"Kenneth Robeson - Doc Savage 035 - Murder Mirage" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

they intended intercepting her. When they sprang from the sedan, they took up a position near the middle of
the street.

The young womanтАЩs mouth was opened gaspingly. Her luminous eyes widened with terror. She could see the
faces of the four men in the street.
"Oh! TheyтАЩve come!" she gasped. "I knew theyтАЩd come!"



THE faces of the four men were of the color of dull lead. Any one observing them would have had the
impression of corpses walking. Perhaps the young woman imagined that, or it might have been something
more sinister, more appalling.

For a few yards, the four men merely kept pace with the fleeing woman. The color in their faces was caused
by masks. These were fitted snugly over their noses and chins. They covered their necks and appeared to be
attached to the heavy material under their rough outer clothing.

These men did not display any weapons openly. Two carried peculiar-looking instruments. These could have
been an icemanтАЩs tongs, only they had handles several feet in length. The men paced the woman with these
strange devices over their shoulders.

The young woman was nearing the stairway to the "el."

Again she cried out, as if to reassure herself, "IтАЩll get it to Mr. SavageтАФ"

The black sedan from which the four men had emerged scooted suddenly ahead. The four men edged out into
the street and made way for it. The car speared in between them and the running woman.

The young woman then was in front of the plate-glass windows of a store. This store handled musical
instruments. Its double windows were filled with the gleam of polished silver and brass. The plate glass was
fitted in from the level of the sidewalk. The womanтАЩs shadow was reflected on it like a fleeing ghost.

The door of the sedan next to the sidewalk, popped open. A globe twice the size of a football rolled out. This
sphere had been impelled sharply from inside of the car. The sedan door snapped shut. The globe struck the
sidewalk pavement in several inches of snow.

The snow did not impede the progress of the spherical object. For where the globe touched, there was
instantly no snow.

The fronts of buildings, the skeleton-like structure of the "el," the coup├й and the other cars were abruptly
bathed in a weird, greenish light. The light was a warm glowing, yet it seemed to have some substance. It
was as if the air had suddenly been filled with invisible particles.



THE second sedan had been pulled to the opposite side of the street, some distance away. Two men sprang
from this car, running as they hit the street. These men were unmasked. Their white faces looked drawn and
desperate under visors of caps pulled low over their eyes.

The two men swung automatic pistols of heavy caliber. They seemed intent upon reaching the four men with