Doc Savage wild 16: The Jade Ogre by Kenneth Robeson

Author:Kenneth Robeson
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Action and Adventure
Publisher: Altus Press\Conde Nast Classic Publishing
Published: 2015-12-06T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter XVIII

THE UNEXPECTED DEAD

Upon stepping off the surprisingly up-to-date elevator, they discovered that the door to Jason Baird's hotel room gaped agar.

There was no sign of life. A hallway runner was up off its tacks, indicating a recent struggle.

Doc Savage took instant command of the situation.

"There will be no shooting," he admonished, glancing at the assortment of pistols and other weapons which Chick Alfred and Alva Nally had produced from their garments.

Alfred rammed a sharp direction in the direction of Ham Brooks who stood handy, his sword-cane exposed in one hand and one of Doc's compact supermachine pistols in the other.

"What about that?" he growled.

"Mercy bullets," Doc explained. "They do not kill."

The lethal weapons were returned to their places of concealment with ill-disguised reluctance.

Doc Savage laid bronze knuckles on the rich panel … rapped twice … and called Jason Bair's name.

He put an ear to the panel and listened for some moments.

When it was apparent that there would be no reply, the bronze giant grasped the knob and pushed inward. The panel fell out of its jamb.

"I do not like this!" Ham hissed.

His fingers going into his coat front, Doc Savage brought out one of his anesthetic glass balls which vaporized instantly producing swift unconsciousness.

He pegged one in through the door and drew it shut.

"Retreat," he called.

When the others hesitated, he lifted great bronze arms and wept them before him like an irresistible human bulldozer.

"What's the idea, guy?" Alva Nally muttered after they had turned a corner.

"Gas," Doc explained tersely.

"Fat lotta good that'll do us! How're we gonna check the joint out if it's all gassed up?"

"The mixture renders itself harmless after a few moments' exposure to oxygen," Doc related, glancing at his wristwatch.

When he decided enough time had elapsed to make entry safe, he eased down the corridor and threw the portal open. The others followed him in.

"Hells bells!" snarled Chick Alfred once he got a look at the room.

It had been ransacked. Or at least, furniture had been upset during the course of a terrific struggle.

There was blood on the carpet, a scarlet sprinkling of it. The spatters led back to a closet door where they stopped abruptly.

"They musta bundled Baird up or something," Alva Nally theorized.

"Yeah," said Chick. "It covered for the fact that they were takin' him away and he was leakin'."

"Maybe," Rex Pinks mused. "Unless he just stopped bleeding all of a sudden."

Ham started.

"Doc, you don't suppose Baird is dead?"

"Unlikely," Doc Savage interposed. "Those minions of the so-called Jade Ogre kept Baird alive during our crossing of the Pacific. They are not apt to dispose of him at this late date."

His eyes scoured the suite.

The others were milling about, their expressions grim and frustrated, hands dangling uselessly.

After all that had happened, the loss of Jason Baird was getting them down.

The Bronze Man spotted the tiny strand of silk that had been anchored to an upended chair legs just before Ham Brooks walked into it.

"Ham!" he rapped. "Stop!"

Doc Savage's assistants were well-trained. Ham Brooks stood stock still.

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