Part 10 (1/2)
DR. TAM looked up from his desk and studied the two nondescript Orientals who faced him. Though they were of mixed lineage, Tam could see that they were of j.a.panese strain, this pair that had been captured by The Shadow.
Being familiar with the j.a.panese language, Tam put questions in that tongue. They replied volubly under the nudge of guns that bulged from blackness behind them. The fact that The Shadow was still present caused them to magnify his prowess.
In the opinion of the prisoners, The Shadow was a Kitsumi-tsuki, a being who controlled the foxes and made them do his bidding. So powerful was The Shadow, that he might even be Inari, the fox G.o.d, in person.
When that outburst ended, Tam pretended to cla.s.s the prisoners as LiHuang's former servants. Sternly he asked if they had delivered the kogo to Li Huang. Since kogo was the j.a.panese term for a small box with a lid, Tam's question was an implication that these men had personally seen to Li Huang's death by giving him the jewel case that contained the poison lizard.
When both protested innocence, Tam said he would believe them if they told him where to find the Black Dragon's kura, or hidden treasure room. They said they couldn't, but they did know where the Dragon Clan would meet - later tonight.
When the pair had given the necessary details, Tam summoned his own men and had them remove the prisoners. Whereupon, blackness laughed, and materialized itself into the form of The Shadow. Bowing to his cloaked friend, Tam declared that he would send men to raid the meeting place, but The Shadow had a better plan.
”I shall go alone,” he declared. ”The whole spirit of the clan hinges upon the Black Dragon. Once his boasts are nullified, his followers will desert him.
I proved that with the pair I captured.”
Tam frowned. In whispered tone, The Shadow a.s.sured him that this plan would work. Though he nodded, Tam retained his frown because of something else.
”You were missing for quite a while, Ying Ko,” reminded Tam. ”During that time, Steve Trask disappeared. Your contact man, Burbank, phoned me and said your agents were unable to find him.”
”Tell Burbank to send them to Sauber's,” ordered The Shadow. ”That is where Trask would go to look for trouble. They should be able to keep him from finding it.”
The Shadow's own destination was the meeting place that the prisoners had named and described to Dr. Tam. If ever there had seemed a false trail, this was it, for it seemed the last place in New York where the Dragon Clan would dare to a.s.semble. That fact, in itself, convinced The Shadow that the trail was real.
THE spot in question was the old building directly across the dead-end street from the Norland Museum, a structure almost under the shelter of the great bridge that spanned the East River!
It happened that The Shadow could understand the Black Dragon's purpose in choosing such a rendezvous. Had things gone as the Dragon planned, this place would have been perfect. The police would have found Norland dead, presumably murdered by Steve, who in turn was to have died at the hands of the museum attendants. The Dragon had counted on the police releasing those killers on the ground of justified action.
Instead, the treacherous attendants had met their own doom from The Shadow.
That fact, however, had closed the case more definitely. With Steve alive and at large, the police were spreading their search, which meant that the Dragon Clan could still meet at its chosen place.
Nearing the building in question, The Shadow approached it from the bridge side. Noting activity along the water front, he saw that the police were stilltrying to trace Steve's course. They had found the rowboat and were making inquiries from persons in the neighborhood.
Soon, the police would be gone, but The Shadow's plans called for immediate investigation of the premises where the meeting was to be held. Having brought along a black bag filled with varied equipment, The Shadow adopted a unique method of entering the three-story building.
Instead of approaching by the street, he took an obscure route leading up to the bridge itself. Gliding along a deserted footwalk by the rail, The Shadow reached a spot directly above the building that squatted below.
From his bag, The Shadow produced a cylindrical object like a huge measuring tape, a dozen inches across. He hooked the device to the outside rail of the bridge. Gripping a small stirrup that projected from the cylinder, The Shadow swung himself across the rail and dropped into s.p.a.ce.
There was a weird whine as a thin but powerful wire uncoiled from the cylinder. Like a living spider, The Shadow dropped in dangling fas.h.i.+on to the rooftop more than fifty feet below. The process was very simple, except for the outward swing that was needed to clear the s.p.a.ce between the bridge and building, which were not quite on a vertical line.
Nevertheless, The Shadow made it with a comfortable margin. Nor was his drop too rapid, for the coil was braked by a mechanism in the cylinder.
Indeed, The Shadow spent less than half of the wire's length in reaching his destination. Settled on the roof, he released the stirrup and the wire drew it upward with a powerful spring action. The cylinder itself could be retrieved later, after this adventure was completed.
From the bag, The Shadow took a portable jimmy that fitted on the end of an automatic. He pried open a trapdoor and descended into the forgotten structure that had once been an office building. When he reached the second floor, he found that the prisoners hadn't lied to Dr. Tam.
The stage was set for the meeting. There was an outer office, square and of sizable proportions, with ornamental screens along its walls. Since there were several of these, the screen behind the Dragon's throne did not look suspicious.
Knowing the throne's trick, The Shadow sat down and pressed the arms. As he tilted back, the deceptive gla.s.s slid down to produce its mirror effect. The back of the throne revolved with the central panel of the screen, and The Shadow arrived in an inner office which was quite dark.
Through the rear window The Shadow saw a fire escape, the convenient route which the Black Dragon would use. So The Shadow descended silently and reached the window of another empty suite directly below the meeting place.
A whispered laugh was absorbed by darkness as The Shadow entered the lower window, carrying his bag. This first-floor office would serve as his own headquarters until the Dragon Clan arrived. There were certain preparations to be made, after which The Shadow could move about the neighborhood as he chose, since the police were giving up their hunt along the water front.
A final duel was impending between The Shadow and the Black Dragon - a duel wherein skill in mysterious ways would const.i.tute the weapons! MEANWHILE, Steve Trask was exactly where The Shadow expected him to be, outside Sauber's house in Gotham Court. Steve was just about to try the front door when a big car pulled up outside the archway. Steve dropped quickly from sight below the steps, because he recognized the car as Weston's.
At least it couldn't be the spurious vehicle belonging to the Black Dragon!
That false car had been taken into custody, so it const.i.tuted a menace no longer.
With Commissioner Weston was Miles Fenmore. The pair were admitted to Sauber's house by Pelly, the secretary. As soon as the door closed, Steve ascended the steps and tried the doork.n.o.b. It proved unlatched, so Steve entered.
The ground floor was dimly lighted, and there wasn't a servant in sight.
Steve moved stealthily toward a stairway, then rapidly sought the darkness behind it as he heard footsteps coming from the second floor. Looking up through the banister rails, Steve saw Weston and Fenmore coming down, with Sauber right behind them.
In his usual style, Sauber was protesting ignorance of anything and everything that concerned the Black Dragon. He even doubted that the fray in Greenwich Village could have anything to do with the Dragon problem. His argument on that score was still the same; the whole business of the Black Dragon was a myth.
Neither Weston nor Fenmore offered comment, but their faces showed annoyance. At the front door, they met Cardona coming up the steps and the inspector went along with them. Steve heard Weston telling Fenmore that he'd drop him off at his house, then the three were on their way to the commissioner's car, without even saying good night to Sauber.
The curt departure didn't hurt Sauber's feelings. If anything, it pleased him. Bolting the door, the tawny-faced man turned toward the stairs, and Steve, well-huddled from sight, saw a gleam from narrowed eyes that suited the sly smile of Sauber's almost lipless mouth.
When Sauber started up the stairs, Steve followed. What worried him was the absence of Pelly. But when Sauber entered an office on the second floor, Steve saw that the secretary was awaiting him. Deep in the office was another door with a large, upright cabinet shoved halfway through it. Steve decided that he could spy best by sneaking around to that adjacent room.
Steve reached his goal easily enough, but found the room stacked with trunks and crates, like other rooms that he pa.s.sed on the way. Evidently the containers held the excess imports that Sauber had ordered on a lavish, wholesale scale when he foresaw that sources would be cut off.
Working in among the crates, Steve saw some with j.a.panese letters and the word ”Silk.” Others were labeled ”Tea” and ”Quinine.” Most curious of all was a huge box marked ”Tapioca,” which Steve decided to climb upon so he could look across the cabinet that blocked the connecting door to the office.
To Steve, this emphasis on imports could be the cover-up for Sauber's real game - the Black Dragon racket. Certainly Sauber must know much about the credits - and cash - of businessmen returned from the Far East. Knowing who had money and who hadn't, the Black Dragon could stretch his insidious claws into the affairs of anyone he chose.
Such were Steve's thoughts as he peered across the blocking cabinet in order to spy on Sauber and his secretary, Pelly. Like The Shadow, Steve Trask was seeking the Black Dragon. But through Steve's brain was surging the idea that he had already found the monster in question - in the person of CarltonSauber!
CHAPTER XVIII.
HIGH-LEVEL BATTLE.
THOSE shrewd eyes of Sauber's still had their sly look as his gaze ran through some papers that Pelly handed him. Finished with the sheets, Sauber crumpled them, touched them with a match and threw the burning wad into a metal wastebasket.
”Good work, Pelly,” complimented Sauber. ”These reports tally. Therefore, we can a.s.sume that the men who supplied them are properly informed, since you say that they do not know one another.”
What the reports were, Sauber did not specify. While they burned, he opened the drawer of an ornamental desk and brought out a bundle of letters.