“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.
CHAPTER X
ERNIE COMPLETES PLANS
IT was early the following night when Ernie Shires appeared on a side street that led to Eighth Avenue. He walked along leisurely until he came to the blank wall of a large building. There he paused to light a cigarette.
He stood beside the building, scanning the street in both directions. The tiny end of the cigarette formed a meteoric streak as it shot across the sidewalk and fell in the gutter.
Satisfied that he was not observed, Ernie retraced his steps a few paces, ducked into an opening at the back of the building, and entered a small door. Prowling through the darkness, he came to another door and entered.