“That type of gun is the standard firearm of the West,” Doc pointed out. “They were evidently Westerners. Bandy Stevens was from the West. So that points to a connection between them and his killing.”
“I’ll bet they were the murderers!” snapped Ham. “When we walked toward them, they thought they were discovered. That’s why they started shooting!”
Doc nodded. He moved to his televisiphone and threw the switch.
“I’ll try to get Monk again.”
The interior of Monk’s laboratory once more appeared on the scanning screen. The great racks of chemicals, retorts, and test tubes showed with a fair degree of distinctness.
The laboratory was now occupied.
An extremely pretty blonde young woman approached the mechanism. She was tall and exquisitely formed.
As she came closer, the televisor screen framed her features, picture-fashion. The greater detail only accentuated her beauty. She was a knock-out!
The blonde was Lea Aster, Monk’s secretary. Monk was wont to boast he had the prettiest secretary in New York. He probably did not exaggerate.
Doc spoke into a microphone which was part of the mechanism.
“Is Monk there?”
“Not yet.” Lea Aster’s voice — rich and modulated as finely as the tones of a high-salaried radio singer — came from a loudspeaker built into the televisor. “He hasn’t come in yet.”
“Have him give us a look when he arrives,” Doc replied.
“Certainly… But wait! I hear some one at the door now. Perhaps it is Monk.”
The young woman turned from the televisiphone. Since she was no longer before the “eye” of the apparatus, Doc and his men could see the door of Monk’s laboratory.
A man suddenly appeared in the opening. He was huge, burly, vicious of feature. 2 bullet scars were like gray buttons, one on either cheek.
It was Buttons Zortell!
“That’s one of the birds who jumped us on the street!” Renny boomed.
Then he fell silent, watching the tableau in Monk’s workshop.
Dashing forward, Buttons Zortell seized Lea Aster. The blonde screamed and struck at him!
Facing the televisor, she shrilled: “Help!”
More men appeared in the laboratory — confederates of Buttons Zortell.
“Smash that box of a jigger!” Buttons ordered angrily.
One of the men ran over and bashed at the televisiphone box with a heavy six-gun!
The image vanished as the mechanism was put out-of-commission.
VI — Monk In Trouble
Lea Aster was an athletic young woman. The roof outside the penthouse held a screened-in tennis court. Few days passed that she and Monk did not play a few hard-fought sets of the game.
She was inflicting punishment on Buttons Zortell. She hit him on the Adam’s apple — a blow Monk had shown her with the assurance that it was one of the most painful that can be landed.
Buttons squawked in agony!
“Gimme a hand!” he bawled at his hirelings. “This heifer is gonna ruin me!”
The others rushed to his aid.
They were half-across the laboratory when the tornado hit them.
The ‘tornado’ was Monk — 260 pounds of him! He had arrived at the opportune moment.
His arms — hairy and corded and inches longer than his legs — gathered 2 men in a fond, terrible hug. He squeezed!
Both victims blared out screams of PAIN! Their agony could not have been greater had they been pinned under a locomotive!
Another man swept up a chair and swung it down atop Monk’s head.
But Monk’s bullet-of-a-skull seemed to disappear — turtle-wise — in his sloping, mountainous shoulders as he ducked. The chair shattered, fragments flying over the laboratory.
“Ye-e-o-w!” howled Monk, more from rage than pain.
He spun and hooked a foot expertly, causing the chair wielder to crash to the floor.
Monk slammed the pair in his arms atop the fellow who had fallen. All three lay in a feebly squirming pile, too stunned to care what else happened. Then Monk rushed Buttons Zortell.
Buttons saw his danger. He released Lea Aster and pawed for his six-guns. Seeing he could never get them in time, he dived for the door.
He did not make it. Monk’s furry hands snatched him up as though he were a fleeing rooster.
Buttons rained blows with his fists, kicked, and bit savagely. But he was helpless against the prodigious strength of the gorilla of a man who held him.
Monk hugged him and began putting on pressure.
“Don’t kill me!” Buttons screamed in mortal terror. “Please…”
There was no air in his chest for him to say more. His face purpled.
Aware 2 more men remained on their feet in the room. Monk whirled, never releasing the ghastly pressure on Buttons.
He stopped suddenly. A ‘blank’ look overspread his homely face.
“That’s right!” snarled a man. “Drop Buttons or we’ll let the mohairrie here have a dose of lead!”
The pair had cornered Lea Aster. One was holding a gun to her head!
Monk hesitated,on the horns of a bitter dilemma.
“Quick!” roared one of the two who held the girl.
Monk could read purpose on a human face. He saw they intended to shoot his secretary if he resisted. The features of both men were twisted with the will to slay.
Monk dropped Buttons Zortell and put up his hands.
The men closed in on him with a rush, their elated cries like the barking of mongrels.
The instant she was released, Lea Aster sprang upon Buttons Zortell! The force of her charge knocked the man to the floor. They scuffled violently until they were separated.
“Whew!” mumbled Buttons, eyeing her wryly. “I never before seen a female critter as violent as you are.”
Lea Aster kicked the man holding her! He gasped… then flung her into a corner.
Watching his secretary, Monk distinctly saw her shove something into hiding behind an apparatus cabinet.
Buttons booted the three who still lay on the floor. They weaved to their feet, still hardly able to navigate.
A man jabbed Monk with a single-action six. “What’re we gonna do with ‘big hairy’ here?”
“I’d like to poison ‘im with lead!” Buttons snarled. “But he ain’t no account to us as a corpse. We gotta take ‘im along.”
“I wish we’d picked a different one of Doc Savage’s gang!” groaned a man. “If you ask me, I think we tackled the wild steer of the lot!”
“Get goin’!” snapped Buttons.
“What about the mohairrie?”
For answer, Buttons suddenly rushed Lea Aster! He fought with the blonde young woman an instant… then succeeded in knocking her unconscious with a fist blow.
“That’ll hold her,” he grated. “And it pays her back for the whammin’ she handed me!”
Monk surged forward angrily as the blonde dropped. But 4 gun snouts gouging into his massive chest caused him to change his mind. Getting himself shot would not help his secretary.
“Drift!” Buttons ordered.
Meekly, Monk permitted himself to be led out of the building. His captors had their car parked near by. He was forced to enter and occupy the center of the rear seat.
The car rolled slowly through traffic. At this early hour, few vehicles other than delivery trucks were on the streets.
“Mind telling me what I’m headed for?” Monk asked. His voice was so peacefully mild that it seemed comical coming from one of his hairy bulk.
“Shut up or I’ll feed you this hogleg!” snarled one of the men, jamming a big six-gun into Monk’s face with a hasty motion.
Buttons Zortell bestowed a knowing <wink> on a fellow beside him, then turned to face Monk.