"037 (B072) - The Metal Master (1936-03) - Lester Dent" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

"Used to be?"
The girl drank more of the stimulant.
"I haven't seen much of Louis the last two years," she said. "He has been off in some out-of-the-way place working, where he has a laboratory."
"Where?"
"I don't know."
"From where did the cablegram come?"
"South America. He is on his way North. I don't know why he was down there. In fact, I didn't know he was in South America."
"Who was Seevers?"
"He used to work with my brother. Seevers was sort of a teacher for my brother for a long time. He is a nice old man."
Doc Savage did not tell her she should have said was a nice old man.
Chapter III. CUBA ANGLE
DOC SAVAGE allowed the young woman to rest, after ascertaining that she knew no more than what she had told. While she was resting, he telephoned the cable company.
He learned about the two clerks who had been murdered and about the cablegram which had been taken. He got a copy of the cablegram from the central office, where it had been relayed.
"How is your nerve?" he asked the girl.
"I don't know," she said.
Doc tried her.
"Seevers is dead," he said.
Her nerve was all right. She bit her lips.
"He was a nice old man," she said.
"Do you have any idea what is behind this?" Doc Savage asked.
She considered. "I can't think of a single angle."
"You were poisoned," Doc told her. "They smeared a cyanide powder over your mouth."
"I know." She shuddered. "And after that, it was the strangest thing! I seemed to be flying through infinite space at terrific speed! And yet it didn't seem like it was me doing that, but some one different, some part of me that I had never been conscious of before"
"You were dead," Doc Savage told her.
She eyed him solemnly. "You wouldn't kid me?"
"That," he assured her, "is the truth."
"And you brought me back to life?"
"It has been done often before. People actually die on operating tables and elsewhere, only to be revived by the use of adrenalin and other methods."
Nan Tester did not say anything. Apparently having been dead was something to think about.
"You are going to be left here again for a few minutes," the bronze man told her.
"What are you going to do?"
"Do not make any noise in here," Doc told her, apparently not hearing her question. "The place was searched a while ago. They were probably looking for you."
Doc Savage left her concealed in the secret compartment. She had wanted to know what he planned, but he had appeared not to hear the inquiryЧa small and aggravating habit which he had when he did not wish to explain his future moves.
He went to the cable office to which had come Louis Tester's cable from South America, and where the two clerks had been murdered. The place was full of police officers, investigating the killing.
Two new clerks were on duty.
Doc Savage filed two cablegrams for transmission. The first one was addressed to Louis Tester, care of the airport at Panama, Canal Zone, where his plane would be apt to land for refueling. It read:
SEEVERS MURDERED STOP YOUR LIFE MAY BE IN DANGER STOP DESIRE YOUR STORY IMMEDIATELY STOP CHANGE YOUR COURSE TO HAVANA CUBA AND INTERVIEW MY ASSISTANT COLONEL JOHN RENWICK AT HOTEL MIRMA IN HAVANA STOP TELL HIM STORY STOP ACCEPT HIS HELP STOP YOUR SISTER WITH ME.
DOC SAVAGE
The second cable was directed to Colonel John Renwick, Hotel Mirma, Havana, Cuba, and said:
MAN NAMED LOUIS TESTER WILL ARRIVE IN HAVANA FROM SOUTH AMERICA BY PLANE STOP MEET HIM AND GET STORY CLEARING UP MYSTERY OF METAL MASTER STOP HIS LIFE MAY BE IN DANGER
DOC SAVAGE
Doc handed these two communications over the counter for immediate transmission. The two clerks behind the counter seemed to be nervous, which was no wonder, with the place full of frowning cops.
DOC SAVAGE now gave his attention to the policemen. They listened to him with the greatest of respect, for they knew his reputation, knew also that he was a high honorary officer in the police department, among other things.
Doc told them to go to the elevator operators in the skyscraper which housed his headquarters for a description of men who might be the murderers. Doc did not explain why he happened to make this suggestion. The policemen looked very curious about it, but did not insist when Doc failed to volunteer a full explanation.
Doc Savage also mentioned that it might be interesting to investigate the alley where old Seever's body lay imbedded so incredibly in a blob of metal.
Two officers went to see about this. One soon came tearing back with his eyes wild. He had found the mass of metal, and the body.
The police investigators now asked Doc Savage to have another look at the fantastic thing in the alley, and furnish them with any theories which they might pursue in their investigation. Doc was not unwilling. He knew very well that the police had an efficient organization, and he frequently coЎperated with them.
Doc went to the alley with the policemen.
The two clerks in the cable office seemed very glad indeed to see the bronze man and the cops depart. Their relief was tempered somewhat by the fact that one cop remained behind, to see that no one wandered around messing finger prints. The clerks, pretending to examine messages, held a whispered consultation.
"This is sorta risky" one said. "We better blow. We've got them two cablegrams that the bronze guy filed."