes, under the fence, and walked hurriedly across deep sand to the beach.
“Mrs. Deline!” Penny identified the woman. “The man with her is the same fellow who stole food from our camp!”
“I’d know his face from photographs I’ve seen,” contributed Jerry. “He’s Oscar Kleinbrock, escaped German prisoner. The man I was sent here to trace!”
Mrs. Deline and her companion reached the group of men who awaited them.
“You are five minutes late,” George Emory reproved.
“Can we help it?” Mrs. Deline snapped. “We’re lucky to be here at all. Do you know that the road is being watched?”
“By whom?”
“Army men. We were nearly stopped but were able to turn off into the thicket and wait.”
“Then there’s no time to waste in talk,” George Emory said curtly. Turning, he spoke to the German flier in his own language.
“He’s telling him to get aboard the rubber boat,”Mr. Parker interpreted tensely. “Now they’re saying goodbye to Emory and Mrs. Deline.”
“Somehow we must hold them all here!” Jerry whispered grimly.
“It’s two against five. And they’re armed.”
Mr. Parker and Jerry looked at each other, fully realizing how slim was their chance of success. They were not thinking of themselves but of Penny and what could happen to her if they failed. Mr. Parker touched her arm.
“Penny,” he whispered. “Slip away in the darkness and make a dash for the hotel. Jerry and I will try to hold them until help comes. Just keep low as you run or those fiends may take a pot-shot at you.”Penny would not desert her father and Jerry. Stubbornly, she shook her head.
“We want to know that you are safe,” Jerry urged. “Please go while you still have a chance. You can help us most by bringing help.”
Penny’s determination to remain, weakened. Yet reason told her she never could reach the hotel and return with help in time to do any good. It dawned upon her that Jerry was only saying what he did to get her safely away.
“If only we had the box of explosives!” she whispered. “With it we might have a chance against those men!”
“It’s too late to dig up the box now,” said Jerry. “We probably couldn’t find it without a light. And the noise we’d make—”
“Let me try,” Penny interrupted.
“All right, see if you can get your hands on the box,” her father agreed suddenly. “Slip back of the dune, and then circle. Don’t try to cross the beach. Be careful! Remember the least sound will bring a hail of bullets.”
Penny nodded and slipped away into the darkness, crawling on hands and knees. Barely had she left the shelter of the big sand dune than she heard two shots fired in quick succession.
“Those came from Jerry’s revolver!” she thought. “Oh, it was a trick to get me safely away! Now he and Dad are in for fireworks!”
Raising her head above the protecting sand dune, Penny saw why Jerry had fi
red. The rubber boat was being launched. To delay the attack would mean that the entire party might escape.
“They’ll all get away!” Penny thought in dismay. “How can Jerry and Dad hold them single handed?”
George Emory returned Jerry’s fire with deadly aim. The bullets bit into the dune, throwing up little geysers of sand.
“Launch the boat!” he shouted savagely to the men from the submarine. “Get away while you can! Be quick!”
Jerry and Mr. Parker were determined that the party should not escape. As the men sought to launch the rubber boat, they made a concerted rush for the German flier who was to be taken aboard the waiting submarine. Caught by surprise, he went down beneath their blows.
Fearful of hitting his own man, George Emory dared not fire again. Instead, he and the crewmen of the submarine fell upon Jerry and Mr. Parker. In the melee, one person could not be distinguished from another.
“Fools! Fools!” cried Mrs. Deline as she watched the fierce, uneven struggle. “There is no time to be lost!”
Jerry and Mr. Parker were putting up the fight of their lives, but they were no match for four able bodied, trained men. Penny, desperate with anxiety, saw that the struggle could end only in one way—disaster for Jerry and her father.
“If I had that box of explosives maybe I could help them!” flashed through her mind.
Rolling over a dune, she ran to the place near the fence where she thought the cache was buried. Frantically she clawed and dug at the sand. She could not find the box.
“It must be here!” she told herself desperately. “Or was it hidden in the next dune?”
She tried another place slightly to the right. As she dug, she heard a sound behind her. Turning swiftly, she saw Mrs. Deline starting across the beach toward her.
“Oh, no, you don’t!” the woman shouted.
Penny’s hand encountered something hard and firm. The box of explosives! Digging wildly, she lifted it from the bed of sand and sprang to her feet. Her fingers closed upon one of the hand grenades.
“Get back!” she ordered Mrs. Deline, balancing herself as if to throw.
The woman stopped short, then retreated a few steps. But only for a moment was she frightened.
The Penny Parker Megapack: 15 Complete Novels Page 133
