"Avenger - 4303 - Calling Justice, INC" - читать интересную книгу автора (Avenger)

With the characteristic thoroughness which The Avenger had instilled into all those who worked
with him, Nellie Gray made a mental note of the license number of that green coupe--it was an
Illinois plate, number TQ323. She filed that number in the back of her mind and glanced at the bus
window. The plump little man was once more in evidence. He no longer had the newspaper in front of
his face. He was lighting a cigarette, and Nellie thought she detected a flicker of a smile upon
his lips--though she couldn't tell for sure at this distance.


The bus driver blew his whistle and called out, "All aboard." The passengers trooped back,
eager to start on the last lap of the long ride. There were several vacant seats, but Nellie
passed them up. Prompted by some curious motive which she could not herself analyze, she resumed
the same seat, slipping past the plump little man.

He seemed to feel much better now and immediately engaged her in conversation. "Going to meet
your parents in Miami?" he asked.

Nellie Gray repressed a giggle. Clad in a white blouse and a pair of navy-blue slacks, she
looked as simple and unassuming as a freshly graduated high-school girl. Her traveling companion
probably took her for a kid of seventeen or eighteen.

"Oh, I've traveled by myself for quite a while," she said airily. She wondered what he would
have said if he learned that she was a veteran member of Justice, Inc.--that efficient fighting
organization headed by The Avenger, and devoted to championing the rights of the little man against
the overlords of crime in every corner of the globe. The fact was that Nellie Gray had traveled to
many parts of the world which the plump man had never even heard of. But he went on, blissfully
unaware of the identity of the girl at his side.

"Are you going to get a job in Miami? It must be easy to get a job these days, what with all the
defense work. What do you do for a living? Waitress? Manicurist?"

Nellie lowered her eyes. "Well, I guess I could wait on tables--"

"Look here, miss," he said suddenly. "Maybe I have a job for you. What's your name?"

EIsie Jones," Nellie lied.

"Well, look here, Elsie." He lowered his voice. "I'm a lawyer. Joplin is the name. Frederick
Joplin. I'm going to Miami to handle an important case for a client of mine. See this brief case?
It's crammed with evidence. Evidence that will win the case for my client!"

Nellie kept her hands in her lap and let her long lashes cover her eyes. She waited for him to
continue.

"Now the trouble is that my client's enemies may try to destroy this evidence. They may try to
take it away from me."

Nellie opened her eyes wide. "You don't say! Do you mean they might try to do it by force?"

"Exactly!" He leaned closer to her, dropping his voice even lower. "Now see here. I can put you
in the way of making a little money. Say two hundred dollars. How does that sound to you?"