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, Barby. I won't throw him in jail this time. I might need him."
"Is that what you're here for?" she asked.
"I need you all," Steve said. He motioned to chairs. "Let's sit down. Can Mrs. Brant join us?"
Hartson Brant went to get her while the young people started to deluge Steve with questions. He held up a hand in protest. "Wait until the whole family's here, please."
In a moment Mrs. Brant had joined them and greeted Steve cordially. Then the young agent got serious.
"I was only partly joking when I said I wanted to take over Spindrift. I really do, in a way. Here's why. We've had a team of scientists working on a project that's of the greatest importance to national defense. There were four in the team, all topnotchers. Hartson, I'm sure you'll know some, if not all of them, by reputation."
Steve removed the ammunition clip from his submachine gun and sighted through the barrel, then let the bolt ram home with a sharp click. "It was my job to guard the project. As you know, I had to go to the Virgin Islands, but I left one of my best men in charge, and he did his job thoroughly. I'm satisfied about that. No unknown person has been near the project office. And no unknowns have been in close contact with any of the team. Yet, two of them are in the hospital."
"Neither, really. We don't know what's wrong. Their minds suddenly ceased to function."
Hartson Brant leaned forward. "You mean they're unconscious?"
Steve shook his head. "Not in the usual sense. It's as though all their thoughts and memories had suddenly been scrambled. Did you ever see a teletype machine in operation, particularly one that suddenly went haywire?"
Rick had. "The news machine did that over at the Whiteside _Morning Record_. It was typing out clear copy, then suddenly there wasn't anything but gibberish."