Again, The Shadow was in quest of the evanescent Fate Joss; but with it, human lives were at stake. Alone, with no chance for retreat, The Shadow was setting forth to the rescue of his captured agents, whose destiny had become linked with that of the Fate Joss from Jehol.
CHAPTER XVII
THE SHADOW INVADES
IT yet lacked midnight when The Shadow, still garbed in black, arrived back at the closed curio shop to hold speech with Kao Dwin. He found Yat Soon’s servant in a state of repressed excitement. Standing within the shuttered window, Kao Dwin was peering through a tiny opening.
“Across the street,” declared Kao Dwin, “and one house to the left. That was the door into which a man did go. A man who was quick to move — a man who seemed to me to be Doctor Roy Tam.
“With him was another who was not of China. I say this truly, although I caught but little sight of his face. I would say that he might be the man called Satsu; but to that, I would not swear.”
A whispered query from The Shadow. Kao Dwin replied.
“Within the space of the last half hour,” affirmed the Chinaman. “Such was the time when they did come. No burden was borne by either; yet it may well be that there is another way to enter.
“On the avenue beyond this street is a place called the Hunan Cafe. On the street between this and the avenue, there are shops. One where tea is sold; another which has long been used as a laundry. The corner holds a store where goods of value may be pawned by those—”
The Shadow spoke an interruption. Kao Dwin stared into the room. The Chinaman could not see his companion in the darkness; but he tried to phrase a protest.
“Yat Soon would not advise—”
Whispered mirth interposed. To that grim laugh, Kao Dwin could find no answer. The whisper chilled him; but it betokened The Shadow’s prowess. Kao Dwin mumbled that he would remain here and keep further watch. For The Shadow had stated that he intended to take the direct route to Doctor Tam’s — through that very doorway which Kao Dwin had seen the physician enter with the man who answered the description of Satsu.
Going out through the rear door, The Shadow skirted the curio shop and crossed the street. Kao Dwin, still watching, saw shrouding blackness cover the front of the chosen door. Lamplight, however, did not reveal the full outline of The Shadow’s shape. Kao Dwin saw the darkened mass move inward; then he stared blinking at the door itself. The Shadow had entered the house across the street.
TO Kao Dwin, it seemed impossible that any one could have tracked Doctor Tam’s path through those opposite buildings. Familiar with Yat Soon’s own labyrinth, Kao Dwin believed that Doctor Tam would also have a maze of passages, filled with pitfalls. But could Kao Dwin have watched The Shadow’s progress, he would have been astonished at the efficient, yet simple process that the master sleuth was using.
The Shadow had guessed that Doctor Tam must always keep the empty house in shuttered darkness. He had also presumed that Tam knew the proper course so well that he needed no light to trace his way. Therefore, The Shadow was blinking his own flashlight upon the bare floors, looking for a trail. He was finding it, amid deep dust that had settled through the course of many months.
At intervals, the marks of footsteps showed along the hall. None were complete; some were almost obliterated. They were sufficient, however, for The Shadow to trace the course he wanted. Those marks kept him away from side rooms and blind passages. The Shadow, ascending the stairs, found marks that led to the rear of the upper hall. He came to the barring door.
There The Shadow paused. He did not try to open the door; nor did he knock for entry. Instead, he peeled the glove from his left hand and gripped an automatic with his right. Flashlight stowed beneath his cloak, he used his left fingers to give an elusive scratching sound against the surface of the door.
There was something uncanny in the noise which The Shadow produced. The sound ceased; then began again, fading as The Shadow slowly timed his fingers. Easing back, The Shadow thrust his left hand beneath his cloak. He waited; a puff of air told that the door was opening.
The guard within had heard the sound. It had tricked him just as The Shadow had hoped. To the watcher, the noise had not seemed close enough to mean danger; it had merely enticed him to an investigation. The Shadow heard cautious foot steps; he knew that the guard was creeping out into the hall.
The Shadow’s flashlight clicked. Its rays blinked squarely into a yellow face. The Shadow had pulled the flashlight with his left hand; into its glare, he thrust his right, with its threatening .45 that loomed like a tunneled opening less than a foot from the eyes of the startled guard.
YELLOW hands went upward. The Chinaman grimaced as he backed away. The Shadow hissed words in English; the guard understood. Turning about, with arms still raised, he felt The Shadow’s gun muzzle jab his back. With flashlight blinking, The Shadow ordered the big guard forward. Hissed commands were threatening. The guard was filled with fear. This minion of Tam knew well that he was helpless. He took no chances as he led the way directly to the next barrier. There he obeyed another order.
With upraised hand, he used clenched fingers to tap the second door. The raps he gave were the correct signal. The door swung open; as it did, The Shadow’s hands thrust forward beneath his prisoner’s arms. A second guard stood startled. From his post, he saw his fellow watcher, a flashlight blinking from the man’s left elbow, an automatic muzzle jabbing forward from beneath the raised right arm.
He, too, was listening to a hissed voice that threatened death. He knew that a menace lay behind that trembling figure of his fellow watcher.
The second guard capitulated; his hands went ceilingward. He swung about. With a fierce taunt of whispered mockery, The Shadow urged his pair of captives onward toward the goal. They came to the last barrier; the entrance to Doctor Tam’s office.
The captured guards were side by side, each feeling the jab of a gun; for The Shadow had brought out a second automatic to replace his flashlight. The Chinamen felt the weapons move away; still, they remained motionless, for they knew that the guns must still be there.
The Shadow was whispering new orders. One man was to rap for entry, using the proper signal. While he spoke in darkness, he had calmly put his guns away; without the knowledge of his frightened prisoners, he was deliberately donning his left glove.
Well had The Shadow guessed that fight was gone from these guardians of the outer portals. Doctor Tam had kept his keener servitors for more important duty than a mere watch in darkness. The fact that the guards were stupid in an unexpected pinch was one that The Shadow had quickly recognized.
One man was rapping at the portal. It opened upward, to reveal a lighted room. The Shadow had told the guards what they must do; hoping for mercy, the fellows stepped promptly into Tam’s office, holding their hands raised as before. Instantly, The Shadow followed, his gloved fists already sweeping the brace of automatics into leveled view.
Covering the room, The Shadow caught an astonished group completely off its guard. At the desk sat Doctor Roy Tam, turning to deliver a fierce, but startled scowl. Standing by the physician was Satsu, whose eyes bulged as he saw the cloaked invader. Just beyond was Noy Dow; the secretary trembled. All three were located by the muzzle of The Shadow’s left-hand gun.
By the door stood Tuan and Leng. They were almost on a line with the sheepish guards whom The Shadow had thrust in before him. They were helpless before the right-hand automatic; the guards, also covered, did not even attempt to lower their raised hands.
The Shadow had trapped Doctor Tam and six underlings squarely within the crafty physician’s own headquarters. Through sheer daring, he had performed this feat without firing a single shot. The threat of his looming guns brought new hands upward. Six pairs of arms were raised; lips trembled and eyes blinked as startled ears heard the quiver of a sinister laugh.