Кеннет Робсон - Death in Silver

The man left greasy tracks as he tore down more chemicals and found his aspirin.

Then all the silver men moved for the door, dragging the fellow who had been in the telephone booth.

About to walk onto the street, Ull paused and snarled, "Maybe we had better shut this clerk up permanently."

The soda jerker paled, swayed, his lips moved without sound … and he fainted on his feet. Toppling forward, he fell on the fountain syrup pumps, pushing them down and squirting strings of chocolate, pineapple, and strawberry.

Ull and his silver -masked companions cast alert gazes about them as they moved down the gloomy street. There was still fog over the city, thick stuff which deposited a slimy coat over every exposed object. This was a remote street, and at this early hour almost deserted.

The man who had stepped in the petroleum left greasy tracks for a time. But they grew fainter and soon were no longer discernible to the naked eye.

The man looked back at his tracks … scowled … and then tried scuffing along to leave more pronounced prints.

"No," said Ull. "That might make him suspicious."

"How d'you mean?" the man growled.

"He can see from the way you scraped your feet that you deliberately tried to leave tracks," Ull told him.

"Hell!" said the man. "The guy ain't that sharp."

"Doc Savage is a mental genius!" said Ull. "The trouble, so far, is that we have underrated the fellow."

They turned into an alley where it was almost as dark as night.

"Do you think Doc Savage will fall into it?" asked one of the weirdly garbed figures.

"Yes," said Ull. "It was perfect. The vaseline tracks, especially."

They now released the man with the ratty voice. One of the silver garments was produced, and the rodent one donned it hurriedly. The suit was fitted with zipper fasteners which facilitated getting into it.

"How about a bonus for me?" he chuckled.

"You did excellently!" Ull told him with heartiness.

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The men were moving swiftly as if aware that each moment upon the street was dangerous. The city was inflamed against them because of the depredations committed the previous day and night. Mere sight of them in this section would be enough to create a turmoil.

"Hurry!" UII snapped.

"You figure Savage will come?" asked the ratty man.

"If your acting over that telephone was sufficiently convincing, he will," said Ull. "Did he sound as if be were being taken in?"

"He sure did!" declared the rodent one.

"Then he must be on his way now." Ull sounded vastly pleased. "He wilt search the drug store and — of course! — he will find the vaseline which was so thoughtfully walked through."

"What if Savage ain't wise enough to know what we want him? I mean, what we hope he'll do about the vaseline?"

"Forget it!" snorted Ull. "He uses ultravioletlight a lot."

They clustered about a grimy doorway and Ull rapped a peculiar signal with his fingertips, playing a short distinctive bit from a song popular at the moment. The fingertip aria could be recognized easily as such. The door opened.

2 men inside the building sighted grimly over machine-guns. Safeties were off the weapons, and the eyes back of the mask holes were coldly grim. Both were garbed in the metallic disguises.

Ull stared at the gunmen, saying nothing.

"All right!" snarled one of the men. "You ain't foolin' nobody by wearin' them silver rigs! Get 'em off!"

Moving very slowly so as not to invite a bullet, Ull tugged one sleeve back and looked at an expensive, heavily protected wristwatch.

"17 minutes and 11 seconds after," said Ull.

One of the machine-gunners eyed his own watch, laughed, and said, "Okay. How did I do?"

"Very well," said Ull. "Remember, we all wear watches timed to the exact second — all set together — but not at the correct time. At the present moment, we are all 2 minutes and 15 seconds fast."

"Sure," said the other. "It beats a password!"

Ull and his party advanced down a gloomy corridor in complete darkness, reaching a room where other silver men waited. One of these men illuminated a flashlight briefly.

"What do we do now?" this man asked.

"We have set the trap for Doc Savage," Ull explained. "This building has been carefully prepared. There are many traps to kill him when he tries to enter."

"What about us?"

"We remain here to take a hand if the traps fail," said Ull. "There must be no slip this time!"

A grotesque silver figure came in hurriedly, excitement in his walk.

"The Big Boss wants to talk to you," he said to Ull. "He sounds mad as hell!"

Ull emitted a startled ejaculation. "Is the Chief here?"

"No," explained the other. "He is on the telephone. And he wants to talk to you!"

As Ull went into another room to the telephone, there was a trace of nervousness in his manner. He strode much more hurriedly than was his wont, and his hands made jerky gestures. Reaching the phone, he picked up the dangling receiver, put an ear to the instrument, got his mouth close to the transmitter and said, "Ull speaking."

A coarse, angry whisper said, " Damn you, Ull! You have just about bungled everything!"

Ull recognized that harsh sibilance. The rage it carried evidently impressed him as well for before he spoke, his neck stiffened slightly as if he were swallowing some trouble.

"But, Chief," he murmured, "there has been no major misfortune! I consider that we have come off very luckily."

"Hell!" the other swore expressively.

Ull stammered in haste, "Of course, we have had backsets such as losing the blueprint and being forced to blow up the Indian Head Club. And a few other minor details. But in fighting a man the caliber of Doc Savage, we could not expect perfect sailing."

"Why, you … " The other tried to find a word bad enough.

But Ull — eager to plead his own case before this whispering mastermind of whom he stood in such awe — interrupted.

"Our situation is still very satisfactory," he pointed out. "Doc Savage does not suspect your identity. He has learned who I am. But that does not matter because I am already wanted by the police. We have Doc Savage's cousin and the girl Lorna Zane. The 2 women are perfect bait with which to draw Doc Savage into a trap."

"Listen … "

"Doc Savage is now heading straight for a trap from which he cannot possibly escape," interpolated Ull. "We will get him out of the way. Then there will be no one to bar our path. We will repeat what we did last night. Why Chief, we got nearly a million, all told, from those robberies!"

"You damned blathering idiot!" grated the distant master. "I did not order those robberies except the first one — the armored truck holdup. You pulled the others on your own initiative! Ull, you went crazy. The city is in an uproar!"

"They can't touch us," Ull said earnestly. "Not with the system we've got of making a get-away."

"And I thought you had brains!" the other snarled. "The Governor will throw troops into the city. They will call on the Navy. They will use naval submarine finders. Then how long do you think we will last!"

Ull mumbled, "Aw, maybe we can clean up first … "

"Damn you!" said the coarse whisper. "Why do you think I have been financing you? For the loot you could get from a few robberies? Not much! Why, the stuff you took last night won't repay a fraction of what I have invested in this thing! The money was in large bills and the banks have the numbers. The jewelry can be identified. Hell! By the time you dispose of last night's take, you will not have cleared $200,000!"