Crime Under Cover by Maxwell Grant & Walter Gibson

Author:Maxwell Grant & Walter Gibson [Grant, Maxwell & Gibson, Walter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Espionage, Fiction, Thrillers
Publisher: Street & Smith
Published: 1941-06-18T08:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER XII. THE TRAITOR'S THRUST

EVER since Vic Marquette had left the old house, Professor Ardlan had been coasting toward the brink of death, though he did not realize it. In fact, Ardlan's mind had been solely concerned with thoughts of life. He was alone in his laboratory, with the door locked, and he had his invention working.

Colored lights were responding to the dials that he manipulated, while a tank in a corner of the room was emitting a sizzle of mustard gas - ordinarily deadly, but neutralized when the professor's machine was in proper tune, as at present.

On a table was a box of guinea pigs; Ardlan plucked one of the cavies from its nest and held it close to the gush of gas.

When the guinea pig showed no ill effects, Ardlan laughed and stepped past the flow himself. He put a tag around the guinea pig's neck, labeling it as a specimen of life that had survived mustard gas.

Turning off the corner tank, he went to another large one that bore the deadly legend: "Phosgene." He watched the bubbling cease from a glass container at the side of the Neutralizer, then turned on the phosgene. Thumbing the dials of the machine, he waited calmly for its identifiers to show results upon the blinking lights.

At that moment, above the slight hum and swishy whir of the Neutralizer, Ardlan heard a knock at the door.

Ordinarily, Ardlan didn't answer knocks while busy with a test. His lapse on this occasion was almost accidental, occurring probably because he had just finished with one gas and was starting with another. Stepping to the door, he boomed:

"Who is it?"

"Mr. Marquette has returned," came Trennick's voice. "He wants to see you."

Ever cautious, Ardlan would have asked Marquette to speak for himself, except for two chance factors. The first was that Ardlan, far from suspecting Trennick to be a traitor, trusted the servant much more than before, for he considered Trennick's actions on the previous night to have been a display of loyalty.

The second factor was the phosgene. Not only was Ardlan's mind back to the dials of his machine, but he remembered that Marquette had once asked him if his invention could neutralize phosgene. This was just the time to gain one supporter who would believe in the Neutralizer.

Professor Ardlan pulled open the door.

It wasn't Marquette who entered. The man admitted by Trennick was thickset like the Fed, but he had a much different sort of face. One, indeed, which could scarcely he classed as a human countenance.

Thrust boldly into the light, it looked more like a grinning skull, until Ardlan squinted and saw that it did have human features, of ghastly gray complexion.

This was Ardlan's first meeting with Kurd Malga, who had decided to take a personal hand in matters, having learned that the coast was clear.

PROFESSOR ARDLAN was active, as he had demonstrated when he dodged the goats. He shot a long arm forward, so rapidly and suddenly, that he had barely time to close his fist before it struck squarely in the center of Malga's skull-like face.

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