"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 059 - The Crime Master" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

stool pigeon began to observe others in the Pink Rat.

MEANWHILE, Trigger Maddock was departing from the outside alley. The gangleader had reached the
street beyond. He paused to gaze over his shoulder; then resumed his course. He walked rapidly along
the street.

From the darkness of the alley, a pair of keen eyes had seen Trigger's move. A sweater moved upward;
from beneath its bulk came the girdling folds of another black garment. A cloak swished over shoulders.

A flattened hat took shape. It capped the head above the cloak. A form moved forward. Gaining the
sidewalk of the street, a fleeting figure merged with the gloom of a house wall. Burning eyes spied
Trigger, less than a block ahead.

Then began a weird pursuit. One block - two - three - the gliding phantom trailed Trigger. The space
was closing. Trigger did not suspect that he was being followed.

The gangleader reached a brick building which, though old, was more pretentious than others of the
neighborhood. He stopped just outside the door. The place was a cheap apartment.
A man stepped from beside the door. Trigger spoke to him in a low growl:

"Hello, Herb. Where's Greasy? Upstairs?"

"Yeah, Trigger, waitin' for you."

"All right."

Holding his hand in front of him, Trigger spread his fingers, then closed his fist. He repeated the action
twice. Herb nodded. Trigger entered the apartment. Herb slouched away from the door.

It was dark on the other side of the street. Herb did not see the figure that arrived there. He did not catch
a glimpse of the blackened form that moved along toward the corner of the apartment house; nor did he
see those burning eyes that stared upward toward the third floor of the building which Trigger had
entered.

A light had appeared in a room on that floor. A soft laugh came in eerie whispered tones. A phantom
shape glided across the street, unseen by Herb. It reached the side wall.

A squidgy sound occurred. It was made by concave rubber disks, attached to hands and feet. A batlike
figure began its ascent straight up the precipitous bricks. Its goal was that lighted room.

Squawky Sugler had been right in his fears. The mysterious watcher was The Shadow. Like Squawky,
the master of the night had chosen the Pink Rat as a post of observation. But where the stool pigeon had
failed to see evidence of coming crime, The Shadow had detected it.

That was why The Shadow had left the Pink Rat. His disguise covered by his cloaking garb of black, The
Shadow was planning a surprise visit. He was here to learn what Trigger Maddock had received from
the small-fry crook during that interlude in the Pink Rat!

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