"063 (B064) - The Motion Menace (1938-05) - Ryerson Johnson" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

"I flew all the way from Manchuria," the driver said quietly enough. "Came over on one of the Clipper planes. Hired a fast ship and flew nonstop to New York. I was hanging around trying to see you secretly. You knew they were watching you?"
"Rather thoroughly, it would appear," Doc agreed.
"You said it. They've got money and they spend it. Private detective agencies, telephone company employees, newsboys, soda jerkers, waitresses, doormen, elevator operators. You know what they told all those people they wanted information on you for?"
"A newspaper syndicate gathering story material," Doc suggested.
"Huh! Yeah, that was the gag."
"Clever," the bronze man said dryly. "We naturally called the syndicate when we learned I was being watched. They said they had an European client who wanted the stuff."
"That was another gag," said the young man.
The driver then got the taxicab on South Street, which was inhabited mostly by trucks. He was skillful. The cab left a wake of squealing truck brakes and water-front profanity. They went through the smell around Fulton Fish Market so swiftly that they barely got a whiff.
The taxicab frightened a cop entirely off the street, careened around a corner, did a perfect racing car skid, and took the Brooklyn Bridge ramp.
"Hey, driver!" Monk roared. "Where you goin'?"
"Airport!" barked the taxi driver. "I got a fast plane there!"
"What's the idea, dang you?"
"I'm Ky Halloc!" said the driver. "I came to New York from China to see you fellows!"
"What's that supposed to explain?"
Ky Halloc yelled, "You don't want Pat Savage to die, do you?"
"Pat!" Monk squawled. "What's happened to Pat?"
"She tried to find Captain Wizer. So the old men thought she had stumbled onto the fact that their world headquarters is in Manchuria," Halloc barked. "New York is only a branch of the devilish organization. To fight it, you've got to go to Manchuria. My plane can catch the next China Clipper in Frisco, and the Clipper'll put you in the Orient without delay."
DOC SAVAGE heard this without visible display. He had not spoken, which was characteristic of him. Moreover, Monk was doing a good enough job of questioning.
The flake gold eyes drifted a glance over the rear-view mirror.
"Several policemen following," Doc said. "A patrol car and three motor cycles."
"I guess," shouted Ky Halloc, "they figure we're speeding!"
Three motor cycles whined up alongside. The uniformed men on them looked angry. The patrol car stuck close behind the motor cycles.
"Pull over, you!" a cop bawled. "Whatcha think these streets are for, anyhow?"
Doc Savage leaned out a window.
"Is Captain Thorn still leader of this district?" the bronze man asked.
Sight of Doc Savage had a remarkable effect upon the uniformed man on the motor cycle. He threw up an arm in salute.
"Sure," he shouted, "Captain Thorn's our skipper."
He screwed around on his bouncing seat to howl at his companions, "It's Doc Savage!" Then he guided his popping steed close to the window. "Where you wanta go, Savage? We'll clear the way for you."
"Roosevelt Field!" shouted Ky Halloc.
The bluecoat pitched up an arm in salute. "I know a short-cut. All new, smooth pavement. Follow us!"
Two of the motor cycles hooted ahead. The third and the car followed a hundred feet back.
"Boy!" yelled Ky Halloc. "Boy!"
Doc opened the door on the driver's side and swung out on the running board.
"Swell idea!" Ky Halloc shouted. "Get up here, and I'll tell you what it's all about while you drive!"
Doc swung in under the wheel. The speedometer slowed ten miles, from eighty back to seventy, while they changed.
Ky Halloc said, "Now, I'll explain fullyЧ"
"Hold it," Doc Savage said. "We've got something more important to do first." He turned his head. "Hang on, Monk."
"But, whatЧ" The apish chemist looked confused.
"We've got to do something quickly," said the bronze man, "or we're going to be in a bad jam."
Chapter V. MYSTERIOUS MASTER
DOC tramped heavily on the brake. The car skipped about a bit, then bumped up onto a sidewalk; under Doc's expert hands, the machine skidded just enough, straightened at the crucial instant, and banged to a stop against the front of a storeЧacross the store door, which was caved in by the impact.
"Into this building," Doc said. "I'll take the prisoner."
Monk dived into the building, pet pig under an arm.
Habeas had completely recovered by now.
Ky Halloc, dazed by things happening too fast, yelled, "But these cops willЧ"
"They're not cops!" Monk threw back.
Monk had caught on by now.
Guns began banging. The fake cops were opening fire. Bullets spanked the sheet iron of the taxi. Glass started caving out of the store and car windows.
"Oh!" gasped Ky Halloc. He dived out of the car into the store. "They looked like cops!"
"There is no Captain Thorn in the police department," Doc Savage said, and glided toward the rear of the store building.