The Crystal Skull 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: 1944-01-20T08:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER XII

OUTSIDE Jarrock's great mansion, The Shadow paused amid the darkness. He had finished a half circuit around the fringe of the lawn and was about to move toward the house itself when something made him change his mind.

The something was a peculiar stir amid the shrubbery near the lawn edge. The Shadow could hear mutters that receded as he listened; through the darkness, his penetrating gaze made out vague figures that were withdrawing from the grounds. They were the hand-picked plain clothes men who made up Cardona's special squad. Man by man The Shadow had located them during his silent, invisible patrol, with the sole exception of Joe Cardona. The Shadow had taken it for granted that Cardona was somewhere in the offing, but he was no longer sure.

Having moved his men to well advanced positions, Cardona wasn't the sort to give up the advantage thus gained. Sensing a mystery in the thing, The Shadow postponed his excursion toward the mansion and began to retrace the wide semicircle.

Muttered voices, continually receding, made it evident that the police were acting under orders. Gaining no explanation, The Shadow paused in the shelter of a clumpy bush and looked toward the house.

There The Shadow saw the answer.

Standing between the curtains of a heavily draped window was Joe Cardona, clearly outlined by the strong light behind him. He was making mechanical gestures with his hands, sweeping them forward and outward. There was no mistaking the signal. It meant: "Back!"

Thinking in terms of Cardona only, the members of the police squad were obeying the injunction. It was The Shadow who thought in other terms. He knew that the window belonged to Jarrock's study and Jarrock himself had gone there just before The Shadow began his outdoor tour.

Assuming Cardona to be hypnotized, as his mechanical motions indicated, The Shadow knew that Jarrock was actually giving the command for the police to retire.

There was a way to countermand that order. The Shadow put it into action without a moment's hesitation. Coming up from the bush, The Shadow drew an automatic from beneath his cloak. Starting a sudden dash toward the mansion, he began firing shots in air.

Cardona's orders no longer counted. By the time The Shadow had reached the front door of the mansion, shouts from beyond the lawn told that the police were starting for the house to learn the cause of the gunfire.

In the house, the sound of those gunshots created a similar commotion.

Trent Jarrock heard the sharp reports and swung about in fury. Then, thinking that Cardona's men had begun the gunfire, Jarrock snarled a command at the man who still stood at the window.

"Stop ordering them back!" spat Jarrock. "Leave the window and follow me!"

Still clutching the crystal skull, Jarrock started for the study door the moment that Cardona turned to follow. Jarrock's face was purple with fury; in brief seconds he had become a madman. Whatever Jarrock's schemes, they evidently depended upon a brief time limit which The Shadow's shots had broken.

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