“X” was fingering the radio in the cab, trying to tune in to some station that would be broadcasting news. He said morosely, “First I’m going to take you where you’ll be safe. Then I’m going to work on the Skull once more. I’ll never feel you’re really safe till the Skull is destroyed.”
HE found a station, tuned it in, and sat back as the announcer said, “A sensational item of news has just reached me. Harrison Dennett, the noted real estate operator and subway contractor, upon whose home an unsuccessful attempt at robbery was made this afternoon, did not have such good luck this evening. At six-thirty tonight he was kidnaped from his automobile. The kidnapers seemed to have vanished into thin air with their victim, leaving not the slightest trace. In the car was left a card bearing the gruesome reproduction of a skull. This card has been left at most of the major crimes that have been committed in the past few months. There is no doubt that some fiendish master of crime has—”
“X” snapped off the radio, lapsed into thought.
“What does it mean?” asked Betty.
“It means,” the Secret Agent said bitterly, “that the Skull is getting himself more patients for that electric chair of his!”
Chapter XIII
THE darkened room gave off an animal smell; a smell of unwashed bodies. Muted voices buzzed with excited comment. There was the noise of shuffling as nervous men shifted their feet; rustling of clothing; here and there a nervous laugh.
All became still as a dull glow illuminated a niche high up in the wall, limning the horrid figure of the vermilion-garbed Skull. A spotlight flared down in the upturned faces of the expectant men below.
The Skull spoke, his hideous face leering at his listeners.
“I have called you all together,” he began, “because I have an important announcement to make. You all know that the man who was known as Fannon was really the person who goes by the name of Secret Agent ‘X.’ You also know that he was almost trapped here, and escaped only by some extremely lucky accidents. I cannot understand yet how he found his way out of this place, but I assure you he will never find his way in again — except as a prisoner.”
The Skull paused a moment, appraising the men below him, as if trying to ascertain how much damage had been done to his prestige by the sensational escape. Utter silence reigned in the room. The men were still evidently as much in awe of him as they had ever been.
Their master surveyed them sardonically for a moment, noting the varied emotions written on the coarse faces below him, mercilessly exposed by the searching beams of the spotlight. He went on.
“I have never made it a practice to announce my plans in advance. This time, however, I am making an exception, for the reason that I want you all to perform enthusiastically the work which I shall assign to each of you. We have already launched the operation which I have been planning for some time; the operation which is going to net us ten million dollars in cash.”
He paused to let that sink in, noting the sudden greedy interest that the men began to evince.
“I flatter myself,” he continued, “that I have conceived one of the most original methods of prying money loose from the public in the annals of crime. We are going to kidnap ten wealthy men, whose names I have carefully chosen after certain investigations. The first of these, Harrison Dennett, the construction man, is already here, in our power. The other nine will be brought in today. Each of you will be assigned a certain task, which must be performed with the precision of clockwork, for every one of the nine other kidnapings has been timed carefully with the habits of these men, which I have taken great pains to check on.
“As you return with the prisoners, Binks will meet you at the different entrances assigned you, and you will conduct the prisoners to the cell down below. One prisoner, and no more, is to go in each cell. I have a particular reason for that, which you will learn later. Now, are there any questions?”
For a while there was silence as the men digested the peculiar information they had just received. Then Gilly raised a hand, blinking in the spotlight.
“Gilly,” said the Skull, “what is your question?”
The little gunman shuffled from one foot to the other. Already he regretted having raised his hand, was astounded at his own temerity.
“Well?” the Skull snapped. “Talk up. What is it?”
GILLY fidgeted, looked sheepishly at the men around him, then up toward the niche which he couldn’t see because of the blinding light. “Jeez, boss, I don’t mean to be fresh or nothin’. But I been in the snatchin’ racket myself, out West; an’ I know what these rich guys is like. We once snatched a guy what was supposed to be a millionaire, an’ it turned out that all he had was houses an’ stocks, but no cash. It took his family almost a month to raise the dough, an’ then we had to settle for a hundred grand. That was all they could lay their mitts on.” He stopped, licked his lips nervously.
The Skull asked, encouragingly, “What is the point you wish to make, Gilly?”
“Well, boss, I was wonderin’ if you could get ten million dollars from those ten guys. How’re they gonna raise all that cash?”
The Skull laughed harshly. “I told you that my plan was one of the most original in the history of crime, Gilly. I am glad that you mentioned this matter. It shows that you are wide awake. But I, also, thought of it; and the method I have devised for making it possible to raise the cash is what makes my plan original. You see, Gilly, we shall not ask these men to pay one cent out of their own pockets! There will be no demands for ransom from their families, or from the firms which they head. But—the money will be forthcoming!”
Gilly wet his lips again. “How?” he asked in a dry whisper.
“That, men, will remain a secret until tomorrow morning. When we have these ten men safely in the cells, I will send an announcement to the newspapers, and they will print it. And it will open the way for a new kind of crime — wholesale kidnaping, with payment of the ransom money absolutely assured! There will be no hesitation about paying it, for they will have Ainsworth Clegg and the others as examples of my art. You will recall that I told you at the time we seized Clegg and the others, that I did not intend to make any money on them. They were doomed, for I wanted to let it be seen what would happen to those who defied me. So I deliberately set the ransom demand at a preposterous figure. Now, with those examples before them, there will be a rush to make the payment. Tomorrow morning you will learn who is going to pay the ransom!”
Gilly had no more questions. The group of men in the room with him stirred nervously. Their curiosity was piqued. They wondered how their master intended to cause ten million dollars to be raised for ransom. They were no children; many of them, like Gilly, had at one time or another turned their hands to kidnaping, and they knew from bitter experience that large ransoms are more easily demanded than produced. Fresh in their minds was the recent case of a kidnaped upstate politician whose family, it had been supposed, measured its wealth in multiples of millions, but who had been released for a measly ninety thousand dollars. Each was busy trying to solve the puzzle in his own mind.
“Now,” said the Skull, “we will once more discuss Secret Agent ‘X.’ I will admit that he, whoever he may be, is the only man with courage and cleverness enough to be a possible menace to our plans. I will also admit that he succeeded in escaping from what was a perfect trap. But I assure you that I will have him here, in one of the cells downstairs, within twenty-four hours!”
A low murmur of interest was heard from the men.