The Shadow - 81 - The Fate Joss by Maxwell Grant

Author:Maxwell Grant
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Street & Smith
Published: 1935-07-21T22:00:00+00:00

“What of it?” queried Cliff. “There might have been a hundred suspicious looking trucks along the avenue last night. We passed a bunch when we were bringing in the Fate Joss.”

“Not trucks on side streets, Cliff. Of course these reports are exaggerated. The way they read, you’d think that half of Chinatown had gone into the trucking business. These people who talked to the police may have been mistaken as to the time they saw a truck. But I’m wondering -“

“If somebody spotted our truck coming away from that street in back of Laudring’s?”

“You’ve guessed it, Cliff. It may mean trouble if the police begin checking up on trucks at different garages.”

“That’s possible, Harry. Still—the Howland Garage is thirty blocks south of Laudring’s. That truck we used is -“

Cliff stopped. The telephone was ringing. Harry answered it. Cliff heard him talk in brief, affirmative phrases. The call completed, Harry eyed Cliff solemnly.

“It was Burbank,” stated Harry. “The police are starting a check-up on trucks. They figure there was more than one up at Laudring’s. Clyde Burke must have gotten that dope at headquarters.”

“Any instructions?” queried Cliff.

“Yes,” returned Harry. “We’re to leave here as soon as my coupe comes in. We’ll go to the Howland Garage and get the truck. But it’s to be done openly, so there’ll be no suspicion.”

“Where are we taking it?”

“Up to Scranton, Pennsylvania, to deliver it to a garage there. The truck has been sold to some coal mining outfit. We’ll come back by train, tomorrow afternoon.”

“Won’t the garage wonder about the truck going out again? The Howland Garage, I mean?”

“No. That’s the neat part about it, Cliff. The Howland Garage has received a letter from the supposed owner of the truck, telling them to deliver it to Mr. Dyke, who will call, carrying the owner’s license.

Dyke is to take the truck to Scranton, where he will wire back after he arrives.”

“Back to the Howland Garage?”

“Yes. So the supposed owner—a Mr. Middleton—can call up the Howland Garage and learn if the truck reached Scranton safely.”

“And you’ll be Dyke. Is that it, Harry?”

“That’s it, Cliff. Give me those license cards that you used when you took the truck out last night.”

Cliff grinned as he passed over the cards. The plan pleased him because of its openness. It would be Harry’s first visit to the Howland Garage. The people there would suspect nothing concerning a truck like this one. Nor would the police, should they learn of it.

The law would be looking for trucks that were secretly removed. This truck, its coming trip fully accounted for, would be passed by in the search. Particularly after the Howland Garage received a wire from “Dyke,” stating that he had delivered it in the proper Scranton garage.

WHILE Cliff still chuckled, the sound of a motor purred softly from beyond the door. Harry extinguished the light; the two went out into the storage room. Harry’s coupe had arrived; its driver had slid open the outer door without betraying noise.

Both agents saw the outline of the car in the darkness and guessed the identity of the driver who still sat within it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.