"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 275 - The Crystal Skull" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

THE CRYSTAL SKULL
Maxwell Grant
This page copyright ┬й 2001 Blackmask Online.

http://www.blackmask.com

? CHAPTER I
? CHAPTER II
? CHAPTER III
? CHAPTER IV
? CHAPTER V
? CHAPTER VI
? CHAPTER VII
? CHAPTER VIII
? CHAPTER IX
? CHAPTER X
? CHAPTER XI
? CHAPTER XII
? CHAPTER XIII
? CHAPTER XIV
? CHAPTER XV
? CHAPTER XVI
? CHAPTER XVII
? CHAPTER XVIII
? CHAPTER XIX
? CHAPTER XX

CHAPTER I
BENEDICT WADE sat at his desk like a great spider crouching in the center of its web. A mighty web,
indeed, if Wade included all that he could view from the windows of his office. The room was located in
a lofty penthouse, surrounded by the mighty skyline of Manhattan.

He was a handsome spider, Benedict Wade, when he chose to be, but at present his broad face was
relaxed into an ugly leer that represented the real self behind it. The glow of the setting sun reddened
Wade's insidious countenance, giving it a Satanic touch. Yet Wade's expression was a mere copy of the
grin from the skull that glared upward from his hand.

A rare curio, that skull. It was a miniature about a quarter the size of a human head, and it was entirely of
crystal; a connoisseur would have recognized it as pure quartz. Wade himself knew the value of such art
objects, for he dealt in them, but that was not the reason why he liked the crystal skull.

Holding the skull so that its crystalline depths reflected the dye of the blood-red sun, Benedict Wade
swelled with the thought of power. His were the eyes of a human leech who bled men of their wealth and
the skull was the amulet that made such practice possible!

Yet there was in Wade's gaze a hunted expression that ownership of this trophy could not quell. For the
moment, his eyes became restless, sidling nervous glances toward the windows, then at the strong, bolted
doors of his isolated office. Convinced that this high citadel rendered him immune from the thing he
feared, Wade uttered a hard laugh and put the skull away, deep in a desk drawer.