The Shadow’s statement of the exact amount added to Furbish’s confidence. The Wall Street man believed that only Major Rowden could have informed The Shadow of those details. Furbish had no idea that his enemies, mentioned by The Shadow, were governed by so well-informed a man as Kenneth Malfort. Furbish, like Blessingdale and Hessup, had never heard of the master crook.
“The same cab will take you to a place near the Maribar Hotel,” resumed The Shadow. “Wait there, inside the cab, until the driver decides to go to the hotel. He will be informed if the trip is safe.
“Should the way be clear, stay no longer than fifteen minutes. Major Rowden will have your jewels ready. Take the gems; leave the money with him. Outside the Maribar Hotel, the same cab will be waiting for you.”
The Shadow arose and motioned. Furbish joined him; they left the restaurant together. Outside, they found the waiting cab. Furbish did not recognize it as the taxi that had been at the pier.
“When you see Major Rowden,” added The Shadow, “deliver him this envelope. Tell him that he can read it after you have gone.”
The Shadow opened the door of the cab and put Furbish aboard. Stepping back, he lifted a small bag that the driver had placed upon the rear bumper. The cab pulled away.
As Arnaud, The Shadow watched it turn a corner. He strolled along the street, picked a chance cab of his own. Entering, he gave the driver a destination. Opening the bag, The Shadow produced his black garments and his automatics.
Fifteen minutes was the time that The Shadow had allotted should Furbish actually visit Rowden. There was good reason for the specified time interval. From Yat Soon, The Shadow had learned the exact location of the courtyard where Ku-Nuan had last been seen. He had estimated that it was just fifteen minutes’ drive from the Maribar Hotel.
THE SHADOW’S chance cab reached its destination, less than two blocks from the courtyard that the Chinese had inspected. A five-dollar bill fluttered down beside the driver. A quiet voice ordered him to keep the change.
While the driver gulped his thanks, the rear door closed noiselessly. Looking along the street, the cabby could see no sign of his mysterious passenger. Cloaked in black, The Shadow had vanished like a ghost.
The disappearance was a logical one. This was a grimy, almost forgotten section of the East Side, where lights were few and lurking spots were many. Black against shaded, dingy walls, The Shadow was pursuing an invisible course through the night. Unseen, he neared his goal, the space between the warehouses, indicated by an arrow on two separate diagrams. Both Malfort and Yat Soon had picked one passage as the logical entrance to the courtyard.
Thick blackness covered the space between the passage walls. Stopping at the entrance, The Shadow looked across the street, then along toward a corner. He knew that there were lurking spots all about; that such a thuggish leader as Spark Ganza and his men might be on hand. But if they were to prove active, they would logically have become impatient through long delay. The Shadow watched for blinks of flashlights; listened for whispered voices and sneaky footsteps.
There were no tokens in the darkness. Soundlessly, The Shadow edged into the passage. After five silent paces, he came to a tunnel formed by the connection of the walls on either side. The Shadow paused to listen. If men were in the courtyard, their slightest whispers would echo through the roofed passage. Minutes passed; no sounds came. The Shadow was sure that the courtyard was empty.
Advancing with soundless paces, The Shadow moved steadily inward. His course was established; his progress would not cease until he reached the courtyard, there to match his wits against the craft of Ku-Nuan, whom he expected to find alone.
Wisely had Yat Soon suspected a trap; but the Chinaman’s searchers had failed to detect its presence. In the darkness, the first black beam crossed The Shadow’s path. Even the keen discernment of this master sleuth could not detect its presence.
Silence and blackness lured The Shadow onward. Nothing could withhold him from the final snare that Kenneth Malfort had provided.
CHAPTER XI – HANDS IN THE DARK
AT the inner end of the tunnel, The Shadow made final pause. Before him was the solid darkness of the courtyard. Nothing was visible within its depths, not even the grayishness of walls. There was light above, a glow that showed dim against a clouded sky; but none of the city’s reflected glimmer penetrated into the courtyard itself.
To The Shadow, however, the exact layout of the courtyard was established. He had memorized the dimensions that Yat Soon had given him. The Shadow could gauge distance perfectly in the dark.
He knew just the number of paces that he would have to take to reach the opposite side of the courtyard. Placed anywhere within the blackened depths, he could find a lesser passage without groping his way. The Shadow needed no light to find his way about the courtyard.
There were facts however that The Shadow did not know.
He had no inkling that he had passed a hidden grating, hoisted above the mouth of the tunnel that he had entered. He was unaware that, at this present moment, he had reached an invisible beam of black light that formed a shaft across the inner end of the tunnel.
Satisfied that the courtyard was vacant, The Shadow moved forward.
Instantly he halted; wheeled about. A sliding sound had come to his ears. As The Shadow turned, a clang resounded from the outer end of the short tunnel. The first of the heavy gratings had clashed downward into place.
The Shadow moved back through the tunnel. He reached the heavy gate, gripped its bars and shook them. The barrier clanked. Its solidity, however, was definite. No human hands could overcome that barrier. Its weight was fully a quarter ton. Though he strained a shoulder beneath a cross-bar, The Shadow could not budge the barrier upward.
Turning about, The Shadow moved through to the courtyard. He knew that he was trapped; but he wanted to investigate fully the other outlets. Crossing the courtyard silent and unseen, The Shadow changed his course and reached a side passage. It formed a tunnel like the first.
The instant that The Shadow passed the inner end of the tunnel, another clang rang out from a dozen feet ahead. The Shadow came to a new barrier, as heavy as the first. It, too, failed to yield when he shook the bars and wedged a shoulder between them.
Returning to the courtyard, The Shadow went through to the third passage. His experience here was like the former two. The invisible beam dropped its blocking barrier. Once more, The Shadow pounded upon a solid gate.
Slowly, The Shadow returned to the courtyard. There was one more passage. It was the one at the far side of the courtyard, just past the wall of the old pawnshop. The Shadow knew that it would certainly have a ready barrier. Once he attempted that last passage, a fourth gate would fall to make the snare complete. Shrouded in the darkness of the courtyard, The Shadow paused to consider his plight.
SILENCE was complete. No enemies were approaching the closed barriers. That was a fact that demanded consideration. The Shadow pictured the answer.
Those barriers were not solid. They were gates instead of doors. That signified a purpose. It meant that The Shadow, trapped, could be reached by gunfire through the bars. The gates had clanged loudly. Outside listeners could have heard them. Coupled facts explained Malfort’s scheme.
Crooks were waiting for the fourth barrier to drop. Then they would come to the mouths of the short tunnels. The passages, slightly off-center, would allow each group to cover one-fourth of the courtyard. Once searchlights shone from steel gratings, The Shadow would be a visible prey.
No corner of the courtyard would be safe. Even now, if crooks chose to appear, they would have The Shadow trapped. If he tried to rush the fourth passage, the grating would fall before he reached it. Crooks, however, were waiting for the situation to be complete. They knew that their foe was The Shadow. They wanted him to realize his absolute helplessness before they attacked. Nevertheless, they would not curb their impatience long.