"Doc Savage Adventure 1934-11 Death in Silver" - читать интересную книгу автора (Doc Savage Collection)

"They'll get a line, don't worry," grated the whisperer. "Doc Savage's men are wizards, and that fellow Savage himself is positively inhuman. We must do something."

"What?" Bugs wanted to know.

After a pause, the other said, "Listen to this."

Following that, there was a chain of rapid commands, Bugs mumbling frequently that he understood. An expression of evil pleasure overspread his unhealthy moon of a face as he heard the plans unfolded. He consulted his remarkably high-priced wrist watch.

"That oughta fix 'em," he grinned finally.

Hanging up, he made his way back through the corridor labyrinths of the great building until he located Monk and Ham. Lurking in the background, unnoticed, he kept an eye on Doc Savage's two aides.

Bugs was waiting for something, and he eyed the watch often.

As for Monk and Ham, they had given up all hope of the blond fireman furnishing any valuable information. The fellow had seen only a grotesque figure in silver. The ashes of the silver garment, a shapeless sediment of metal and cinders, furnished no clue.

"Even Doc couldn't learn anything from this," Monk complained, indicating the garment.

Ham started to nod, then refrained, since agreeing with Monk on any subject was against his policy.

"We're killing time," snapped the dapper lawyer. "Why don't we go upstairs and look over the explosion scene."

"The police have done that," Monk grunted.

"They have not found what caused the blast," Ham pointed out.

That seemed to settle the question, and they started mounting stairs, the elevators not yet being in working order.

The skyscraper had, not one basement, but three, one below the other, and the boilers were in the lowermost level, deep in the solid bed rock of Manhattan Island and probably below the surface of the near-by East River, which at this point was very wide, actually a neck of New York Harbor.

The two men reached the second basement and encountered a police officer. The cop had the rank of lieutenant, but he was deferential, for Monk and Ham held honorary police stations far above his own. Doc Savage and all of his men held these honorary commissions, issued out of gratitude for past services in aiding the law enforcement agencies of the city.

"We have learned something," reported the lieutenant. "I knew you gentlemen would want all information as quickly as we got it."

"Shoot," Monk invited.


THE police officer explained rapidly: "We are entirely mystified as to the cause of the explosion which killed Winthrop, although a more intensive search may turn up some clue. We are overlooking no bets. The blast might have been a bomb, launched in some manner from a plane. In checking up, we learned that a plane was flying over the river, very near the building, at the time of the explosion. Too, there was a man on the river in a motor boat."

No one paid attention to Bugs, who was loitering within earshot.

"Any way of identifying the plane?" Monk asked the policeman.

"You would be surprised how people notice things like that when something grabs their attention," replied the officer. "I suppose some persons wondered if the plane had dropped a bomb. Anyway, we have several witnesses who got the number on the lower wing surface of the plane."

"Great!" grunted Monk. "You're checking?"

"You bet. And, moreover, two or three dock workers identified the motor boat which was on the river. There was one man in the boat, and he may have seen the plane drop a bomb."

"It's pretty foggy," Monk pointed out.