"059 (B061) - The Living Fire Menace (1938-01) - Harold Davis" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

"What happened to Johnny and Long Tom?" Doc asked quietly.
Levity faded from the faces of the other two.
"That's what we really came up here to see if we could learn," Ham said seriously. "For some reason, they seem to have been kidnaped. I don't think it's anything serious, although I don't know.
"We were to meet them for dinner at Reefer's. We got there just after they'd been seized. Was quite a fight, from what witnesses told us. They were taken off toward the piers at the lower end of South Street, and probably put in a boat. We searched without finding a clue."
"Unless one remark we heard means something," Monk piped up. "I talked to a kid who was close to the car that carried Long Tom and Johnny away. He told me something that he said he'd overheard that sounded as if he was having a pipe dream."
"What was that?" Doc asked swiftly.
"He said he heard one of the crew say: 'I wouldn't want to be these guys. They're gonna see the menace of the living fire.'"
A gasp came from the girl. The three whirled toward her.
Her eyes were wide and staring. Her lips moved, but no sound came. Once again she fainted.
Chapter IV. STINGER STRIKES
TWO men stood just outside the door of the office. One was Petrod Yardoff. He took a small, cup-shaped instrument away from the door, took headphones from his ears.
"We are just in time," he whispered.
His companion shuddered slightly. He was also dressed in rubber clothes, but so well were those clothes made that few would have guessed their composition. Thin, flesh-colored gloves covered his hands; tennis shoes were on his feet.
"This will be all that is asked of me?" he quavered.
"This will be all, Meeker," Yardoff said. His thin lips twisted sardonically. "After this, you will beЧfree."
The other's shoulders bunched; a shrewd gleam flashed for a moment in deep-set eyes.
"I am ready," he said.
"Good." One of Yardoff's hands slipped unnoticed into a pocket. It came out holding a small vial. As he talked swiftly, his fingers loosened the cork. A white liquid poured out, seeped under the feet of his companion.
"Be sure you make the argument strong enough," Yardoff concluded. "Tell just enough of the truth to arouse Doc Savage's interest. That is all that isЧ"
His companion waited for no more. His lips came together firmly. He opened the door, walked into the bronze man's office.
Ham spun; the end of his cane slipped off to reveal a long, deadly sword. Monk, leaning over the girl, whipped erect, jerked to his feet, long arms swinging.
"Watch the girl, Monk," Doc said quietly.
The newcomer closed the door carefully behind him. His face was working with some strange emotion.
Then fear flashed over the rubber-clad man's face; his features changed from a queer cherry-red to the color of chalk. He danced wildly from one foot to the other.
"Watch out, Doc!" he screamed. "I was sent here to try to lure you to California, to Sandrit. I was told I'd be free if I did that. I've been tricked! I'm going to die!"
Saliva trickled weirdly from the corners of his mouth.
"Don't go to Sandrit! Stay far away from there. The menace of the living fire protects it, kills allЧ"
The words broke off in a scream.
There was a sudden flash of fireЧfire that came from inside the man's rubber suit. The man's body jerked violently; his eyes almost popped from his head. The odor of burned rubber and burned flesh filled the room.
The man fell. He was quite dead.
A peculiar, trilling sound filled the room. It seemed to come from no particular place, yet from everywhere. It was the sound Doc Savage unconsciously made when he was surprised.
With Monk and Ham at his heels, he darted to the side of the fallen man.
Outside, Petrod Yardoff smiled thinly as once more he replaced his listening device in his pocket. He had expected his companion to try to double-cross him, to try and give a warning.
That had been just what he wanted. From what he had heard of Doc Savage, the bronze man now would leave no stone unturned until he had tried to solve the mystery.
"BUT what caused it?" Monk's childlike voice was filled with wonderment.
"A bolt of lightning!" Ham snapped impatiently.
"The results are about the same at any rate," Doc agreed quietly. "Do you notice that the rubber suit he is wearing is untouched on the outside? The fire that destroyed him came from within."
"And he mentioned the menace of the living fire," Monk breathed. "Say. That's what that kid said Johnny and Long Tom was gonna have to face."
The bronze man nodded soberly. "I am afraid they are in great danger," he said slowly.
Monk jumped up, fairly danced about. "Then let's get going! What are we waiting for?"
"Do you recognize this guy?" Ham asked suddenly.
Doc inclined his head. "He was Darren Meeker, once a very great scientist," he said. "Meeker killed a man some years ago, and was committed to an asylum."
"And escaped about four months ago, very mysteriously. It happened while you were away," Ham added.
"Holy cow!"
The expression came in an awed tone of voice. Doc glanced up.
A huge man stood in the doorwayЧa man a good six feet four inches tall, who must have weighed over two hundred and fifty pounds. His face was severe, the mouth thin and grim. That mouth was set tightly now, the features puritanical. Bony monstrosities of fists hung at the end of enormous arms.
"You're just in time, Renny!" Monk howled.
"But whatЧ"
Swiftly, Ham sketched what had occurred. The puritanical look grew even more severe on the face of Colonel John Renwick. One huge fist smacked into an equally big palm, as if he were trying to batter down a doorЧone of his favorite pastimes.
"You say this fellow just walked in, bellowed a warning, then went up in fire?" he asked wonderingly.