"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 260 - The Money Master" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

No wonder the thing left Bert and Emmart dumfounded. Indeed, the money itself blotted out all other
recollections. Temporarily they forgot the office across the way, where gigantic transactions were
obviously handled on a simple, almost careless basis.

The people in that office hadn't forgot Cowder and Emmart. The clerk was still behind his counter, but
now two others had joined him. They came from the back room, men of foreign appearance, who
plucked the clerk's sleeve and babbled in two different languages. As he listened, a change came over the
drab clerk.

Gaining color, the pale face showed a shrewd expression that changed to an air of worry. Yielding at
length to the advice of his companions, the clerk went to the rear room and used the telephone. When a
voice answered, the clerk spoke in English:

"This is Anton. I must speak to Mr. Zorva."

There was a pause; then Anton tensed. The others drew closer, knowing that he was speaking directly to
the man called Zorva. There was a strained note to Anton's voice; his words were apologetic.

"I am very sorry to disturb you, Mr. Zorva... Yes, it was something that just happened here. We cashed
a note for a customer... The sum? Well, it was only Ten Tarka..."

An interruption came across the wire. The others saw Anton wince and knew that Zorva must be giving
him a verbal lashing. Nevertheless, the clerk stuck to the telephone and finally managed to get some more
words through.

"It was the circumstances, Mr. Zorva," Anton pleaded. "The man was not a regular customer... Of
course I recognized him! He came here before with Mr. Brune... Yes, he said that Brune sent him. But
there was another man, one we didn't know..."

Orders were coming tersely from the telephone. Anton's responses were merely short affirmatives.
Hanging up, he turned to the others and gratefully thanked them for insisting that he call Zorva.

"Our master says that we must close the office at once," declared Anton. "We are to proceed with full
emergency arrangements. Elvor Brune has been behaving suspiciously lately. He may have sent those
other men for some secret purpose."
The emergency proceedings were very smooth. While Anton was opening the safe in the rear room, his
two companions skirted the counter and reached the front windows. The shades were already well
drawn, but the pair eased them farther down, inch by inch, until they reached the sill level.

By then, Anton had finished packing money from the safe. From the size of the bundles, it was evident
that Ten Tarka, otherwise a million dollars, represented only a fair portion of the assets kept in this
amazing office. However, there were bundles of bills that were of less than thousand-dollar denomination,
along with the bigger money. As a result, the contents of the safe filled six suitcases larger than the one
that Anton had delivered to Bert Cowder.

There was something else in the safe, a small movie projector with a long-wire attached. One man set the
projector on the counter, the other ran the wire to a plug in the rear room. The man at the projector
waited until his companion was at the light switch in the front office. They pressed their switches
simultaneously.