The Shadow 191 The Getaway Ring by Maxwell Grant

Author:Maxwell Grant [Grant, Maxwell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Street & Smith
Published: 1940-01-31T23:00:00+00:00

“Easy, Cliff. Go left on the road that runs behind the barn. Stop when you get down into the little hollow.

Give the lights three blinks. If there’s no result, repeat.”

They reached the hollow. Cliff gave a signal; waited, then repeated it. A flashlight answered from the trees. Soon a stocky man reached the car, bringing a long hose.

“Fill her up,” ordered Click, “and make it snappy!”

The man obeyed. Removing the hose, he stopped by the window, gave a thumbing gesture across his shoulder.

“Only about fifty yards over to the through highway,” he remarked. “Better use the dimmers when the trees thin out. Nobody’s supposed to use this old road.”

“So the sheet says,” returned The Shadow, in Clicker’s harsh tone. “But thanks, anyway, for reminding us.”

The old road veered into the main highway. There, Cliff turned the lights entirely off. White concrete enabled him to coast the car across a downward grade, when traffic was clear. As they struck a dirt road on the other side Cliff flashed the lights again.

After a dozen miles of backwoods journey, they crossed another paved highway. The passengers saw a large lunch stand set back from the main road, against a background of trees. The place was closed, but The Shadow told Cliff to take the road that swung in back of it.

“Climb out,” he ordered, when the car stopped. “We’re going to grab some hamburgs and java.”

The place was like an old-fashioned speakeasy, with shades drawn tight and lights dimmed. A hard-faced proprietor served his special customers, while three crooks growled their approval of the route that Clicker had purchased for this getaway.

From then on, there were no stops. The chart listed repair shops managed by “right guys,” who were always ready; it named other features, the most picturesque being a cemetery, with open graves near the road, in case any traveling mobsmen had died en route.

But the only details that Clicker called off were those pertaining to the road itself. Over long stretches, the route was easy, particularly when it traveled between the ranges of the Watching Mountains; again, when it afforded a straight run to the Pennsylvania border along a hard dirt road.

There were times, though, when the list advised caution, especially as to speed. Crossing the Delaware River was a very important point. State police were apt to be on both sides, at the bridges, but the getaway chart listed a loophole in the law’s armor.

It routed the car by way of an old covered bridge that, technically, was closed to traffic. The bridge was open, however, for the use of local traffic between the tiny towns on the opposite shores.

Instructions called for dim lights, a sneaky speed of less than ten miles an hour. It also advised that caravans should cross at intervals, each car waiting until the one ahead was off the bridge.

WESTWARD through hilly Pennsylvania country, then southward into Maryland - at all stages, the chart plucked usable roads out of a maze of highways. It was in Pennsylvania, however, that the chart showed a definite change.

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