ake a receiver
for Barby that would be an ornamental plastic band to wear the way
girls wear barrettes, or whatever they call them. Or, I could fit a
receiver into a special pair of glasses. There's one type of hearing
aid that's built into glasses, you know."

"I do know," Steve agreed. "All right. I'll try again. Each contestant
that looks good to the program people gets a thorough quizzing on the
chosen subject before being accepted. That's to find out if they're
really experts. How are you going to handle it?"

Rick hadn't known about that. He pondered for a moment. "That means
we'd have to prepare a hidden transmitter, too, so we could help out
during the examination. It could be done. The contestants could wear
the gadget strapped to their legs, under their skirts or trousers."

Steve was enjoying Rick's ready responses. His eyes twinkled. "You'd
have to use very limited range on your Megabuck Mob transmitter, and a
very high frequency. Otherwise, the Federal Communications Commission
would pick you up, use a direction finder, and move in on your
operation. They might locate you, anyway, even on low power and
ultra-high frequency. How are you going to lick that?"

Rick held up his hands in surrender. "I'm not. I can't take a chance
of getting the federal government into the act. Gosh, I'd have the
FCC, the FBI, and maybe a dozen others on my trail. I quit. The
Megabuck Mob is hereby dissolved."

Steve looked disappointed. "And I was hoping your plan was foolproof.
I was about to buy stock in the Mob." The amusement in his eyes belied
the words.

Hartson Brant laughed. "I'm glad you're the one that stuck a pin in
his bubble, Steve. The way Barby bakes cakes, I'm not sure Rick could
ever break one to get the file out."

Steve chuckled. "The records are full of foolproof get-rich-quick
schemes like this one. And the jails are full of halfway criminal
geniuses, too. But don't overlook the advantages of an eat-proof cake.
It might come in handy to throw at the guards during the getaway."

The young people laughed, too, then Barby sobered suddenly. "Rick,
could you really put one of those things in my hair?"

He had an image of the gadget in his mind, and he knew it would work.
"Sure, Sis. Why?"

"An idea I want to talk to you about later." She turned to Steve and
asked anxiously, "You do know Rick was only fooling, don't you, Steve?
He wouldn't steal anything from anyone, honestly."

Steve nodded. "I do,