t for much anyway. Of course we have some ideas, and I
suppose you do, too."

Rick and Scotty nodded.

Preston continued, "The thing that's clear to us is that there isn't
just an Earthman. There's a gang. Someone sabotages the rockets. Someone
else steals the stuff from the warehouse. Someone else--and it looks
like Mac and Pancho--takes the stuff to Careless Mesa, or Steamboat, or
both. And someone else--the gang that captured you--gets it at Steamboat
and takes it to Vegas. Then, I suppose, still another man or group gets
rid of it through trade channels."

John Gordon had been listening without comment. Now he spoke up. "The
pattern seems to indicate sabotage, in order to create a diversion for
thieves. I can't buy it."

The boys and Preston waited for his reason.

"The thefts are peanuts. Oh, not in terms of ordinary thefts. But it
doesn't seem reasonable that anyone, no matter how greedy or crooked,
would destroy ten million dollars' worth of rocket to steal goods only a
tiny fraction of that in value."

Gordon's comments were an echo of what Rick had thought when the theft
of transistors first came to light. He simply couldn't believe theft was
the only reason. He had also rejected theft as a means of hampering
operations. While loss of parts was a nuisance, it wasn't crippling.

"Then the Earthman--I mean the Earthman who sabotages the rockets--has
to be a part of the technical staff," Rick said.

Gordon and Preston nodded. "Because only the project people have ready
access to the rockets," Gordon agreed. "Have you found out anything
suspicious about any of them, Tom?"

Preston shook his head. "I've studied their security background
investigations until I'm half blind. There isn't a thing that has even a
remote connection."

Gordon added, "Maybe finding the actual saboteur is the toughest part,
but there are some things about the thefts that aren't clear to me. For
instance, how did Deadrock Ogg know the car would be traveling without
lights? He told the boys how he planted himself at the Pahrump Valley
turnoff because the sedan would have to turn on lights there. How did he
know?"

Rick had figured that part out. "At night, car lights can be seen for
miles. The last thing in the world the thieves would want would be to
attract attention to Steamboat. The only way to be sure would be to
travel without lights. Turning them on during the run through the
twisting roads into the valley wouldn't be too