Grant, Maxwell - The Shadow 215 - The Wasp Returns by Maxwell Grant

Author:Maxwell Grant
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Detective, Mystery, Crime, Suspense, Adventure, Thriller
Publisher: Street & Smith Publications
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

SUCH a prospect was a promising one. Having stowed his crew in a new hide-away, and making sure he was not followed, Gopher Spenk called on the Wasp, at the Hotel Imperator. He found the pretended Mr. Elgard in a very confident mood, which Gopher’s story did not shatter.

“Agents of The Shadow!” sneered the Wasp. “Bah! I expected some trouble from them. Not trouble for myself, but for men like those you have employed.”

“I can’t figure how they found the hide-away -”

“Easily enough,” interrupted the Wasp. “They must have traced Badler’s call, this afternoon. The Shadow always has used agents, and they naturally would have been snooping around the Amalgamated Export offices.”

“Then this guy Allard is one of them?”

“I doubt it. They probably were watching him. But we won’t take any chances with Allard. If he gets that flying job, he may find out too much.”

“Want me to go after him, chief?’

The Wasp shook his big head. He wasn’t posing as Elgard; he was himself - thin-bodied, waspish to the extreme, as he rose from his chair and paced the floor. When the Wasp spoke again, his drone was insidious.

“I shall dispose of Allard,” he declared. “He fits perfectly into my present scheme. Your job will be to watch the girl.”

“You mean Velma?” queried Gopher, in surprise. “She’s O.K., chief. I was the guy who told her where the hide-away was. She wouldn’t have gone there, if she hadn’t seen The Shadow’s bunch snooping around the hotel where she was.”

Gopher was repeating part of the story that The Shadow had suggested to Velma. It made a favorable impression upon the Wasp. Gopher explained further that his own men had followed Velma, and called him when they saw her near the hide-away. Weighing it all, the Wasp made a decision.

“Get Velma to another hotel,” he said. “If The Shadow’s agents spot her again, dispose of them. Meanwhile, she will serve us as a buffer. I shall need you, Gopher, and a small picked crew, for a very special task.”

The Wasp waved his hand in dismissal, and Gopher, turning away, could hear the sneer that tinged the monstrous crook’s ugly drone. Like Rains, that afternoon, Gopher gained the distinct impression that the Wasp’s mind was tuned to murder.

Well could the Wasp be confident of success, not knowing that Kent Allard, another prospective victim, was The Shadow!

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