"015 (B069) - The Mystery on the Snow (1934-05) - Lester Dent (b)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

"Yeah, watch me!" Renny rumbled.
"He refuses?" Stroam asked.
"You said it!" boomed Renny.
"Slit the girlТs throat," Stroam ordered callously, abruptly. "See if he would
rather watch that than talk."
A swarthy, evil-faced man flashed a knife. He advanced on Midnat DТAvis.
Renny eyed the knifer in the gloomy corridor. The big-fisted engineer had seen
riffraff before. He knew a calloused murderer by sight.
This was one.
The knife-wielder reached over, gripped the girlТs hair and bent her head back.
Midnat DТAvis tried to scream. A grimy palm over her lips prevented that. Her
throat muscles writhed, convulsed; her face grew noticeably whiter.
RennyТs forehead became damp.
"Wait," he growled. "IТll tell Doc whatever you say."
He was conducted down to the car.
"One wrong word, any attempt to accent certain words to convey a secret message,
and the girl will be killed," one of StroamТs men warned him.
Renny switched on the transmitter. "Doc!" he said. His great voice was normal
enough.
"Yes," came Doc SavageТs remarkable tones from the loudspeaker.
"WeТre O. K.," Renny stated.
"Did you get the prisoners?" Doc queried.
"Yes."
"Bring them to the hangar."
"O. K."
"Tell him," a man hissed in RennyТs ear, "that it may be some time before you
arrive."
Renny relayed this to Doc, as commanded.
"Make it as soon as you can," Doc suggested.
This terminated the forced radio conversation.
Renny was conducted back to the corridor outside MahalТs office.
Stroam was still behind his drapery. He cackled shrill laughter, when told that
Renny had complied exactly with his orders, and the sound was hollow, muffled by
the curtains.
"Take them out on Long Island!" he squeaked. "Question them thoroughly to see
what that Savage knows of me. Then dispose of them in some ditch."
The knifeman leered. "YoТ mean for me toЧ"
"Use your blade, my friend," Stroam called from the inner sanctum.
"Murder!" Mahal gulped. "I donТt want to go along."
"Then stay here with me," Stroam squeaked.
The bad news seemed to have sapped RennyТs strength. He sank to a sitting
position on the corridor floor. His huge hand, smeared with crimson from his own
wound, came to rest on the carpet. The hand moved slightly. It shifted again,
most carefully.
No one chanced to note RennyТs act.
The big-fisted engineer was kicked to his feet. He and the girl were forced to
walk down the rear stairs. Men carried the still unconscious Johnny and Long
Tom.
Two touring cars were parked in an alley, their curtains up. This fact would not
attract attention, since it was a spring day and not too warm.