Her father got to his feet and faced the officer. “Well, Captain Rogers, this is a bit of luck!”
The Captain laughed shortly, without shifting his gaze from Cary. “We scarcely dared hope to catch him in the act.”
“I expect we’ll have to give credit for the catching to my daughter,” replied Chief Carter, glancing proudly at Kitty.
“How did you manage it, young lady?” asked the severe-looking Captain.
Kitty thought how terrified she would be to face him at a trial. He had the look of a man whose dealings with law-breakers had soured him on the world.
“I must confess I didn’t do any managing,” Kitty admitted ruefully. “I was sitting here waiting for Dad when in came Lieutenant Cary.”
“I turned off the light to watch the storm—see what I could see outside,” Kitty floundered.
“So—he didn’t realize anyone was in here?” asked the officer.
Kitty’s excited breath caught in her throat a moment before she could explain, “He went straight to Dad’s desk with a flashlight, and picked up those order sheets.” She pointed to the papers strewn over the floor. “He stuffed them under his coat.”
“We must have come just as he did that,” surmised her father.
“No! It seemed an eternity. I told him not to move or I’d shoot.”
“But Kitty, you had no gun!” exclaimed her father. “Why do you take such foolhardy chances, my child?”
“Then you came! I was going to try to get out the door while someone was passing. I didn’t dare hope it was you.”
Though Captain Rogers hadn’t taken his eyes off Cary for a moment, Kitty saw the shadow of a smile twitch around the straight lines of his mouth. Then he spoke suddenly, “Mr. Carter, please phone Minger to come up with some handcuffs. Our Lieutenant here looks like a volcano that may erupt at any moment. No doubt it’s bitter for him to know he has been caught by this alert young lady.”
Cary, at bay in the corner, seemed turned to stone. His baleful glances had swept from one to the other as they spoke, but otherwise not a muscle of his face changed to betray his real feelings. No doubt the Nazis had trained him so well, that to die for the Fuehrer, in an attempt to serve him, was a coveted sacrifice.
The Petty Officer with the handcuffs came up in an amazingly short time, Kitty thought. He, too, was a stranger to her. When the irons had been snapped over the physician’s wrists Captain Rogers said, “Take him away, Minger. I’ll join you later.”