The Ruby Ray Mystery Read online

  THE RUBY RAY MYSTERY

  A RICK BRANT SCIENCE-ADVENTURE STORY, No. 19

  BY JOHN BLAINE

  Grosset & Dunlap

  ASIN: B001KTC26A

  Rick Brant and his good friend Dan Scott are attending a scientific conference in Denmark with Rick’s father, Dr. Hartson Brant, when an urgent midnight phone call to their Copenhagen hotel room involves them in one of the strangest adventures either has ever encountered. A topU.S.security agency fears that Dr. Harold Keller, one of the American scientists attending the conference, may be in danger. The boys are ordered to keep him under close observation.

  Thus begins a thrilling chase by sports car, taxi, train, and jet that spans three countries and ends in a hideout high in the SwissAlps. But Rick and Scotty are not alone as they pursue the elusive Dr. Keller. Involved also are the mysterious “Blue Beret,” “Pretzels,”

  and “Felt Hat,” members of rival organizations. Who are these men? Why do they want Dr. Keller and the ruby laser he has developed for use in delicate surgery? In search of answers to these and other questions, Rick and Scotty find their endurance, bravery, and ingenuity tested to the absolute limit in an unusual and electrifying suspense story that will have the reader guessing to the very end.

  CHAPTER I

  TheMidnight Call

  The telephone in Room 395 of the HotelMercur inCopenhagen,Denmark , rang

  persistently, demanding to be answered.

  Rick Brant rolled over, opened his eyes, and squinted at the luminous dial of his travel alarm clock. It was just pastmidnight . The telephone rang again, with irritating insistence. He debated throwing a pillow at it.

  “Well, answer it,” Don Scott said from the other bed.

  Rick was still groggy. “Answer it yourself,” he said peevishly.

  “I’d have to get up. All you have to do is stretch out an arm,” Scotty answered reasonably.

  Rick tried. His hand connected with the phone and he picked it up, feeling foolish.

  “Hello?”

  “Mr. Brant?” The operator had a pleasant Danish accent. “United Statesis calling.Mr.

  Ames, fromWashington,D.C.”

  Rick’s sleepiness vanished abruptly. Steve Ames of JANIG, the hush-hush security organization! He put a hand over the mouthpiece and whispered, “Scotty! Steve Ames is calling.”

  To the operator, he said, “Go ahead, please.”

  Scotty snapped on his reading light and propped himself up on one elbow, listening.

  TheUnited States operator said, “Mr. Brant on the line, Mr. Ames.”

  “Hello, Rick?”

  “This is Rick, Steve.”

  “Rick, you have a Dr. Harold Keller at the meeting inCopenhagen . Do you know him?”

  “I know who he is,” Rick answered promptly. “Both Scotty and I have seen him, but not met him yet.”

  “Good. Does he know you by sight?”

  “I don’t think so. He was on the platform with the rest of the executive committee. We were in the audience.”

  “Rick, Keller and his wife are good friends of mine. I stopped in to take a birthday present to one of his kids, and found Mrs. Keller had a woman staying with her. The name doesn’t matter, but this female guest is believed by us, and by the FBI, to be a foreign agent. We can’t prove it, obviously, or we’d do something about it. She’s tough as nails, and it was clear that she’s guarding Mrs. Keller. I don’t know why. The FBI has the house and family under surveillance, but we can’t take action unless Mrs. Keller asks for help. Understand?”

  “Not exactly,” Rick replied doubtfully. “What is she guarding Mrs. Keller against?”

  “I don’t know.Maybe against disappearing. In other words, she may be holding the Keller family as hostages.”

  “Hostages for what?”

  “I wish I knew. It’s just a hunch, Rick. This woman and Mrs. Keller are not friends.

  Mrs. Keller was clearly ill at ease. Maybe she’s a hostage because of her husband. That’s what I want you to find out.”

  “How do I find out?”

  “I want you and Scotty to keep an eye on Keller. Keep him under observation, and let me know if he seems to be involved in anything, or in any danger. I can’t be more specific, because I haven’t any more information. Take no action. Surveillance is all I want. Can you do it?”

  “Sure, Steve.Any other instructions?”

  “Go to the embassy in the morning and ask for Jim Thomas. He’ll give you a list of contacts inEurope , in case you need them, plus some expense funds. I wish we had an agent to put on this, Rick, but our people are all tied up in a big flap that’s cooking and we can’t spare a man. Just keep your eyes open. Okay?”

  “Glad to do it, Steve. We’ll be in touch if anything develops. Shall we call you, or wire?”

  “Neither. I’ll be out of touch for a few days. You can report through the contacts Jim Thomas will give you.”

  “All right, Steve. See you soon.”

  “Right, Rick. Say ‘Hello’ to Scotty, and your dad, and thanks to both of you.”

  Rick hung up and stared at his pal. “We’ve got a job,” he announced. He reported the conversation, almost verbatim, while the husky, dark-haired ex-Marine listened silently.

  Rick swung out of bed, still talking, and rummaged through a pile of papers on the desk until he found the program for the conference.

  “That’s all of it,” he concluded. “Let’s see what the program says about Dr. Harold Keller.”

  Scotty got up and stood looking over Rick’s shoulder. The two boys were about the same height, but while Rick was slender and wiry, Scotty was built for combined speed and power. Rick was brown of hair, with light-brown eyes, almost hazel in shade.

  Scotty’s hair was nearly black, and his eyes were dark.

  Rick found the place in the program. “Here it is. Keller is delivering a paper at tomorrow morning’s session, ateleven o’clock . The title is, The Application of Lasers to New Techniques in Microsurgery.”

  Scotty shook his head. “That’s a new one. So far, there have been papers on the application of lasers to everything except patching old automobile tires.”

  “They probably can do that, too.” Rick grinned. “It identifies Dr. Keller as ‘Director, Experimental Laboratory for the Development of Surgical

  Methodology,JohnsHopkinsUniversity ,Baltimore .’ He’s apparently a crackerjack surgeon himself.Been Chief of Staff atMassachusetts GeneralHospital, Professor of Surgery at Tulane, and so on.”

  Scotty sat down on his bed. “And now he’s in some kind of mess?”

  “Steve didn’t say that. He only asked us to keep an eye on him. Mrs. Keller is the one in a mess. She has some tough female who may be a foreign agent living with her.Maybe Dr. Keller’s activities will be a clue to the reason.”

  “We’ll see,” Scotty said. “Better go back to sleep. We’ll have to get up early in the morning and figure out what to do next.”

  “Okay.” Rick got comfortable again as Scotty snapped the light off. “I’m glad we brought the Megabuck units. They may come in handy.” He lay quietly in the darkness, thinking about Steve’s call, and Dr. Harold Keller.

  The two boys were attending an interdisciplinary conference on lasers held by the Bohr Institute atCopenhagen , along with Dr. Julius Weiss, Dr. Parnell Winston, and Rick’s father, Dr. Hartson Brant. Each of the three Spindrift scientists was delivering a paper at the conference.

  The laser-the word was made up of the first letters of the phrase “light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation”-was one of the most important electronic devices of modern science. The conference had been called to exchange information on the use of lasers in such varying fields as astronomy, commun
ications, biology, physical chemistry, biochemistry, quantum mechanics, satellite tracking, and medicine. It was in this last specialty that Dr. Harold Keller’s report was to be given.

  Rick Brant’s home,SpindriftIsland , off the coast ofNew Jersey , was the headquarters of the world-famous Spindrift Scientific Foundation. His father was the director. Rick and his pal Scotty, who had originally been hired as a guard, were junior technicians who made themselves generally useful to the senior scientists. Neither had ever attended a full-dress international scientific conference, and Hartson Brant had decided it would be good for them.

  “You’re both getting a little too big for your britches,” he said, only half-joking. “I’ve heard you make comments which implied that Spindrift is the real fountainhead of all important scientific knowledge. You need a little humility. You’ll get it atCopenhagen .”

  Rick smiled to himself in the darkness. His father had been right, as usual. Listening to scientific papers delivered by people from all over the world, he had for the first time really begun to appreciate that science is international, that no nation has a corner on brains.

  Rick and Scotty had found that although Spindrift did deserve its reputation, it was only one of many equally fine and brainy scientific institutions. The Bohr Institute here in Copenhagen,Karolinska Institute in Stockholm,Tata Institute in Bombay, Max Planck Institute in Germany, Carnegie Institute in Washington . . . there were dozens, all world famous, all represented by important contributions to the conference.

  The Americans had come from several different institutes, industrial labs, universities, and government agencies. Now one American, Dr. Harold Keller, was probably in some sort of trouble. It was up to Bick Brant and his pal Scotty, one-time Marine and now a full-fledged member of the Spindrift family, to find out what that trouble was.

  It shouldn’t be hard, Rick thought. Keller would be easy to follow inCopenhagen .

  Besides, they had brought the Megabuck network. The network consisted of three tiny radio transceivers operating on the citizen’s band. Two were about the size of a pack of playing cards. The third was an ornamental headband, made by Rick to fit his sister Barbara.

  The boys had brought them along more out of habit than anything else. The little units had come in handy so often that Rick automatically packed them along with camera, notebook, miniature flashlight, and scout knife.

  The boy was pleased. He and Scotty were very fond of Steve Ames, and it was nice to know that the JANIG agent had enough confidence in them to ask for help even in a foreign country. Their last activity together, known as The Flying Stingaree adventure, had even led Steve to comment that they might, with hard work and plenty of training, actually turn into halfway decent agents.

  Rick grinned sleepily and turned over. They had left a call for seven. That was early enough. Scotty’s regular breathing told him his pal had drifted off to sleep again. Within a minute, he followed suit.

  CHAPTER II

  TheCopenhagen Shake

  Rick and Scotty were ready, willing, and able to carry out their new mission at seven the next morning. A quick check at the porter’s desk told them that Dr. Keller had left a call for morning coffee to be served in his room atseven thirty . It would be at least an hour before he appeared, the boys estimated.

  It was safe to assume that the American surgeon would not leave the hotel before delivering his scientific paper at the morning meeting; after all, that was his reason for being inCopenhagen . Later, anything could happen. They would be ready.

  The first step was to check the Megabuck network. The tiny transceivers were working, but Rick worried about the amount of life remaining in the batteries. He had found an electronics supply shop within a block of the hotel on the previous day, and resolved to pick up fresh batteries if he had a chance.

  The second step was to check in with Rick’s father, Dr. Hartson Brant.

  In physical resemblance the scientist was an older version of his long-legged son. He grinned quizzically as they knocked and entered. “Good morning, Rick,

  Scotty.Something happen during the night? You both look like the cat that swallowed the canary.”

  Rick grinned back. “Is it that obvious? Dad, we had a call from Steve Ames last night.”

  The scientist’s eyebrows went up. “So? Is he inEurope ?”

  “No, this was fromWashington . He wants us to keep an eye on Dr. Harold Keller.”

  Quickly Rick reported the gist of Steve’s call.

  Hartson Brant, who had assisted Steve many times himself, listened closely. “I’m sorry Keller may be in some kind of trouble,” he said when Rick had finished. “You certainly should help out, since Steve has made a direct request. But follow his instructions to the letter. Observation is what he wants, not action.”

  Rick smiled. He knew what was in his father’s mind. The boys had been instructed on other occasions to stay out of things, but events had pulled them right into the middle of the action before they knew what had happened-well, almost before they knew.

  “Well be careful,” Scotty assured the scientist.

  “I know you will, Scotty. How do you propose to keep an eye on Dr. Keller?

  “We have the Megabuck network,” Rick replied. “We can split up if we have to.”

  Scotty asked, “Dad, do you have any idea about Keller’s plans?”

  “I’m afraid not. He and I are new acquaintances. I’ve had no occasion to ask about his plans.”

  “Thanks, Dad.” Rick started for the door. “We’ll keep you posted. Probably we’ll see you at the morning session, since Keller is delivering a paper.”

  The scientist grinned. “Happy as a bird dog in quail season, aren’t you, Rick?”

  Scotty chuckled. “You know our Rick. Never happier than when he has a mystery to chew on.”

  “Scotty just goes along for the exercise,” Rick explained.

  “And to keep you out of trouble,” Scotty added.

  “Both of you stay out of trouble,” Hartson Brant said firmly. “Good luck, and call if you need help.”

  The boys parted in the lobby. Scotty was to remain in the hotel with Keller, while Rick went to the U.S. Embassy to see the contact Steve Ames had named. Scotty would stay with Keller until further notice. Rick would join his pal at the morning scientific session, if not sooner. Both were now wearing the earphones of the Megabuck units. To a casual observer, it would seem that the boys were wearing hearing aids.

  Rick hailed a taxi in front of the hotel and settled back for the short ride to the U.S.

  Embassy. The taxi driver, as did nearly all drivers inScandinavia , spoke English.

  The taxi pulled up in front of the attractive, modern embassy building and Rick paid the fare of six Danishkroner . The driver hurried around and opened the taxi door for him, then thanked him profusely for an extra tip of fifty 0re, a half crown, worth about seven cents. Rick smiled, somewhat embarrassed. He couldn’t get used to having a man twice or three times his age open doors for him.

  The embassy receptionist motioned him to a seat while she called Mr. James Thomas and informed him that Mr. Richard Brant was in the lobby. Then she directed Rick to the elevator and told him to go to the second floor, where Mr. Thomas would be waiting.

  Jim Thomas met Rick at the elevator and escorted him to a small office. Thomas was young, neatly dressed in a dark-gray suit with a blue tie. His hair was short, but not quite a crew cut. He worehornrimmed glasses and had a friendly smile. At first glance he might have been taken for a vice-consul or third secretary.

  “So you’re Steve Ames’s friend,” Thomas said cordially.

  “Yes, sir.Do you know Steve?”

  “Only by voice and reputation.By voice, because he phoned last night.”Thomas handed Rick a sheet of paper. It contained a list of American embassies inEurope , with the name of a person after each embassy. “You’ll have to memorize the list,” Thomas said.

  “We can’t risk having you carry it, for obvious reas
ons.”

  Rick nodded. The names were intelligence contacts. The list couldn’t be allowed to fall into strange hands.

  “How long will it take you to memorize it?”

  Rick smiled. Steve Ames had introduced the boys to “The Kim Game” after the case of The Flying Stingaree . The game was named after the hero of Kipling’s famous novel and was designed to train the memory. Steve would place an assortment of objects on a table while the boys were out of the room. Then they were allowed to study the table briefly, and ushered out of sight again. They had to name each object and its position on the table quickly and accurately when asked.

  At first only a few objects were used and a reasonable period of time in which to study them was allowed. Gradually the objects were increased in number, and the time was shortened. Then Steve began to substitute words and phrases for the objects. The boys enjoyed the game, and took pride in the speed with which their memories became disciplined.

  Rick handed the list back to Jim Thomas. There were only a dozen embassies and names. He had memorized longer lists in a shorter time. “I have it.”

  Thomas blinked, but kept his face impassive. “Who’s the man inRome ?”

  “FredAlfondre .”

  “Vienna?”

  “MurrayChapman.”

  “Paris?”

  “Victor Fontaine.”

  “Brussels?”

  “EugeneDessent .”

  Thomas nodded. “You’ve been well trained. All right, here are your instructions. Call these people if you need them. If you can’t reach the man you want, ask for the Assistant Military Attache. He’ll be briefed, and will help you if possible. The contacts or the attaches can send messages to JANIG for you.”

  Rick took the envelope that Thomas held out. “Here’s expense money. If you don’t use it, turn it back to Steve. If you need more, call your nearest contact. And good luck.”

  “Thanks. I hope we won’t need the luck, but you never know.”

  “No,” Jim Thomas agreed. “You never know.”

  “Mind if I make a call?” Rick asked.

  Thomas motioned to the phone. “Help yourself.”

  Rick grinned.“With this.” He took the Megabuck unit from his pocket. “Scotty?”