The Laugh of Death: A Doc Savage Adventure by Lester Dent (as Kenneth Robeson)

Author:Lester Dent (as Kenneth Robeson)
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Tags: Adventure, Doc Savage (Fictional character), Fiction
Publisher: Distributed Proofreaders Canada
Published: 1942-11-15T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter XI

THE UNEXPECTED

She was a not overly long girl with blue eyes and the most determined manner. Her features were that of a pretty girl, but her hair was outstanding, being of a very black hue, so intense that you found yourself going back continually to look at it again.

Her gun was also out of the ordinary, being a very large caliber for so small a frame. The rounded waiting noses of the bullets were visible in the stubby cylinder.

She unlocked the baggage compartment in the back.

“It will hold you,” she said. “Get in.”

Doc got in. She seemed to want to take him somewhere and not have the police find him. That was all right.

She locked the door. He lay still. After a while the coupe went into motion.

If the police caught him he would have to talk fast to get himself out of the predicament. Stupidity on Mack’s part had gotten him into the jam. “Stupidity” might not be the word, though; Mack had been demoted lately, and he was probably overzealous to get his rating back. But any explanation to the police would take time. Several hours, probably.

Doc was in no mood to waste any more time. It seemed years since he had started hunting for his five aides and Pat. He was getting nowhere, it seemed to him.

The coupe traveled fast over rough roads and made things uncomfortable for Doc. A wrench kept bouncing around and getting under him. He tried putting the wrench in several places: under a leg, in a pocket, wedged between his body and the side of the baggage compartment, but it kept bouncing out again.

Then the car stopped and the compartment was unlocked.

“Get out,” the girl said, “and ride beside me.”

They were in a park. Doc looked around. It was a park in Westchester County.

He climbed into the car and the girl took the wheel. She drove with her right hand, which was nearest him, and kept the pistol in her left hand on her lap.

Doc said, “Are we going to this Dr. Hiram Walker?”

“Yes.”

“Would it make any difference if I said I did not know him?” Doc asked.

“No difference,” she said. “And will you please not talk to me. You won’t learn anything from me.”

The bronze man leaned back. He asked, “Did you notice what happened to Mack and Shelton and the others back there?”

She nodded. “They fainted, apparently. At least they revived a few minutes later, and seemed none the worse. You did it to them, of course.”

“It was gas.”

“Yes? I didn’t see you release it.”

“It was in a container under my right arm,” Doc told her quietly. “There is an identical container under my left arm right now. I have worked the catch loose and have merely to press slightly with my elbow to release the gas again.”

She stared at him. Not a muscle in her face moved. The car started to go off the road, and Doc reached up and straightened the wheel.

“That would be a lot of trouble,” he said.

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