rea. Luis had to abandon the watch to go to the fire, and the
clerks had all run out at the sound of the sirens. Whereupon, with
Scotty watching, Dusty Rhoads had emerged, pushing his cleanup cart in
front of him. He had even stopped to watch the fire being put out.

Scotty followed him, and watched Rhoads unload the stolen instruments
from his cart and dump them into the base rubbish pile. The janitor
covered them with other, noninflammable junk and went on about his
business.

"So you got the stuff back," Rick commented.

"Nope." Scotty shook his head. "It's still there."

"What?"

"Under day and night guard. From a distance, of course. Rhoads doesn't
know he was seen. Now Tom Preston is waiting for the next step."

"What's that?"

"Project Cetus shoots in two days."

The light dawned. "And you expect Mac and Pancho will get the stuff!"

"On the nose. Think you'll be around for it?"

"I wouldn't miss it," Rick said firmly.

He didn't miss it, although he was still too weak to be a participant.
Instead, with arm in sling and ribs still taped, he was allowed to
listen to the action in Tom Preston's office.

It started when Mac and Pancho picked up their radar unit in the
maintenance shed. They drove to a dark area behind the shed where Dusty
Rhoads was waiting with his cart. The stolen material was quickly
transferred, and hidden behind the equipment racks in the truck. Then
Mac and Pancho drove off, en route to Careless Mesa.

Dusty Rhoads put his cart away and started back to his barracks.
Security officers fell in step on either side of him. Dusty was
finished.

The gate reported by phone when Mac and Pancho went through, then there
was a long wait. Tom Preston, John Gordon, and Rick had an early
breakfast in the security chief's office. Just as they finished
breakfast, the communications outfit on Preston's desk buzzed.

"Playboy One to Playboy Base. Come in."

Preston thumbed his microphone. "This is Playboy Base. Go ahead."

"Deadrock here, Tom. They're coming up the mountain."

"Roger. Keep us advised."

The waiting again, then Deadrock called once more, excitement in his
voice. "Tom, there's another vehicle of some kind coming in from
Steamboat."

"Good! How are you fixed?"

"We can handle a regiment. Scotty is going down around the mesa to cut
them off in case they try to run for it. Hank is going down on the base
side. How important is it for Careless Mesa to track the shoot?"

Joh