"Kenneth Robeson - Doc Savage 022 - The Annhilist" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

"None whatever," said the bronze giant, and switched off the radio transmitter-receiver equipment.

He could hear the murmur of puzzled voices as soon as he entered the building. A police medical
examiner was inspecting the body of the man who had died, pop-eyed, on the stair landing. He bowed
with marked deference when he saw Doc Savage.

"What killed him?" Doc Savage queried.

"I haven't the slightest idea," the medical examiner said promptly. "It has me stumped. But he's like the
other seven."

The bronze man said nothing, but knelt beside the dead man, his intention obviously being to make an
examination.

There was a pounding of feet on the stairs, coming down from the second floor above. Doc Savage did
not look around.
The newcomer was a burly man almost as large as Doc Savage. He had very large feet which were
encased in canvas sneakers, and he walked as if his feet hurt him. His face gave the impression of being
composed mostly of jaw.

He slammed a hand down on Doc Savage's shoulder. The hand was red and bony with a skin that
looked as tough as rhinoceros hide.

"What the hell you doing?" he growled. "Get away from that body!"

The beefy man kept his hand on Doc Savage's shoulder as the bronze man stood erect. Then he shifted
his grip to Doc Savage's arm. A slightly blank look overspread his bulldog face as he felt the hardness of
the arm beneath. The next instant blankness became amazement as the bronze man plucked the hand off
his arm, accomplishing the feat with apparent ease.

The burly man peered foolishly at his wrist' which bore pale grooves where the bronze man's fingers had
reposed momentarily. He wriggled the fingers and seemed surprised that they functioned. Then he
rumbled angrily, shook his arm up and down, and a shot-filled leather blackjack dropped into his hand.
Evidently it had hung on a hook or rested in a shallow pocket in his sleeve.

"Tough guy, huh?" he growled.

"Don't be a fool, Hardboiled!" the medical examiner gulped. "This is Doc Savage."

"I know who he is," "Hardboiled" rumbled. "He's the guy who goes around mixing in other people's
business, and guys who try to buck him have a funny way of disappearin'."

The medical examiner said, "Doc Savage has an honorary commission as inspector on the police.

"Yeah, I know," Hardboiled growled. Then he leaned forward and tapped Doc's chest lightly with the
end of his blackjack.

"Listen," he said. "I been intending to get around to you, only I've been too busy. I've beard a lot about
you, and we know each other by sight. You may know I'm a tough cop. That's what the papers call me,