"032 (B032) - Dust of Death (1935-10) - Harold Davis" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

LONG TOM
The cablegram had come from Alcala, Santa Amoza.
Monk, the homely chemist, squinted and scratched his bullet head.
"I don't see anything in that to make anybody think Long Tom is in trouble," he said.
"For once I agree with the ape here," Ham murmured. "I don't either."
Doc Savage's metallic features did not change expression. This was one of his characteristics. He rarely showed emotion.
"Have you overlooked the five-letter code?" he asked.
Monk started, and a ludicrous expression crossed his homely face.
"Sure," he grunted, "every sentence should start with a five-letter word. That's the touch to make sure members of our gang really send the messages."
Dapper Ham seized the cablegram which Doc had brought and examined it again.
"Every sentence doesn't start with a five-letter word in this," he snapped. "That means Long Tom did not send it."
Monk scratched in the bristles along his nape. "What do you reckon's behind this?"
"We will see what we can learn by cabling," Doc told him
ON THE STREET there was not much traffic and not many parked cars. Hence, there was plenty of room along the curbing. A small sedan wheeled into one of these open spaces.
Four men alighted. The fifth, who was behind the wheel, drove the car away. Those who had gotten out strolled over and ostensibly looked into a show-window. Above them towered the stone and steel monolith that housed Doc Savage's eighty-sixth floor aыrie.
"Your instructions are clearly understood?" asked one of the men.
The others nodded.
The leader paced the way into the skyscraper. He was a rather striking fellow, principally because of his size arid shape. His lines were somewhat remindful of a box on stiff legs. He looked as hard as railroad ties.
Under one arm this man carried a bulky object, carefully wrapped in thick brown paper.
Once in the building lobby, the men separated. Two turned toward the elevator that would lead them to an observation tower above Doc Savage's headquarters, almost a hundred stories above the street level.
The other two members of the group strolled carelessly down the spacious lobby, stopping close to the entrance that led to the express elevator which carried passengers to floors eighty to ninety. They lighted cigarettes and leaned idly against the wall, conversing softly as if awaiting the appearance of friends.
Over in the observation tower elevator, the box of a manЧhe had the unmistakable look of a professional wrestlerЧand his companion were silent. The operator glanced at them with only slight curiosity, for dwellers in Manhattan become accustomed to strange types of humanity.
When the elevator stopped at the observation floor, the two passengers acquired admission tickets, walked out on the railed platform and gawked about. A few other persons were there, these obviously being tourists. The burly wrestler still carried his package as he mingled with the crowd. There was system in the mingling, however, for the pair worked around the tower and soon stood before a small door. They tried this and found it locked.
They waited until they were alone on that side of the tower. Then the wrestler brought out a bunch of keysЧan assortment of skeleton keys. There was a faint click and the door opened.
The pair slipped through and closed the door behind them. Without hesitation they raced down a small set of steps into a room where the whirr and the click of machinery sounded continuously.
It was the room which held the mechanism that operated the elevators.
A mechanic rose quickly from his chair just inside the room with the machinery. But he was too slow. He did not even see the newcomers. The wrestler swung a great block of a fist, and the mechanic was senseless.
"You know what we do next?" the big box of a man asked.
He was looking about, plainly more than a little bewildered by the maze of wheels and cables that confronted him.
His companion nodded, a confident grin on his wizened face.
"I can handle the rest of it," he said. "I used to install these things."
With sure steps he threaded his way through the cables, pointed to one drum which appeared full of slender steel thread.
"This is the cable that holds up Doc savage's private elevator," he said. "Unlimber that thing you're carryin'."
The big man grunted and unwrapped the parcel which had been under his arm. The other took it, stripped off the wrapping and revealed a compact metal-cutting torch of a type popular with safe robbers.
Eye-hurting flame from the torch began to play against the cable drum.
DOWN IN THE street level lobby, the two men who were leaning against the wall near the express elevator were beginning to consult their watches nervously.
"We got another minute," one said.
They were silent throughout the minute.
"Now," the first said. And the other nodded.
They walked to the endmost of the bank of express elevators and entered the cage.
The operator spoke to them quietly, saying, "This elevator goes only to Doc Savage's floor."
"That's where we're headed," one of the passengers responded.
Then the operator jumped suddenly and looked down. A gun had been jammed into his ribs.
"Get going," the hard-faced holder of the gun ordered.
The operator closed the door and started up. For an instant, the two passengers were speechless, their eyes intent on the operator. The latter moved his lever to the stop position. The button of the apparatus that would automatically level the cage at the eighty-sixth floor door was already pushed in.
A fist struck the elevator man callously under the jaw. He sagged, and one of the two passengers caught him under the arms. Holding him helpless, they hit him again and again, until his senses were thoroughly beaten out.
They lowered him to the floor as the cage stopped on the eighty-sixth floor.
The two passengers opened the door, made sure the corridor was empty, then propped the elevator door open with the use of small wooden wedges, which they had previously prepared. They moved silently down the corridor to the stairway. One of them turned and cupped his hands to his mouth.
"Help!" he screamed. "Help!"
Then the pair scuttled silently down the stairway.