Dr. Bird turned to the waiting Carnes.

"Did you locate Miss Andrews?" he asked.

"No, I didn't and that is what I want to talk to you about. I just
started to telephone when a hurry call came through from Washington
for me and I took it. It was Haggerty on the wire. He followed your
precious secretary from the Bureau of Standards over to the Public
Health Office and waited for her to come out. She stayed in the
building for about an hour and brought a bundle of papers with her
when she returned. She walked toward the State, War and Navy Building
and Haggerty followed.

"On Pennsylvania Avenue, she was stopped by two men whom Haggerty
describes as dark, swarthy, bearded Europeans of some sort. He tried
to overhear their conversation but it was in a language which he did
not recognize. He got only one word. The girl called one of them
'Denberg.'"

"Denberg!" cried the doctor, "Why, he's one of the Young Labor crowd,
but he's in Atlanta."

"He was, Doctor, but I telephoned Atlanta, and found that he had been
released last month. After several minutes of talk the two men and
your secretary went off together in perfect amity with Haggerty
following. The trio got into a waiting car and Haggerty trailed them
in a taxi. They drove around town rather aimlessly for some time and
then left the car and walked. Haggerty was afraid he would lose them
in the crowd so he closed in on them. He doesn't know what happened
except that he felt a sudden stab in his arm and everything went
black. He recovered in the police station twenty minutes later but the
birds had flown."

"The devil!" cried Dr. Bird, consternation in his voice. "Of course,
it's easy to see what happened. They spotted him and a confederate
slipped a hypo into his arm. What worries me is the fact that they've
got Thelma."

* * * * *

"I hope they kill her," snapped Carnes vindictively. "She was never
kidnapped in broad daylight. Haggerty says she went with them quite
willingly and talked and laughed with them. She has deserted, if she
wasn't simply acting as a spy from the first. I didn't trust her at
all."

"I hate to admit that my judgment is that rotten, Carnes, but the
evidence certainly points that way. At that, I think I'll reserve
final judgment until later. Now, in view of what you have learned, I
have a job for you."

"It's about time, Doctor. I have been rather useless with all the
high-powered science that has