"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 116 - Intimidation,Inc" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

to
the radio. It was tuned low; besides, he had something of his own to announce.
"Intimidation, Incorporated," sneered Sack. "He says to destroy this
letter.
"O.K. Here it goes." He applied a match to the sheet of paper. "This is
the end of the whole thing. If the lug thinks he can get me, let him try! I
gave him his answer. I locked the door and left it that way. Maybe he can
bluff
old Wrightley; and Clewiss, the guy that's going to be a smart D.A. Maybe he
can
slip it past Radbourne and Bursard -"


SACK paused, rigid. His eyes were straight across the room, looking
toward
the radio cabinet from which the voice of the man last mentioned was coming in
its low, modulated tone. Sack gripped the edge of the table, stared directly
ahead. For a moment, it seemed as though he had concentrated on the radio;
then
there came another explanation for his self-interruption.
The burning paper had dropped. Its final flame licked a rug fringe, then
was extinguished as a human form fell upon it. Sack Balban's hold upon the
desk
was lost. Eyes still rigid in their sockets, the big-shot's ugly face glared
from the floor as his sagging body ended its collapse.
Crooks sprang beside the inert shape of their fallen chief. One looked up
with startled eyes; his lips twitched as they gave the news:
"Croaked! The finger was on him! They got Sack Balban!"
Nobby Kilgan snatched up the bottle of pills. He recognized how death had
struck.
"Sack always left these lying around," recalled Nobby. "That's how he was
croaked. By the guy who was in talking to him tonight. One of the four mugs on
that committee. Sack said that much. Only which one -"
"Rub out all of 'em!" snarled a lieutenant. "You're the big-shot, Nobby,
now that Sack's gone."
"We can't go that strong," argued Nobby. "Not a chance! The rackets would
be through. We've got to dope out who's the guy to get. He's double-crossed
his
own bunch and they don't know it. He bluffed Sack, then croaked him."
From the floor, Nobby scooped a handful of ashes, the remnant of the
letter that Sack had received.
"I'll be getting one of these," predicted Nobby. "When it comes, we'll
pay
up." He looked around the group. "Any squawks?"
None came. Amid awed silence, Nobby added: "We pay."
With that, the new big-shot waved his lieutenants from his presence. The
Shadow, last to leave, paused at the door. Nobby, staring at the flattened
form
of Sack Balban, did not observe the face of Link Delvo in the doorway.
Crooks had welshed. Nobby Kilgan, the new big-shot, had paved the way.