"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 252 - Judge Lawless" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

Outside, however, matters proved quite different. The Shadow had reached
a
corner near the old garage beneath which crime's headquarters was hidden. Past
that corner, he could see men darting out from a doorway climbing into cars
that were coming from the public garage. There was one way to stop this
exodus:
with bullets - so The Shadow swung in from the corner with that purpose.
Then came the surge that ruined The Shadow's tactics. Cardona and the
police had found a shorter route to the street. They were springing from the
same door that Lawless and his gang had used. Protected by a cluster of
followers, and hence immune from The Shadow's fire, Judge Lawless saw the
police sortie and rasped for his men to counteract it.
The Shadow's laugh rang out and with it, his automatics pumped a
long-range fire that brought an immediate response, not only from the killers
that Lawless had told off but from men in other cars as well. The Shadow had
picked himself a hot spot where his gun spurts, visible in the darkness, were
targets for shots from several angles.
Forced to wheel as the volley came, The Shadow whipped back around the
corner, with bullets chipping bricks from the edge of the wall above him. But
the interim was sufficient for Cardona and his men to dive back into the
opening that crooks had used for exit from the old garage.
By then the cars themselves were gone whisking around the corner into the
next street. As for following them in person, The Shadow knew it would be
futile.
The Shadow's only course now was to fade off into the night. As he went,
The Shadow saw a taxicab flash across that corner of the next block, where
crook-manned cars had turned. Sight of the cab was at least a token of a
chase.
Reaching the spot where The Shadow was no longer, Cardona and the
bluecoats with him heard the fleeting tones of a laugh that was both weird and
grim. The Shadow's laugh, telling that no matter how long or how often his
plans would be delayed, he would eventually settle scores in person with a
superfoe who styled himself Judge Lawless!


CHAPTER IV

THE BLANK TRAIL

HOW long or how far his present ride was taking him, Dave Channey didn't
know. He hadn't a watch handy to time the trip, nor was he able to check on
passing landmarks, for he was on the floor in an overcrowded car, where his
companions had thrust him. Judge Lawless wasn't in this particular car, and in
a way, Dave was glad.
Dave feared that he had definitely betrayed himself to Lawless by his
effort to stop Fleech's attack upon The Shadow. Certainly Dave's companions
weren't trusting him, the way they kept him down on the floor. Which made Dave
wonder just what would happen when he met up with the judge again. The short
shrift that Lawless had given Fleech was a most discouraging precedent for
Dave