GUNS PLAY
IT was a matter of inches, now. Cliff knew that the corner of the table would be the meeting point. The man who was threatening him was cautious.
Cliff divined the fellow’s plan. He intended to peer around the corner of the table; to spot Cliff’s form against the light that trickled through the side door and to end it all with one shot.
So Cliff waited for that movement. He was ready to spring his surprise attack the moment that the gangster made his presence known!
The moment came. A head came cautiously into view. Cliff saw the dull gleam of an eye. Instantly his hands shot forward for the man’s neck.
He caught it and heard a gurgle as his victim tried to draw away. The man’s body sprawled upon the floor, writhing like the cobra when the teeth of the mongoose are in its neck.
Cliff swung forward to stop that moving body. An overturned chair would be the signal for a mass attack from the gangsters in the other room.
The man’s right hand was pinned beneath Cliff’s body. In moving forward, Cliff released the hand, but still pinned the arm. In a split-second he realized his mistake.
His opponent was losing consciousness, but he had recovered from the surprise which had accompanied the attack. The man had dropped his automatic, but somehow his clutching fingers managed to grip it as his hand was freed. A cannonlike report resounded through the room! The overpowered man had fired!
There was an immediate response from the waiting gangsters.
It was only a short leap to the door. Forgetting his weakened foe, Cliff sprang to close the barrier. He succeeded just in time.
He pulled the door shut and stood to one side, hanging to the knob. Fortunately, Nipper had left the key in the lock, in readiness for Cliff’s departure. Cliff turned it.
He swung around toward the table. His opponent had risen, automatic in hand. Cliff could barely note the gleam of the weapon.
Death was threatening him. He was helpless; his position known, and no escape! But at that instant, a shot came from the outer doorway. Cliff saw the dim shape of his foeman crumple. The outer door slammed, and a key turned in the lock.
Nipper’s voice came through the Stygian darkness.
“I got him, Cliff! Just in time. I’ve blocked them from the hall. Get ready.”
SOMETHING crashed against the door that led to the room where Ernie Shires and his gang were located. Another crash, and light flashed through an opening.
Nipper fired four quick shots at the door. A laugh came in response. The mobsters had suspected what would happen.
“Drop, Cliff!” came Nipper’s warning.
Staccato shots raked the dark room as the two men lay on the floor. Then came a tremendous crash, and the door shook as its hinges yielded. Nipper fired twice. Again he found no mark.
“Out through the corridor,” suggested Cliff.
“No chance,” replied Nipper grimly. “They’ve got a guy out there, sure. Hang on — somebody’s sure to come in from the club! But they’re makin’ an awful big noise out there on the dance floor!”
He raised himself and emptied his automatic at a form that appeared at the opening in the door. Cliff, reaching forward, found his gun and fired three shots.
There was a jeer from the other room as the form disappeared. They had fired at a coat held up as a ruse.
“I’m outta lead,” complained Nipper. “What a sucker I am!”
“Get that fellow’s gun,” said Cliff.
Nipper reached along the floor. He could not find the fallen gangster’s automatic! Cliff held his own gun in readiness.
A sudden crash came from the door. The bottom swung upward and inward, as though struck by a battering ram. The top hinge gave, and the door fell flat.
Cliff fired at a form in the lighted room. He saw the man stagger away.
He had made a hit, but the situation was hopeless. He and Nipper had drawn back into the room. They could command the other room only at an angle.
The light that entered revealed the body of the man whom Nipper had shot. The gunman’s automatic lay in full view. To reach for it would have been suicide, and Nipper knew it! Back in the other room, Shires and his gang commanded the area before the open doorway.
“If I could only reach that rod!” groaned Nipper.
“I’ve got a couple of bullets left,” responded Cliff.
“Save ‘em! You’ll need ‘em!”
There was a moment of menacing silence as Cliff and his companion awaited the attack that was sure to come. Ernie Shires was cautious; but he could not wait long.
If the gunfire had been heard in the big room of the Club Drury, some one would be sure to arrive immediately. But so far, no rescuers had appeared.
“Where’s Geek?” came the voice of Ernie Shires.
“Out in the hall, watching the other door,” came a reply.
“All right.” Ernie’s voice was confident. “Stand back, gang, and get ready to rush ‘em! Don’t give ‘em time to clip us! Ready?”
The sound of scuffling feet indicated that Ernie’s instructions were being obeyed.
“Just a second,” came Ernie’s voice. “Open the door into the hall, one of you guys, and see that Geek’s O.K.! Then shut it and get back with us!
“All right, Bill! You do it. Ready! When Bill comes back, we do the rush act!”
THERE was a slight pause. Bill was evidently opening the door. Cliff held his automatic tightly. Nipper’s eyes were on the gun that lay by the dead gangster. He was preparing to leap for it when the rush came.
“Keep watching in the other room!” came Ernie’s voice. “Don’t give ‘em a chance!”
As he spoke the last word, there was a shot from the room where the gangsters were in readiness. As near as Cliff could judge, it came from the outer door, where Bill, the gunman, had gone.
A cry came from Ernie Shires. A shot resounded from amidst the waiting gangsters. Instantly, the other room was plunged in darkness.
Cliff’s brain was all confusion. He could not imagine what had happened. A loud report came from beside him, accompanied by a burst of flame.
“Aim through the door,” came Nipper’s cry. The little man had seized the automatic from the floor.
Shots were mingled with shouts in the other room! Chaos had struck Ernie’s gang! Cliff withheld his two precious shots. He was waiting, while Nipper fired at intervals, trying to piece out what had happened. Then he suddenly understood.
Some one had entered the other room when Bill had opened the door. The newcomer had shot the gangster and had extinguished the lights. He was fighting a lone battle in the dark!
Whoever he was, the odds were against him; still the dark was his protection, for none could see him.
The shots ended. Ernie’s voice came through the darkness.
“Lay low!” he cried. “Wait till he shoots. Then we can spot where he is! Hold it, gang!”
The silence that followed was even more fearful than the roars of the automatics. It was an ominous silence. Ernie and his men were waiting; but to stop the gunfire, Ernie had been forced to give his game away. The adversary was too clever to fire the telltale shot.
Cliff clutched Nipper’s arm in the darkness and drew the little gangster toward the outer door.
“Come along,” he whispered. “Now’s our chance for a get-away!”
THEY crept to the outer door. Nipper found the lock and opened it softly. He turned the knob and drew the door inward, peering through the crack, to locate Geek, the outside man. Then he clutched Cliff’s sleeve and drew him through the door.
A man lay unconscious in the corridor. Geek, the gangster, had been taken unawares by the approaching rescuer. Nipper pocketed the automatic that lay beside the man. He looked calmly at Geek.
“Knocked cold,” was his comment. “Some guy hit him on the button — and hit him right!”
The loud, blatant music of the orchestra came as a distant uproar. No wonder that the shots had not been heard, thought Cliff. Muffled by the thick doors of the private dining rooms, their sounds had been completely drowned.
“This way, Cliff,” whispered Nipper. He opened a panel in the end of the corridor. “Out through the special entrance the boss uses!”
“Wait, Nipper.” Cliff’s voice was serious. “That fellow in there — we can’t leave him.”
Nipper was halfway through the opening.
“Come on,” he urged. “We don’t know who the guy is. Maybe he’s some bird that wants to put one of them guys on the spot. Let him take care of himself. Come on! Scram!”
Cliff held back. Nipper was through the panel, completely out of sight of the corridor, anxious to be on his way. Cliff’s eyes were still on the doors — the one to the room that held Shires and his gang — the other through which he and Nipper had just emerged.
Shots came again from the rooms. Then, through the door which Cliff and Nipper had used, stepped a tall man clad in black. He seemed like a specter of the darkness, his cloak folded about his shoulders, his hat bent down over his face.
“The Shadow!” exclaimed Cliff.
A low, mocking laugh echoed through the corridor. A black hand appeared from beneath the cloak, and flame flashed as an automatic was fired.
“What’s that!” exclaimed Nipper.
Cliff was rooted to the spot. He saw The Shadow turn and move along the corridor with rapid, amazing strides. The man in black seemed to melt into the curtains that hung from the entry to the main room of the Club Drury.
Ernie Shires dashed into the corridor, followed by two henchmen. Instantly, Cliff sprang through the panel, pushing Nipper ahead of him.
He had been spotted by Shires, but he had escaped in time. Shots came from the corridor. Nipper leaped back and flung the panel shut, bolting it.
“Scram!” he said. “Quick! Along with me!”
They turned a corner of the pitch-black passage, while shots and pounding came from the panel behind them. Ernie Shires and his gang had been thwarted of their prey!
Nipper opened a door and pushed Cliff out into the drizzling night.
“Beat it, Cliff!” he said. “I’ll take care of this. They’ll find me loafin’ downstairs. Listenin’ to the orchestra. Don’t worry about me. An’ when you want me, Cliff, call me here.”
Cliff thumped his companion on the back. He stepped to the sidewalk of the alley and walked briskly until he came to the avenue. There he walked another block, and hailed a passing cab. He rode to Larchmont Court.
BACK in the darkness of his room, Cliff sat beside the window. The lighted clock showed half past eleven. The advertising sign flashed intermittently, its border following its usual regularity.
“The Shadow!” murmured Cliff. “It was The Shadow! He saved us! He must be able to see in the dark — to know without seeing! He knew that I had made my get-away. Then he made his; and drew that gang after him, to make sure that I had all the chance I needed!
“Ernie didn’t see him in the corridor — no one could have seen him! He melted away — that was all!”
The events of the night seemed strangely unreal. Cliff wondered what was happening now at the Club Drury. He wondered how many of Ernie’s gang were left. Nipper had accounted for one. Others must have fallen in that room of darkness.
Cliff grinned; then he shuddered. The recollection of that weird laugh was chilling. He was glad that he was working for The Shadow — not against him.
For The Shadow!
The thought was a reminder. Cliff remembered that he had a report to make.
He reached for the telephone. Before he had found it in the darkness, it began to ring. He picked up the instrument and raised the receiver to his ear.
“Hello,” he said.
“Cliff!” It was Madge’s voice.
“Yes,” said Cliff, smiling in the darkness.
“You’re all right?”
“O.K.”
“I was worried about you. I just came down to the lobby — your key was out — I knew you were upstairs.”
“Worried about me?”
“Yes — because I was afraid you might get into trouble — on account of Ernie!”
“Don’t worry. I’m all right!”
“Gee, that’s great, Cliff. I can’t talk any longer. I’m in the drug store down the street. I’ve got to get back. But gee, Cliff, if anything ever happened to you — I don’t know what I’d do. Remember that, won’t you, sweetie?”
“I’ll remember!” said Cliff softly.
He hung up the receiver after Madge had said good-by. He waited for a minute; then called the operator and gave the number that he had called when he had made his first report to The Shadow.