"Gruber, Frank - The Silver Owl (Avenger 4105)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gruber Frank)

THE SILVER OWL
by FRANK GRUBER

The steam room of n Turkish bath was the strange setting for a murder--and the
disappearance of o coin worth o fortune.


Perspiration was streaming down John Steele's forehead. His body was wringing wet,
and he gasped in mouthfuls of air that seemed to sear his lungs. He looked at the
thermometer on the wall. It read one hundred and seventy degrees. He walked to the
door, opened it and stepped out of the hot-air chamber.

Steele walked along the side of the crystal-clear swimming pool and pushed through
a door which had a sign on it: "Pine-tar Steam Room."

The pungent vapor was so thick he could not see three inches ahead of him. Steele
breathed deep of the pine-tar steam and shuffled along to where he knew the cold
shower should be.

Halfway across the room he stubbed his toe on something and fell to his knees. He
groped around on the concrete floor with his hands and touched something large and
yielding, Then he dropped his face down closer to the floor and then saw the body!

Someone had fainted.

Steele caught hold of the unconscious man with both hands and lifted him up, with
the idea of carrying him out of the steam room. As he straightened a catapulting
body rammed into him! He stumbled backward, the unconscious body falling to the
floor. The next thing Steele knew a hard fist lashed out at him through the steam
and smashed him on the jaw!

He staggered back, growled deep in his throat, then lunged forward. The almost
invisible man yelped and struck at Steele with both fists. He scarcely felt them.

A ripple of pleasure ran through Steele. So the man wanted to fight, did he?
There was nothing Steele enjoyed more than a battle. There was strength in Steele's
lean body--unbelievable strength. He weighed one hundred and seventy pounds and
stood five ten in his bare feet, but every ounce of his weight was sheer muscle and
bone. Steele was easily the strongest man on the entire police force--of any weight.
How strong he was he did not really know.

And this man in the steam room wanted to fight! Steele leaped forward suddenly,
heading the man off from the door. Feet planted wide apart, he stood on the tiles and
awaited the charge. It came instantly.

With head lowered and fists swinging, the man hit him in the stomach. It scarcely
moved him. The fists smashed against his jaws, his forehead and his body. Steele
grunted. His hands were groping out, seeking a good hold on the man. He touched the
dripping wet body, ran his hands along it and finally touched the arms. They were
big, heavily corded. Steele's cablelike fingers wrapped themselves around the man's