“Call me Delka, if you prefer,” returned the Englishman. “Somehow, I have an inkling that the need for pretence will soon be ended. If you ask my candid opinion, I would say that the plotters are calling quits.”
“How so?” queried Releston.
“Cady may be a link,” returned Knight. “Jollister the same. When Jollister learned that Cady was under suspicion, he decided that it would be best for him to travel along, also.”
“Just one point, Knight,” put in Marquette, when the Britisher had finished speaking. “Don’t you think you’re shooting pretty low when you class Jollister with Cady?”
“I suppose so, Marquette. Yes, Jollister could be a more important factor than Cady.”
“I’ll tell you how much more important. Enough more to be the big shot!”
MARQUETTE delivered his statement with emphasis. He was on his feet, one fist pounding the edge of Wesdren’s desk.
“There’s only one way anybody could crack that strong room of yours,” announced the secret service operative. “That would be from right inside this house, Mr. Wesdren. The one fellow who could do it is Craig Jollister!”
Wesdren began to nod; then shook his head.
“Hardly,” he declared. “The door to the strong room has other locks than Jollister’s. You know that yourself, Marquette.”
“Sure I do. And why were they put on there?”
“Because Jollister insisted upon their installation.”
“Sure. And after they were on there, didn’t Jollister still keep working around the strong room?”
“Yes. He was completing his test of the vault door.”
“Alone? Was he there alone?”
“Certainly, Marquette. Jollister always demanded privacy when he was at work.”
“And wouldn’t that have given him a chance to fix those other locks the way he wanted them?”
This time Wesdren began to nod and did not desist. The others, too, had caught the force of Marquette’s point. Senator Releston was about to speak when Caleb Wesdren took the floor.
“Anything might be possible” said Wesdren, seriously. “Anything — if we go on the assumption that Jollister is a criminal. He might have some secret entrance to this house; through one of the side doors, for instance.”
“The doors are locked, aren’t they?” inquired Marquette.
“Supposedly,” returned Wesdren. “But Jollister has had full run of the place. Do you know, I can not understand why Jollister has bolted so suddenly. I am beginning to wonder if he has actually fled at all.”
“Maybe he hasn’t,” agreed Marquette. “He wants it to look like he’s left Washington, that’s all. Say — maybe he’s coming back here. Using that train trip as an alibi. Flashing the ticket so Hamilton would see it.”
“Suppose we visit the vault room,” suggested Senator Releston. “Let us make sure that some crime has not already been accomplished.”
Wesdren nodded his agreement. While the group was rising. Hamilton and Tobin entered. Marquette instructed them to stay and watch with the other two Federal men who were on the job as servants.
LEADING the way, Wesdren conducted his visitors below. He unlocked the doors of the strong room: turned on the light and ushered his companions within. Wesdren’s next step was to open the vault. He followed by unbolting the inner grating.
With Releston and Marquette close at hand, Wesdren made an inspection of coffers and compartments.
The checking of models and plans was complete. Wesdren closed the grating and locked the vault.
“Formidable,” he remarked, solemnly, as he studied the glistening door. “But it would be no better than tissue paper, should Jollister come here to open it. He not only constructed it; he knows the present combination.”
“One thing,” put in Marquette. “If Jollister is coming here, it will be tonight.”
“How is that?” queried Wesdren promptly.
“He’s going to get it over with,” insisted Marquette. “One night’s as good as another, isn’t it? All right; that makes the first chance best. But he won’t come alone.”
“On account of coffers?”
“Yes. And the weight of the stuff in them. That nitrogen extractor is a heavy machine. So is that tank model and those boxes of separate parts.”
“Then what would you suggest? A guard here in the strong room?”
“That’s the best idea yet. If Jollister’s going to show up, why not let him?”
Senator Releston nodded his approval.
“Suppose you stay down here, Marquette. We can send Hamilton and Tobin down to join you.”
“That would weaken our present arrangement, senator,” objected Wesdren. “Those men are needed upstairs.”
“Suppose I remain with Marquette?” The speaker was Jarvis Knight. “That will place two of us on duty.”
“We should have three,” declared Releston.
“Then leave Cardona,” suggested Wesdren.
“That’s the ticket,” asserted Marquette. “If any one comes snooping around, they’ll only see the regulars on duty upstairs. Leave Knight and Cardona here with me, senator.”
“Very well,” smiled Releston. “Since Delka has his Scotland Yard credentials and Cardona can identify himself as a New York detective, I think the arrangement would be allowable.”
“Certainly, senator,” agreed Wesdren. “Let us go upstairs and leave the strong room to these three.”
WHEN Wesdren and the senator reached the office, they held a brief conference. Wesdren decided that Hamilton and the others must be promptly notified of the situation. He also suggested that it would be wise to call police headquarters, to learn if there was any news of Cady.
The senator went out to the hallway and summoned the four Federal men, while Wesdren was using the telephone. When Releston had instructed the four, he returned. Wesdren had just completed his call to headquarters. He announced that the police would issue a flier as soon as they had Cardona’s data.
“Have a cigar, senator,” suggested Wesdren, proffering the box. “We have nothing to do but wait. Unless something occurs within a few hours, we will know that nothing is due.”
“I shall wait here until midnight,” said Releston. “But the strong room must be guarded until morning. We can remove the plans and models then, and ship them to the war department.”
“An excellent suggestion,” approved Wesdren. “One that will most certainly relieve me of a great responsibility.”
Conversation ended. Both Releston and Wesdren seemed to feel a tenseness in the atmosphere as minutes ticked slowly by. Both were thinking of that buried strong room, where three stalwart men were standing guard against crime that soon might come.
CHAPTER XVII. IN THE STRONG ROOM
“The door is the spot to watch.”
Vic Marquette gave this advice to his two companions. The secret service operative had completed a brief survey of the strong room. He was pointing to the heavy barrier which had closed automatically after the departure of Releston and Wesdren.
“It looks tough,” stated Cardona, as he eyed the door’s interior. “But since Jollister was the guy who built it, he shouldn’t have much trouble in cracking it.”
Jarvis Knight made no comment. He had taken a cigarette case from his pocket — the metal one that bore the initials “E.D.” Extracting a cigarette, Knight clicked the case shut. He struck a match and began to puff smoke while he stared in meditative fashion.
“What’s on your mind, Delka?” questioned Marquette, as he noted the Britisher’s concentration. “Figuring something we haven’t thought of yet?”