The Black Bat Omnibus Volume 1 (Annotated) by Norman A. Daniels

Author:Norman A. Daniels [Daniels, Norman A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Action and Adventure
Publisher: Altus Press
Published: 2012-01-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter XII

The Bat Moves In

FOR ten minutes after Warner left, Tony Quinn sat before the fireplace. His fingers were curled into fists and he methodically beat the arms of his chair. Silk was still unheard from! No clues had developed as to his whereabouts and now the matter of the disappearing jewels had become more complex than ever.

“I’ve got to get out!” Tony Quinn told himself over and over again. “I’ve got to do something before I go mad. There must be some way that I can operate without being recognized. Silk can do it.”

Suddenly he leaped to his feet. Silk was in disguise. Silk Kirby could always take on a new personality without undue trouble. Then why couldn’t Tony Quinn?

He headed for Silk’s room, but halfway across the hall he hesitated and sighed. Silk wasn’t scarred from deep-burning acid. All he had to do was cover his face with makeup and saunter out.

“Just the same,” Tony Quinn said savagely, “I’m going to give it a try.”

He rushed to Silk’s room, found the flat makeup kit and hurried back to his laboratory. There, under powerful lights, Tony Quinn began work. He knew a great deal about the art of disguise, for that subject came under his studies of crime and criminology.

He regarded his deeply scarred features in front of a mirror. Deftly he experimented with the creams and flesh tints. He filled in the scars on his face, burned deep by powerful acid, brushed over the waxy preparation that now concealed them and surveyed the result with considerable satisfaction. Next he used two aluminum cylinders that fitted snugly inside his nostrils. They broadened the shape of his nose, made him look entirely different.

EVEN his chestnut hair became jet-black under the influence of a chemical. Within twenty minutes Tony Quinn had vanished and an utter stranger looked back at him from the depths of the mirror. Now he could venture forth and work without fear of someone detecting the scarred face of blind Tony Quinn! His spirits soared, for now the Bat could work without a telltale hood.

The phone rang. Carol’s voice was clipped and worried.

“Tony, I returned to my apartment during lunch hour and I found a letter from Silk there. I’ll read it to you.”

Hurriedly she did. It read:

Car following. Looks like snatch or bump. Marker plates on car 3MA4975. Will stall as long as possible.

Quinn made a note of the numbers. “Good, Carol!” he said tightly. “If that car isn’t stolen we’ll have a clue. Return to work and watch yourself. If I find Silk and rescue him, someone at the store may think you tipped me off. You’re new and they’re bound to figure you as a plant if anything happens that they can’t account for.”

“Tony, do you really believe someone at the store is responsible for these crimes?” Carol asked breathlessly.

“I do,” Quinn said. “So watch out.”

“Tony—” Carol’s voice grew soft and warm—“Tony, be careful. Don’t take too many chances—please.”

“Don’t worry about me,” he told her.

He hung up and hesitated a moment.

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