Partners of Peril

PARTNERS OF PERIL Maxwell Grant PARTNERS OF PERIL Table of Contents PARTNERS OF PERIL.....................................................................................................................................1 Maxwell Grant.........................................................................................................................................1 CHAPTER I. BREATH OF DOOM........................................................................................................1 CHAPTER II. TWO MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT..................................................................................5 CHAPTER III. DEEP WATER.............................................................................................................10 CHAPTER IV. BEHIND THE CURTAIN...........................................................................................14 CHAPTER V. THE MAN ON THE STEEPLE....................................................................................18 CHAPTER VI. SPECTRE OF JUSTICE..............................................................................................22 CHAPTER VII. THE SAFE OPENS....................................................................................................26 CHAPTER VIII. TREACHERY TRAIL...............................................................................................31 CHAPTER IX. THE TRUTH MACHINE............................................................................................34 CHAPTER X. DEATH UNDERGROUND..........................................................................................38 CHAPTER XI. CARDONA TAKES A TIP..........................................................................................42 CHAPTER XII. THE THIRD VICTIM.................................................................................................45 CHAPTER XIII. MAD RIDE................................................................................................................50 CHAPTER XIV. WHERE IS MOLLY?...............................................................................................54 CHAPTER XV. MIXED MOTIVES.....................................................................................................59 CHAPTER XVI. THE COTTAGE CLUE............................................................................................63 CHAPTER XVII. MEN UNDER GLASS.............................................................................................67 CHAPTER XVIII. TEST OF COURAGE.............................................................................................72 CHAPTER XIX. THE TOWER OF LIGHT.........................................................................................75 CHAPTER XX. EYE OF DOOM.........................................................................................................78 CHAPTER XXI. MIRACLE IN MID−AIR..........................................................................................81 CHAPTER XXII. MR. CRANSTON SMILES.....................................................................................87 i PARTNERS OF PERIL Maxwell Grant This page copyright © 2001 Blackmask Online. http://www.blackmask.com • CHAPTER I. BREATH OF DOOM • CHAPTER II. TWO MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT • CHAPTER III. DEEP WATER • CHAPTER IV. BEHIND THE CURTAIN • CHAPTER V. THE MAN ON THE STEEPLE • CHAPTER VI. SPECTRE OF JUSTICE • CHAPTER VII. THE SAFE OPENS • CHAPTER VIII. TREACHERY TRAIL • CHAPTER IX. THE TRUTH MACHINE • CHAPTER X. DEATH UNDERGROUND • CHAPTER XI. CARDONA TAKES A TIP • CHAPTER XII. THE THIRD VICTIM • CHAPTER XIII. MAD RIDE • CHAPTER XIV. WHERE IS MOLLY? • CHAPTER XV. MIXED MOTIVES • CHAPTER XVI. THE COTTAGE CLUE • CHAPTER XVII. MEN UNDER GLASS • CHAPTER XVIII. TEST OF COURAGE • CHAPTER XIX. THE TOWER OF LIGHT • CHAPTER XX. EYE OF DOOM • CHAPTER XXI. MIRACLE IN MID−AIR • CHAPTER XXII. MR. CRANSTON SMILES CHAPTER I. BREATH OF DOOM THE tall gray−haired man who entered the Cobalt Club was badly frightened. He walked through the ornate foyer with almost cringing haste. But when he reached the doorway of the lounge room he stopped and forced himself to act more calmly. He glanced hopefully around, as though searching for some reassuring face that would ease the fear that was flooding his rather spare, well−dressed body. He was looking for Police Commissioner Weston. At headquarters, they said that Weston had left a few minutes earlier and had probably gone to the Cobalt Club. The gray−haired man had to see Weston. He was afraid to open his mouth to any one else. To−night he knew he was marked for murder! Death before midnight! The man walked quickly toward the Cobalt Club's desk and spoke in a low, guarded voice to the attendant. He hid his fear. He even managed a cool smile as he asked for Ralph Weston. PARTNERS OF PERIL 1 PARTNERS OF PERIL The attendant told him that the police commissioner was not there. "Perhaps if you tried his home, Mr. Harrington −" He turned toward a row of discreetly closed phone booths. There was a strained smile on his pale face as he nodded to members of the club who sat idly about in comfortable chairs. He congratulated himself on his control of his nerves. Nobody suspected anything was amiss with the tall Mr. Harrington. He was wrong. Somebody did suspect. The man who suspected was uttering a barely audible chuckle behind the spread pages of a newspaper. Apparently, he was not even looking at Harrington. But his eyes had noted Harrington's panic the moment the fellow had come in from the foyer. THE clubman with the newspaper was Lamont Cranston. Tall, well−bred, quiet, his outer appearance gave no hint of his keenness and strength. To Harrington, he had always seemed a wealthy and not very sociable clubman. His hawk nose and burning eyes were screened at the moment by the spread newspaper. Harrington, in his extremity of fear, would have thought it a waste of time to have asked Lamont Cranston's help against a mysterious murder threat. Yet Lamont Cranston, whom he was passing with a faint nod, was the only man on earth who could have helped him. Lamont Cranston was The Shadow! For a week, he had been aware that Reed Harrington's life was in peril from some unknown source. He knew from the reports of his agents that Harrington had changed his residence three times in the course of the last fortnight. The Shadow had not yet acted on the information he had gathered, because there was no definite clue upon which to base a move. The Shadow never acted without logical reason. Harrington was already closed in a telephone booth. He was talking in a low voice. He called the home of Commissioner Weston and swore fretfully when he was told that Weston was still away. He was unaware that Lamont Cranston had left his chair and was quietly listening in the adjoining booth. "Tell him that Mr. Reed Harrington telephoned about a matter of the utmost importance," he whispered, shakily. "II prefer not to mention my present address. I'll call the commissioner back, later. Please ask him to wait at home until he hears from me." Cranston's sharp ears heard the whispered words with crystal clarity. His face was turned toward the inner side of the booth, so that his ear rested lightly against the frail connecting panel. Had Harrington noticed him at all, he would have seen merely the dark, inconspicuous back of a fellow club member. He would have seen the receiver pressed lightly to Cranston's right car, as though he were waiting patiently for a lazy operator. But Harrington was not even aware that a man was closeted in the booth alongside his. Fear for his own physical safety drove all other considerations from his tortured mind. Death! Midnight was the deadline! In Heaven's name, he thought shakily, who was behind this nightmare threatand why? What could he possibly have done, whom could he have possibly harmed? He left the Cobalt Club with a quick, anxious stride. The usual row of taxis was in front under the ornate canopy. Harrington hurried to the head of the line and jumped in the cab with fumbling haste. PARTNERS OF PERIL 2 PARTNERS OF PERIL THE cab had barely left the curb when Lamont Cranston appeared. He quickened his leisurely step as he saw the first cab draw away. Something like a rueful smile passed across his lips, as he hurried to the second cab. "Was that Mr. Harrington who just left?" "Yeah." "Dash it! I wanted to talk to him. That fool attendant told me he was down in the grillroom." He stepped into the taxi and closed the door with a mildly exasperated gesture. "Follow him, please. I'll have to talk to him at his home, I suppose." "O.K., Mr. Cranston." The cab got under way. Harrington's taxi was a dark blur down the avenue and Cranston leaned forward. "Oh, by the way, you'd better keep that cab of his in sight. I've forgotten where Harrington lives, he's moved to some new address. Just make sure you don't lose track of him, eh?" He chuckled good−humoredly. "A rather amusing situation. Makes me feel almost like a detective." The driver laughed at the thought of the tall, immaculately dressed and rather peaceful Mr. Cranston as a detective. "I don't think crook−chasing would appeal to a gentlemen like you, sir." "No," Cranston smiled. "I suppose not." He leaned back, apparently bored at the whole business. But his profile was bent forward so that he could survey the dark avenue ahead and observe the course of the cab he was following. Traffic weaved in and out between pursuer and pursued. But the thought of a generous tip from

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