X-10 The Murder Monster by Brant House

Author:Brant House
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

ENTER—BRINZ

WHEN the five men who wore the federal badges sped away in the car with the robot killer in their custody, the large clock on the City Hall building showed the time to be exactly twenty-nine minutes past ten o’clock. The whole thing was over, thirty-one minutes before the scheduled time for the arraignment.

The car swung around the corner and passed out of the sight and ken of the crowd surrounding Runkle and Fenton. But there were others who were interested in that car. Near the corner, a tan-and-gray cab had been parked all morning, with the flag up. The driver smoked cigarette after cigarette, but never took his eyes off the court house. Once in a while he would turn to say a few words to the sole occupant of the cab, or to answer a curt question. The occupant of the cab was a stocky, sullen sort of man, with a long, thin face that contrasted oddly with his squat body.

He chewed on an unlighted cigar, and leaned forward. “What time, is it, Kardos?” he asked the driver.

“Twenty-five after ten,” Kardos replied. “The boss ought to be here soon.”

The stocky man with the long face continued to chew nervously on the cigar. “This business is gettin’ my goat. Workin’ for this guy, Kardos, is dangerous stuff. Linky Teagle works for him—an’ he didn’t show up this morning. I’m wonderin’—”

He stopped, as Kardos stiffened in his seat, cried hoarsely, “Looka that! Some other crowd is takin’ that guy away!”

He pointed to the court house steps, down which were coming the five men with the federal badges, dragging along the prisoner known as John Doe.

The stocky man jerked open the door of the cab, leaped to the sidewalk. His hand went to his armpit, but he didn’t draw the gun. “What’s the use?” he said to the driver. “We can’t take the whole five of ’em.”

Kardos swung to him, “What’ll we do, Brinz? We were told not to let any one take him away.”

Brinz shrugged. “Tell you what—you tail them in the cab. See where they go—and for the luva Pete, don’t lose them. I’ll stick around, an’ when this boss of ours gets here, I’ll break the sad news to him. You call back when they hole out.”

The car with the five federal men swung around the corner, passing close to the cab. Kardos called out, “Okay, Brinz, here I go.” He shifted into gear, set off in the wake of the escaping car.

Brinz remained at the curb, still chewing his cigar. He appeared oblivious of the crowd that had swarmed out of the court house. But their voices were raised, loudly, excitedly, and he could hear them plainly. He heard Runkle cry, “I tell you, they were no federal men. Their badges were fakes! But they took me by surprise. By the time I knew what it was all about, they had that fellow out of the building!”

Brinz continued to listen worriedly. He heard District Attorney Fenton say

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