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

For a moment the bronze man appeared absolutely rigid. A peculiar odor filled the air.
Stinger's companion worked again on the odd-shaped object he held.
The bronze man's fingers fell nervelessly from the car door. His big frame crumpled to the sidewalk.
Stinger laughed, lips drawn back from his teeth.
"Let's go, punk!" he grated. "Things are goin' to be even hotter than that around here as soon as they learn that bronze devil is really dead."
Chapter V. A CALL TO THE MORGUE
RENNY had expected Doc to receive his message. He waited for a time in the lobby of the Midtown Hotel. Waiting became tiresome.
Towering high above others in the lobby, he approached the desk. "Who's in 1412?" he rumbled.
The clerk glanced up haughtily, inspected his fingernails with elaborate unconcern. "And your business?" he asked snippily.
Renny placed one huge, bony monstrosity of a fist on the desk. He closed that fist until it looked like a rough chunk of iron.
"Did you ever hear of Doc Savage?" he asked softly. "Or"Чhis fist rose and fell expressivelyЧ"does this look like a better argument?"
The clerk gulped. "D-Doc Savage. Why didn't you say so? Glad to do anything for a friend of Mr. Savage. ItЧahЧMiss Virginia Hoskins, of Sandrit, California, is in 1412. A very beautiful girl."
Renny's mouth drew down disapprovingly. "Any one with her?"
"Yes. AhЧa Mr. Clement Hoskins, also of Sandrit, is registered in an adjoining room with a Mr. Petrod Yardoff."
"Know anything about them?"
"AhЧwhy yes. Mr. H-Hoskins, I understand, owns a factory of some kind in Sandrit. He is a stout, very jolly sort of fellow. Mr. Yardoff, I believe, is connected with him in a business way. HeЧahЧdoes not seem so jolly. A very slender, tall sort of chap."
Renny nodded.
Across the lobby, concealed by a pillar, a very tall, slender man jerked his head to two companions. His eyes were narrow slits. Swiftly, the three made their way to an elevator. They disappeared just as Renny turned away from the desk.
The big engineer rode the elevator to the fifteenth floor, walked down one flight, and approached 1412 with silent tread. An ear to the door, he listened carefully, but heard nothing.
He knocked softly. A faint stir sounded inside the room, then ceased. There was a buzz, which might have been a whispered conversation.
Once more Renny knocked.
A lock turned. The door opened an inch. The dark eyes of Virginia Hoskins, fright showing in their depths, appeared fleetingly.
"What did you run away for?" Renny demanded primly. "Doc wanted to talk to you."
"IЧI never saw you before," Virginia stammered. She tried to push the door closed. Renny put one big foot in the opening. It was as if a small-sized gunboat had moved in.
"P-please, please go," the girl whispered.
Renny snorted. "Monk might fall for that, but not me," he announcedЧand pushed the door wide as he stepped inside.
A blackjack caught him expertly, squarely at the base of the brain, with force enough to crush an ordinary skull.
Renny kept on going forwardЧright on his face. All six foot four of the big engineer sprawled, immense arms outstretched.
Strong hands grabbed him under the armpits, yanked him inside. The door closed softly.
HAM also thought Monk might fall prey again to those dark pools of enchantry if he should encounter the girl.
The dapper lawyer was glad when he reached the Midtown Hotel that he did not see the hairy form of his friend around. Monk was good in a fight, none better; but when it came to the fair sex he quite often seemed to park his brains at home.
Ham's face showed no sign of concentration as he walked across the lobby, but he was thinking swiftly. He also had received the robot message from Renny, and he knew the big engineer should be waiting; but Renny wasn't in sight.
Ham didn't go near the desk. If anything was wrong, some one would be sure to be watching there. He drifted back through the dining room, through a side door, and raced upstairs.
The dapper lawyer was breathing a little heavily as he reached the fourteenth floor. The climb was a long one, even for a man in perfect condition.
Then his eyes narrowed, his hand tightened on the sword cane he carried.
Lights were out in the hallway. Somewhere, close at hand, he could hear faint breathing.
Ham held his breath as long as he could. Doubled over, he reached the top of the stairs in a silent leapЧand jumped to one side.
Something swished by one ear. A heavy form lunged toward him. Ham spun, fast as a dancer, jerked the long blade of his sword free from the cane.
Big arms wrapped around him. The sword was knocked from his hand to fall on the thick carpet of the hallway. Ham's elbow shot back, landed with satisfying solidness just below the ribs.
His assailant said "Whoof!" and put one big paw over Ham's face, almost cutting off his wind. The man made small, animal-like noises as he spun the dapper lawyer around, slugged him hard on the side of the head.
Ham's head rang. His right fist shot up, caught the other under the chin, staggering him. The hand came away from his face.
"Stop it, you overgrown ape!" Ham yelled.
The other sighed deeply. "Dang it," came Monk's piping voice, "and I really thought I'd caught something! But it turns out to be a clothing-store shyster!"
"WHAT'S happened?" Ham asked, still struggling to get his wind.
"I was watching to see when you came blundering along," Monk complained. "I doused the lights, so if that girl did come by I couldn't see her face. Then I could talk to her. But nobody's been in or out of that room."
"Let's go. Something's wrong!" Ham rapped swiftly.
A muffled murmur of voices came from Room 1412.
"Doesn't seem like a girl's room to me," Monk muttered.
"Unless she's entertaining," Ham agreed.
He knocked loudly on the door. There was a roar of laughter from inside the room. No one answered the summons.