"061 (B050) - Devil on the Moon (1938-03) - Lester Dent" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

"Where does she stay?"
"At a new brick tourist hotel on the road north of here," Bob said.
"It seems," Lurgent said, "that we are going to have to kill you."
Behemoth whispered, "Murder ain't nothin' to go rushin' into!"
Lurgent scowled and addressed his men: "Tie this Thomas fellow."
Bob fought them. But he had waited too long. They got him down—with Behemoth's aid—and contributed belts to fasten his ankles, and handkerchiefs to put in his mouth.
"I guess we won't kill him!" Lurgent growled at Behemoth. "I'm sending you after the girl."
"You want that glass cylinder, too?" Behemoth asked.
"Of course, you fool!"
Behemoth did not seem insulted. He asked in a mild whisper, "What is that capsule, anyhow?"
"That," Lurgent said, "is none of your business."
The giant shrugged. "What about the bird in the green suit—that Vesterate?"
"He'll be with the girl, of course," Lurgent said. He made a meaningful gesture at his throat. "But you don't need to bring back the fellow in green, providing you leave him dead enough."
Bob Thomas knew they were wrong about Vesterate. They didn't know how badly Vesterate had been hurt. Far from being with Lin Pretti, the poor fellow had dragged himself away and was dying somewhere near.
"You heard Thomas say where the girl stays," Lurgent growled at Behemoth. "Get her and bring her here."
Behemoth nodded, then walked away.
Suddenly Bob Thomas' face blanched. For Lurgent had drawn a pistol, a single-shot gun with a long barrel and silencer. Lurgent deliberately aimed this weapon at Bob Thomas' head.
"Wait!" Bob Thomas exploded frantically. "Maybe you'd like to know about the Man on the Moon!"
Lurgent started violently. Seizing a flashlight, he blazed it into Bob Thomas' features. "What did you say?"
Lurgent waved at his men to withdraw. They did so, leaving Lurgent and Bob Thomas behind. They were not away for long. There was a single shot.
"Come on back!" Lurgent called.
Bob Thomas was sprawled on the ground, head turned to one side. There was a smear of red on his forehead. Lurgent reloaded his single-shot pistol. He said, "Keep your eyes open while I get rid of the body."
He shouldered the body of Bob Thomas and strode toward the water.
Chapter III. BLUE GLASS ROD
THE neon sign said:
DIXIE INN
The inn building was new, large, built of brick; a substantial structure, and as homey-looking as an English farmhouse.
Lin Pretti was staying at the Dixie Inn.
Behemoth, when he reached the hotel, proceeded to talk with the doorman. Eventually a five-dollar bill changed hands, as well as a story about Lin Pretti being a married woman whose husband had hired a detective to trail her.
Behemoth's story flow had a second installment. In this second part, Behemoth was an honest detective. Lin Pretti had dropped a ten-dollar bill. Behemoth had found it, and he wanted to return it without revealing his identity. Would the doorman take the bill up to the girl? The doorman would.
Behemoth walked to the rear of the hotel and proceeded to accomplish a remarkable feat. The bricks in the wall were of a coarse type, with deep grooves between them. Using an incredible strength in his fingertips, and employing his bare feet—he first removed shoes and socks—Behemoth climbed the wall.
Soon he was clinging outside Lin Pretti's window.
The girl had two suitcases on the bed, was stuffing them with clothing.
Outside the window, Behemoth clung with the apparent ease of a grotesque bat.
When there was a knock on her door, the girl started violently. Then she whipped to the writing desk. An inkwell stood there. She drew something from a pocket of her frock and dropped it into the inkwell.
Lin Pretti then went to the door, opened it, and was handed the ten-dollar bill by the doorman.
Behemoth got the window up silently while she was standing half outside in the hall, talking with the doorman in an effort to learn who had given him the bill.
Lin Pretti backed into the room, closed the door and locked it. Then she stood, looking puzzled, and was that way when Behemoth seized her.
THE struggle was short, and Behemoth's furry hand over the girl's mouth kept it silent. Convinced finally of the hopelessness of struggling, the young woman quieted. Behemoth removed his hand carefully from her mouth.
"Where's that blue glass jigger?" Behemoth demanded.
"You—you—" Nervousness almost strangled Lin Pretti. "I can't imagine what you are talking about!"
Behemoth shrugged, used a sheet from the hotel bed to bind and gag the young woman. There were two blankets on the bed and he knotted these together, then made one end of the improvised rope fast under the girl's arms.
Leaving her, Behemoth went to the inkwell. He extracted the blue glass cylinder with a pen, then dried it on the blotter, being careful not to stain his fingers.
He spent some moments examining it curiously, then went into the bathroom, searched and found a roll of ordinary adhesive tape, tore off a strip and proceeded to fasten the blue capsule to his body, just below the armpit, a spot where it was not likely to be damaged. After buttoning his shirt, he lowered the girl from the window and followed her.
Behemoth carried the girl over his shoulder, her weight seeming to mean little to him, and trotted into the night. The distance to the Spanish Plantation was not great. Behemoth traversed the entire stretch at an easy run but avoided the roadhouse and crossed over the hill to the lake. There was a quality almost ghostly about the silence with which he skirted the shore of the lake until he encountered Lurgent and the others.
Behemoth looked around. "Where's that young fellow—Bob Thomas?"
Lurgent shrugged; his words demonstrated that he was an excellent liar. "Couple of the boys took him away," he said. "They'll keep him in a safe place and turn him loose after this all blows over."
Behemoth was silent for so long that Lurgent's hand drifted nervously toward his gun pocket. But Behemoth only grunted and lowered the girl.
Lurgent growled, "Did you get the blue thing?"
"She must have hidden it," Behemoth explained blandly. "She wouldn't tell me where it was."