[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

quarters, presumably.
"There are 7 men guarding you," Mahli warned suddenly and hoarsely. "You haven't a chance to
escape."
"Take it easy," Monk said. "You're so nervous that you're getting me upset."
"No chance for in flight, understand! There is my myself and 7 very good men. There is the
Russian Security Police, the OGPU, the NKVD, the VSNK & "
"We have a little of that alphabet soup back home ourselves," Monk interrupted. "Is here where it
started?"
"You mustn't try to escape."
"Oh mustn't I?"
Mahli scowled & then muttered: "It would be a relief if you would promise not to try. Would you
give your word?"
Monk laughed in his face.
"Sure. I'll promise. That it won't be a 'try' -- it'll be a success, brother! You won't what's happened
until it's sleeshkam pozna, comrade. Too late."
Monk hesitated & eyed the big man & and added: "Why the outsized tizzy, large tovarich? I don't
make you out as a guy who gets that scared of me."
"Much is at stake," Mahli said frankly.
"Yeah?"
"I will speak straight words, ugly one. It has long been suspected that Stalin has groomed a faceless
one to step into his shoes. It would be a relief to many if that one were eliminated."
"A relief to the other candidates," Monk said. "I see what you mean."
"If Stalin has prepared this faceless one, it will make him no friends."
Monk nodded.
"Among the other candidates. I can see that, too."
"Is Frunzoff such a faceless one? And did you get proof tonight?"
archived at http://www.stealthskater.com/DocSavage.htm 53
Doc Savage: #182 - "The Red Spider" Chapter VIII
Monk grinned. "What was it you said awhile ago? 'No answer to that'? That's me all over, tovarich.
You're speaking to a fencepost."
Beside the grimy window, a man cursed impatiently.
They listened and there was the sound of a man singing in the distance, loudly and happily. The aria
was a Tchaikovsky bit and singer applied Russian words, then switched over into tongue that was
certainly not Russian. There were but a few words of this. Then he swung back into Russian.
"A noisy fool for so early in the morning," muttered the man who had sworn.
Monk leaned back, trying to look relaxed.
It was Doc Savage out there! And the language that was not Russian was ancient Mayan,
understood by very few in the so-called Civilized World outside of the Bronze Man and his aides.
The information that Doc had inserted in the song was a little upsetting.
There were out of anesthetic gas. So any help that Monk got would be the "hard way".
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Monk Mayfair placed his feet on the floor so that he could get a quick start. He made a mental
notation that he would like very much to be safe in New York & then waited.
That was about all he could do. That and hope it wouldn't be too long.
Which it wasn't.
The fire began in an alley-like court at the rear. Because he was expecting something, Monk saw
the smoke first and had difficulty keeping from pointing it out.
Then a man yelled, pointed. As might be expected, there was a rush for the window.
They never found out what was burning down in the alley.
And it was the least of their what happened anyway.
The window went first. Sash, glass, everything -- it came to pieces, letting in a sheet of bluish
flame, a gulp of driven air, and an incredible amount of noise!
Monk fully understood that it was a small explosive grenade applied to the window for a distraction.
He was surprised, though, when Doc Savage came in through the window after it.
The burly chemist was on his feet and after the guard at the door by now. The latter -- the only man
at the door -- had been bounced back against the panel by the explosion (by the surprise of it rather than
the force) and had half-turned and was fending off with one arm and fumbling for a gun with the other.
archived at http://www.stealthskater.com/DocSavage.htm 54
Doc Savage: #182 - "The Red Spider" Chapter VIII
Monk did his best to put his right fist entirely through the man's middle. And when the fellow
doubled, the apish chemist used his left fist to change the shape of the man's jaw considerably.
He knew by now that Doc must be in the room. There was quite a bit of smoke. But enough was
added to activity to indicate the Bronze Man. The building was an old-fashioned stone affair with
ledges outside the window. So he figured that Doc had stepped in from next door.
He turned & picked up a chair & and made for Mahli. The latter was on his knees fumbling for a
gun that he must have dropped in the excitement.
Doc Savage said in Mayan:  Get going, Monk! Never mind cracking heads."
Monk hesitated. He thought of the beating he had taken in the night near the radio station.
He threw the chair at Mahli. It didn't damage him much.
Monk started for the big Russian &
But Doc said more sharply: "Cut it out! Get going!!"
Ham Brooks was outside the door.
He said: "You took long enough getting out of there!" to Monk as they ran down a passage, then
downstairs.
The night outside was turning into a shiny ugly dawn that made their faces look a little more red and
harried than they were.
"Where is this good-looking Seryi babe I've been hearing about?" Monk asked. He was not puffing
noticeably.
"Tied up in the back of the car," Ham said.
They came to the little Russian copy of a German motorcar.
Monk piled into the rear, then asked: "In the back of what car?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]