"035 (B071) - Murder Mirage (1936-01) - Laurence Donovan" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

Doc and his companions were wearing curiously shaped goggles. The lenses of these were large. The affairs looked clumsy. These were equipped with small switches. From inside the goggles came a whirring, as if small generators were operating.
While the headlights of the car were off, there was light. But this was invisible to any person not wearing the bronze man's especially contrived goggles.
Ahead of the flying car, all objects stood out distinctly in the black fog. The highway was bathed in strange luminance. There was no color even to the greenest of trees. Everything was etched in black and white.
This invisible ray was supplied by an infra-red projector on the sedan. Through the goggles, driving was made safe enough.
The further illusion of a ghost car was given by the silence of the motor. Though possessing super-power, the engine gave forth only a low, hissing sound. And this was the reason the swift approach of the Doc Savage sedan was undetected by the drivers of two other cars.
THE sedan had crossed the city limits of New York. With undiminished speed, it flashed over the low hills of Nassau County. If the black fog had not been present, strips of the blue water of Long Island Sound would have showed at intervals.
The two cars ahead leaped into the infra-red ray shortly after the sedan had passed through the historic Colonial settlement of Roslyn.
The cars fleeing ahead of the sedan were using headlights. But the drivers were compelled to hold to a speed less than half of that of the sedan. Doc's car, a silently moving armored vehicle equipped with bulletproof glass could neither be seen nor heard by the drivers of the two automobiles ahead.
In one of these cars was the Bedouin who had fled from Doc's headquarters in Manhattan. Believing he had escaped cleanly, the Arab was doing what the bronze man had suspected he would.
He was making directly for a secluded bay of Long Island Sound where a black boat he was looking for might logically be expected to anchor. And it was with the hope of finding the missing Ham and Monk that the man of bronze had deliberately permitted the Bedouin to escape.
"Kind of funny, isn't it, Doc," came the voice of Long Tom, "that there should be two cars? There was only one when we first picked up the Bedouin."
The man of bronze said nothing. His giant body was as motionless as if he were a part of the car. The flaky gold eyes were concentrating on the rear car of the fleeing pair. Both automobiles had come from Manhattan. Undoubtedly, both had the same objective.
"It will be only a short distance down the road," stated Doc. "Watch for their turn-off, so we don't overshoot."
"Sure, I'llЧ"
Renny did not finish. The sedan was running so silently that the slightest sound could be heard. At this point, the nearest house sat nearly half a mile distant on top of the hill to the right.
A woman's scream rippled along the black fog. It was a shrill, piercing note. But there was neither fright nor terror in it. Rather the cry seemed to have been uttered for the definite purpose of being heard.
In the rear window of the nearest car ahead, two heads loomed up starkly black and white in the infra-red ray.
"That was what I expected," said Doc, quietly. "Now step on it, Renny. Pass both cars."
"Holy cow!" ejaculated Renny. "They've got a woman in that last car! I'll bet they've grabbed Lady Fotheran!"
DOC said nothing. He bent his head slightly, as the sedan shot ahead. The motor was capable of far more than a hundred miles an hour. The fogged wind tore at the bronze man's clothing.
It was a tricky feat, passing the other two cars on the narrow highway. Doc directed no warning be given. Renny squeezed the sedan out on the parkway.
Two amazed drivers saw what must have seemed to be a thunderbolt hurtling noiselessly out of the night. No horn had been sounded. No lights had appeared. But the sedan rushed uncannily by, its fenders grazing the bodies of the other cars.
There were four men in the rear car. Five, for on the floor in the rear lay a bound-and-gagged man. Between two men on the rear seat sat a woman. A dark-skinned Bedouin in American clothes clapped his hand over the woman's mouth.
"You'll keep quiet, Lady Fotheran," he grated, "or we'll be forced to gag you!"
The woman sat stiffly erect. She made no effort to free herself from the throttling hand.
The driver emitted an oath. He was a white man with a crooked, evil face.
"There ain't any guy livin' could drive without lights in this fog! An' did you see that big mug standin' on the side? He didn't look human!"
In the lights of the other car, the figure of Doc Savage, magnified by the fog, looked almost supernatural.
"An' that guy ain't human," replied the man beside the driver. "If that ain't Doc Savage, then I don't know my onions! Hey! We'd better hold up here an' ditch the dame!"
This man was dragging a machine gun up between his knees. The car ahead swerved between Doc's sedan and the rear car.
"If that black heathen'd only get out of the way," complained the gunner, "I'd soon find out how human Savage is."
The bottom of the windshield was lifted. The man thrust the Tommy gun through the aperture, holding it in readiness.
The dark-skinned man in the rear seat spoke quietly.
"You'd only be wasting bullets," he said. "Doc Savage has those big tires filled with sponge rubber. You can't puncture them. The car is armored."
"Hooey!" rapped the gunner. "Well, this Savage mug himself ain't full of sponge rubberЧan' he'll be full of hot lead, if that boob ever pulls over!"
The woman in the rear seat was sitting rigidly. The dark-skinned manЧhe was known as Mr. KassanЧwho had displayed such surprising knowledge of Doc Savage, had removed his gagging hand. The woman's golden eyes were staring ahead. After her hysterical scream, she had apparently been in a semi-coma.
But one small foot was rubbing against the other.
Suddenly the woman threw one arm across her eyes. The car was filled with an unearthly, blinding light.
The driver swore wildly. His brakes squawled. The car left the highway and tipped its nose into the ditch above the road.
Chapter X. BLACK MAGIC
WITH the blinding light which hurled the car into the ditch, an astounding thing had happened. The small foot of the woman in the rear seat had exploded, or so it seemed.
"You would insist, Lady Fotheran!" rasped the dark Mr. Kassan.
His doubled fist smashed sidewise. Had the woman been in the same position, the beautiful face would have caught the full impact of the blow. But she had thrown herself forward, hands gripping the back of the front seat.
It was then the car dived and slapped over on its side, with a splintering crash. The door on the upper side burst open. The slender figure of the woman went through the aperture with the floating lightness of a specter.
The man on that side was groaning and clamping his hands over his blinded eyes. The woman's arm still was tightly held over her own golden orbs. She ran a few yards down the highway and sprang across the ditch. With the speed of a deer, she lost herself in the woods above the road.
Curses and groans rolled from the wrecked car. But the four men apparently had suffered no serious injuries. All crawled into the highway, arose to their feet and staggered blindly. The explosion of the chemical powder in the woman's shoe rendered them comparatively helpless. They would be that way for several minutes.
Mr. Kassan was smart, and he remained cooler than the others.
"Our sight being lost," he said calmly, "we cannot pursue Lady Fotheran. It would be wisest for all of us to be some other place before Doc Savage can return. Place your hands on each other's shoulders. Now follow me. There is a small boat concealed not far from here. The powder will not blind us for long."
The four men filed across the road. They vanished in the brush toward the small bay. With hands extended, touching each other, they looked like convicts on parade.
DOC SAVAGE saw the bright light of the chemical explosion. Then the splintering crash of the car sounded in the road behind them.