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CALLING JUSTICE, INC.

A New Avenger Novelette
by Kenneth Robeson

The innocent-looking brief case held more danger to
Nellie Gray than if it were a truckload of TNT!

CHAPTER I.
THE MIAMI BUS.

The plump little man with the frightened eyes boarded the bus at Jacksonville and selected
the aisle seat next to Nellie Gray. He mumbled a quick apology, laid his black leather brief
case across his knees, and immediately opened a newspaper. He spread it in front of him, effec-
tively hiding his face, and did not move for an hour. Nellie knew he was only pretending to read,
for he never turned the page. Twice she caught him furtively peering past her, out of the window,
just as passing cars overtook the bus. Each time he did this he threw a swift glance at the car,
then buried his nose in the paper once more.

When the bus stopped for refreshments at St. Augustine the plump little man did not get out
with the rest of the passengers, but continued his pretense of reading. Nellie squeezed past him
into the aisle and went out to the refreshment stand where she bought a hot dog and a bottle of
pop. While she was eating, surrounded by the other passengers, she saw a long green convertible
coupe come flashing down the road and pull to a stop. It swung into the parking space beside the
bus and a man emerged from the rear. This man wore a tan sport coat and his face was long and
wooden. He said something to his driver who remained at the wheel, and then he swung his dark
eyes upon the passengers. He scanned them with the attitude of one who seeks a particular person.
Nellie got a cold feeling when she saw his eyes. They were almost fishlike in their expression-
less stare.

The man evidently did not find what he was looking for because he turned and stared at the
bus for a moment. Then he stepped over to the open door and poked his head in. At the same time
that he did this he put his right hand in the pocket of his coat.

Nellie Gray's glance swept to the window of the bus where she had seen the plump little man
only a moment before the coupe arrived, but now he was not visible.

Nellie knew that the plump little man had not left the bus. He was still in there. But he
couldn't be seen; therefore he must be crouching down behind the seat. Hiding--from what?

She experienced a distinct sense of relief when the long-faced man in the tan sport coat took
his head out of the bus doorway and returned to the green coupe. She knew with the sure instinct
which had made her The Avenger's right-hand "man" that the occupants of the green coupe were the
hunters, and the plump little man was the quarry.

The long-faced man stepped back into the green coupe and it backed out of the parking space.
Its powerful eight-cylinder motor rumbled throatily as the driver accelerated, and the coupe
flashed down the road toward Miami.