Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 059 by Maxwel l Grant

Author:Maxwel,l Grant
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf

CHAPTER XIII. THE FLIGHT

WHILE The Shadow had been waging battle in the offices of the Associated Importing Company, strife had broken loose upon the street below. The gunfire from above; the explosion which had followed it -

these had served as signals for other action.

Prompt with the beginning of the upper fray, men had issued from buildings across the street. Half a dozen in number, they represented detectives who had been smuggled in to watch.

These men had sent the alarm before they appeared in view. The distant police who surrounded the district were notified that crime had struck. The half dozen detailed to watch were then ready to force their way into the Fergis Building.

But where Weston had relied upon a slim vanguard, The Crime Master had placed full crews of fighters.

Hardly had the detectives appeared before the doors of parked taxis opened. Armed gunmen tumbled into view; they opened fire on the plain-clothes men.

Thus, while The Shadow had fought furiously above, shots had been ricocheting along the street below.

Weston's men, hopelessly outnumbered, retreated to the buildings from which they had come. Of the six detectives, four were wounded.

During the last phases of The Shadow's upstairs battle, taxis were swinging along the street. These cabs were moving fortresses in The Crime Master's scheme. Each contained its quota of mobsters.

Three cabs shot ahead; the gangsters who had fired at the detectives were on the running boards. Three made sharp, quick turnabouts in the center of the street and rolled toward the opposite end of the block.

One at each corner; second cabs in reserve behind them; third cabs further back - such was The Crime Master's blockade. Mobsmen - some in cabs, some on the street - were ready with their guns to ward off any police attack.

The Crime Master had designed the front street as one possible outlet for a getaway. Weston, in opposition, had picked that block as the converging point for the police. As The Shadow, backed against the window in the office, was poising for his wild plunge, heavy gunfire broke from both ends of the beleaguered block.

LOUIE HARGER, after emptying his revolver through the hole in the marquee, stared savagely out into the street. For the first time, the gangleader realized that a furious fight was under way below. Glancing hastily to left and right, he could see the flashes of guns from the ends of the street. He spied revolver bursts from the sides of the cabs. He saw gangsters retreating toward the center of the block.

Wildly, Louie leaped back into the office. He snatched up a fallen mobster's gat. Springing to the window, he leaned forth and fired three quick shots above the heads of two retreating mobsmen. The gangsters looked up, swinging savagely to meet what they took for an enemy's fire.

Louie waved his arms. The men stopped. They recognized an ally. In the lull that hung in the center of the block, Louie's voice barked its message, as the gangleader motioned straight downward with his gun.

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