"Doc Savage Adventure 1939-07 Merchants of Disaster" - читать интересную книгу автора (Doc Savage Collection)

He heard the door of his office open and close. Dimly, he made out a tall, lean figure approaching him.

"Busy! Can't see you!" he almost shouted. "Come back some other time!"

His visitor's slow, unhurried approach did not pause.

The tall man's eyes flicked over the glasses the lawyer wore, noted the scribbled paper with its group of letters on the desk. He nodded, almost sadly, as if confirming something that pained him.

"Were you going to telephone someone?" he asked politely. His voice was low, refined.

"Get out, I said," Quinan barked. "I've got to get Doc Savage. I've - " His lips shut firmly, as if he had said more than he had intended.

"Ah!" The other's voice remained low. "So you were going to call the famous adventurer and mental marvel, the man who spends his life fighting evildoers. How touching."

Les Quinan came to his feet. There had been a subtle change in the other's tone, a touch of menace. For the first time the lawyer felt a touch of fear, realized the secret he had learned might be dangerous.

"Will you go?" he snapped. "I - "

The tall man moved, swiftly. Quinan saw the move but faintly. Instinctively, he tried to dodge. Then he swayed drunkenly for a moment and collapsed to the floor.

His visitor calmly drew a handkerchief, wiped a faint stain of crimson from a long, slender knife.

Still calmly, the tall man gathered up the papers on the lawyer's desk, put them in his pocket. On his way out he gathered up the notebook Quinan's secretary had used in taking his excited dictation.



Chapter 2

A CALL FOR HELP


THE story told by Quinan's secretary had no significance to the police. Even when the girl told them her notebook was lone, detectives could see no connection between the jumbled Letters Quinan had dictated and his murder.

Since the girl did not know where Quinan had gotten those Letters, or what they meant, the detectives could not be blamed overly much.

They never did connect the murder with what happened at the army proving ground that afternoon.

The proving ground was the center of more than ordinary interest.

The site was used for testing new inventions, new explosives and other developments in warfare. Theoretically, it was so located that it could not be spied upon by civilians.

Actually, it was possible to see the grounds, although from quite a distance, if high-powered binoculars were used.

The two men, well hidden, who were watching the activity on the proving ground had high-powered binoculars. And they appeared just as well pleased that they were considerable distance away.

They were the two who had offices across from that of the late Les Quinan.

Conversation lagged between them. They already knew what was going to occur. They were interested merely in seeing that everything went as expected. But even their features became more tense as drama unfolded before them.

At least two hundred soldiers and officers were on the field. They stood at ease, waiting for the test to begin.