"Kenneth Robeson - Doc Savage 012 - The Man Who Shook the Earth" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

Biff seemed to have recovered completely from the somewhat uncanny fear which the underground rumbling
had caused. He drew a revolver from inside his clothes. The gun was so blue as to be almost invisible in the
darkness. He spun the cylinder. It clicked like a clock being wound.

A rather gaudy bunch of handkerchief protruded from the breast pocket of BiffтАЩs coat. He picked this out. It
proved to be tied around the hilt of a knife which had a blade more than a foot long. It was carried in a
concealed holster in his coat lining. He could get it quickly by grabbing the handkerchief.

"I wonтАЩt bust so easy," he said in a soft tone.
Velvet shook his head slowly. His voice was not ugly now. "If you could read, you might not be so sure."

Biff replaced gun and knife. "WhatтАЩs readinтАЩ got to do with it?"

"The newspapers," Velvet said, "seem to think this Doc Savage is quite a guy. And I think you can rest
assured that he is quite a guy. The boss didnтАЩt send us no five thousand miles to watch a second-rater."

An automobile passed. Its headlights flashed briefly on BiffтАЩs face. Shadows on the bottom of the scar across
his face gave it the aspect of a short black snake.

He growled: "I ainтАЩt afraid of any damn manтАФ"

"Them has been the last words of more than one cluck," Velvet assured him. "IтАЩm running this show. You
stay here, see? Stand around and think what a tough guy you are. Do anything. Just keep away from that
skyscraper, and give a man with brains a chance to work."

Biff thought that over, then rumbled: "I donтАЩt like your lip!"

Velvet ignored the remark and passed out a second dig. "DonтАЩt run when you hear the next subway train."

Biff made an ugly sound deep in his chest. "You know what I thought it was! I had reason to be scared!"

Velvet reached out and gave him a not unfriendly shove.

"Sure, big boy, I know," he said. "If I hadnтАЩt have known what it was, IтАЩd have been more scared than you
were."

The street gloom swallowed him.



THERE are two skyscraper sections in the city of New York. One is on the lower end of Manhattan Island,
centering around Wall Street. The other is a few miles to the north, in the midtown district. In the latter area
was a structure which was probably the finest in the city.

This building was a spike of steel and brick which jutted up nearly a hundred stories. Its exterior was smooth
stone and bright metal. Its architecture was modernistic, plain, dignified. It gleamed richly in lights reflected
from the Great White Way, not very many blocks distant.

The lobby of this skyscraper was impressive. The elevators which served the upper floors numbered in the