"Kenneth Robeson - Doc Savage 037 - The Metal Master" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

"You were attacked in the corridor?" Doc Savage asked.

The bronze manтАЩs voice was as unusual as his appearance. It was deep, cultured, full of controlled power.

"Yes," breathed the young woman. "What happened to Seevers?"

Doc did not answer that.

"Was any one beside Seevers with you?" he asked.

"No."

He carried her to the rear of the laboratory room, to what resembled a solid wall. He put a palm to the wall,
held it there, took it away, put it there again. He did this three times. A perfectly concealed panel opened. It
had a lock that was actuated by a sensitive thermostatic combination concealed in the wall. Heat of the
hand, applied in the proper combination, was enough to open the lock. It could be opened in no other manner.

The niche inside had a narrow couch. Doc put the girl there.

"Be back later," he said crisply. "You are too weak to talk now."

He brought stuff in a glass.

"If you get to feeling dizzy, drink this," he directed. "ItтАЩs a stimulant. Do not make any noise."

"O. K.," she managed to say. It was a wisp of a whisper.

Doc Savage closed the hidden panel behind him. Only a very good magnifying glass would have detected the
crack around it. Due to the clever construction of the place, the extra thickness of the walls could not be
determined without measuring them with surveying instruments.
DOC SAVAGE went back through laboratory, library and reception room and out into the corridor. The
corridor door was of armor steel and had no locks or knobs or other visible means of being opened. It closed
mysteriously behind the bronze man.

Doc Savage had scooped up, in passing through the laboratory, a rather unusual-looking metal box. It had a
lense, and might have been an old-fashioned magic lantern, except that this lense was almost black in color.
There was a switch on the side of the box. Doc flicked this.

A strange thing happened in the corridor. Along the floor in front of the elevators was a mat. It looked as if it
we made of gray sponge rubber. It was wide enough that any one getting out of the elevators would be likely
to step on it. In fact, only a spry jump would take a person over it without touching it.

This mat, when the eye of the strange lantern was turned on it, began to glow with an eerie blue luminance.

Footprints, as well, appeared on the corridor floor.

Doc Savage entered his own private high-speed elevator and rode down to the street level. There were three
other elevators in operation at this time of night. He asked the attendants questions.