"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 153 - Murder For Sale" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

of Isabel Rendolf. At no moment had they gotten a close look at the girl, and
since she was out of sight beyond the doorway, they regarded her simply as an
unknown meddler who had been properly taken care of.
Two more thugs had arrived from the fire-tower. Keezer was telling them
what had happened, while the group waited for their pal to join them. Whiz was
the front man for the cluster. Standing above Harry's unconscious form, Whiz
squinted toward the inner room.
His eyes made out something just beyond the doorway. Whiz voiced a savage
oath.
"Luke didn't get the moll!" he added, "She finished him! Go in and get
her, two of you guys!"
A pair of thugs sprang forward. Halfway across the living room, they
blocked all sight of the connecting doorway. At that closer range, they
observed something that Whiz and the others couldn't spy.
The driving crooks saw the Shadow.
Often, when he battled men and crime, The Shadow announced himself with a
strident, mocking laugh. He had not done so on this occasion. His object was
to lure foemen into an attack. It was best to let them think that Isabel had
fired the shot that dropped their pal.
Who the girl was, The Shadow had no idea, except that she was allied with
Harry Vincent; and that was sufficient.
By forcing himself into the hazy light within the bedroom doorway, the
Shadow had apparently taken on a desperate risk. That thought occurred to
Isabel, the moment that she saw her rescuer and realized that the incoming
thugs had also spotted him.
For a moment, she was dumbfounded; then, she raised her tiny revolver to
aim. By that time, her cooperation was unneeded.
The thugs had jabbed their guns toward The Shadow; revolvers barked as
triggers were tugged. But, with that hurried aim from his adversaries, The
Shadow had sidestepped, away from Isabel's direction. The outguessed crooks
tried to swing their guns as they fired. They were too late.
Bullets whimpered wide, thudded the inner wall of the bedroom. With the
echoes came two staccato shots from The Shadow's gun. His .45 delivered lead
that found its mark. The thugs went thumping headlong on the floor, rolling
wounded above the body of their dead pal.
All that The Shadow had to do was swing out of his corner, reach the door
and announce himself, as he drove upon Whiz and the remaining mobsters.
Confident that the unknown girl had been eliminated; they were lifting Harry
in the hallway, and would have been easy prey for The Shadow.

IT was Isabel who provided the sincere, but ill-timed, intervention that
ruined The Shadow's final thrust. She was closer to the door than he was, and
she had the same idea of rescuing Harry. Before The Shadow could stop her,
Isabel bolted through to the living room.
Only Keezer saw her, for he was lifting Harry's feet outside the hallway
door. Hoarsely, Keezer shouted to Whiz:
"It's the dame! I'll get her!"
Piling into the living room, Keezer met Isabel in a quick grapple. Whiz
took a look; though he couldn't see the girl's face, he noted her attire. She
was helpless in Keezer's clutch, and his gun hand was raised to deliver a