The Caves of Fear: A Rick Brant Science-Adventure Story Read online

  CHAPTER VIII

  Long Shadow

  "Wheels within wheels and all of them turning merrily," Zircon said. "Iam absolutely appalled at how little we know of what is going on."

  The three of them, refreshed by showers, were in the hotel dining roomhaving a late snack.

  "Anyway, we have friends working for us," Scotty pointed out. "I thinkour British pal did just as he said. He found out that the Golden Mousewas not the sort of place for a couple of American tourists and decidedto go there in case we needed help."

  Rick agreed. "And thank heaven he did. But I have a couple of questions,besides the biggest one of all."

  "The biggest one being: Where is Chahda?" Scotty added.

  "Right. Also, I want to know why that motorboat appearing on the sceneand flashing a searchlight made the junk gang jump us."

  "I'm only speculating," Zircon replied, "but mightn't that have been apolice boat on regular patrol? The junk gang would know it, I presume,and they might decide to get us tied up and under cover, just in casethe police came too close."

  "That's reasonable," Rick agreed. "We'll probably never know for sure,and that's as good an answer as any. Now, my next question is: Who wasthe Eurasian who got together with Keaton-Yeats?"

  "You don't suppose it was Chahda?" Scotty suggested.

  "Couldn't have been," Zircon replied. "Chahda wouldn't have faded awayas soon as we got to shore. I can't imagine who the stranger was, exceptthat he apparently was a friend. Also, I think it's clear that CantonCharlie certainly is not a friend, since our asking for Chahda resultedin our being kidnaped, or close to it."

  Rick nodded. "Clear as air. Anyway, Bert's prediction was wrong. Wedidn't get our throats cut in Charlie's."

  "He could have been only too right," Scotty reminded. "If we had gonethere alone and hung around until the mob got wilder, it could havehappened. What a wonderful crew of cutthroats! And they were on the wayto getting set for a few fights among themselves when we left."

  Rick glanced at big Hobart Zircon. "Having the professor along probablyhelped, too. Even the toughest thug would think twice before tacklinghim."

  Zircon chuckled. "I must admit I've found it some advantage to be sosizable. What do you boys think of this strange shadow?"

  "Strange is right." Rick stifled a yawn. "Keaton-Yeats thought he wasunfriendly, and so did the Eurasian. But he didn't do anything veryunfriendly, I guess. He just stood in a doorway."

  "Chahda's cable said to beware of the long shadow," Scotty remembered.

  "Which is a good reason to think that the man who cast the shadow is anenemy who now knows of our presence in Hong Kong," Zircon added. Heglanced at his watch. "It's getting late. If the phone call our unknownfriend mentioned to Rick doesn't come soon, it'll find me asleep when itdoes."

  "Same here," Rick agreed. "Let's go up to bed."

  Zircon paid the check and they took the elevator. As they walked downthe long corridor to their room, Scotty scratched his head. "Mightyfunny how everything was arranged for us at Canton Charlie's, wasn't it?We drop in, ask for Chahda, wait a while, get a note, and walk rightinto the arms of a reception committee. That's mighty goodorganization."

  "They had plenty of time to get the junk ready for us," Rick pointedout. "We sat in Charlie's and cooled our heels for a long while."

  "We should have had knives a foot long." Zircon smiled. "Then we couldhave given ourselves a manicure, like the Portuguese who left rightafter we arrived." He put his key in the lock and pushed the door open.

  Rick had a confused impression of wild sounds, then something crashedinto him and he landed flat on his back. As he scrambled to his feet,plaster showered down on him, and his ear separated the sounds. Fromwithin their room, a voice screamed, "Watch out! Take cover!" There wasa blurred racket, as though a giant was running a stick along a monsterpicket fence at jet speed. Scotty was yelling something and Zircon wasbellowing with rage. Then the thunderous stitching noise stopped.

  All three of them started into the room at the same time, and Rickreached the door first. It was dark in the room, but in the faint lightfrom the hallway he saw two figures struggling. He acted withoutthought. On a dresser just inside the door he had left a big flashlight.He grabbed it, jumped into the fray, and brought it down on the head ofthe man on top. The man slumped.

  With a catlike twist the man who had been underneath wriggled free. Rickstarted to say, "What's going..." Then an open hand drove into his faceand pushed him backward into Scotty and Zircon. The three of them foughtfor balance as Rick's assailant ran to the window, leaped out on to thefire escape, and was gone.

  Scotty snapped on the light just as the man Rick had slugged staggeredto his feet, blinking. He was of medium height, with a thin, dark face.He was dressed like a seaman, and apparently he was a Eurasian. Blackeyes blazed at the three of them.

  "Shut that blasted door! And bolt it!" the man commanded.

  Zircon bellowed, "Don't be giving us orders! Explain..."

  "I'm Carl Bradley," the man said.

  Rick swallowed. Of the two men in the room, he had lowered the boom onthe wrong one!

  Scotty shut the door and threw the bolt.

  "I've got to talk fast," Bradley said. "The hotel people will be up herein a few seconds and I don't want them to find me. It would mean toomany explanations, and the police would want a statement I'd rather nothave to give."

  He straddled a chair. "I suppose you've guessed that I was the Eurasianwith the young Englishman. It was just luck I picked him up, and moreluck that we found your rickshaw coolies. Long Shadow's men had you, andLong Shadow was watching. That's why I faded when you got ashore. Iintended following him, for once, instead of being followed myself.About the only thing I don't know about him is his secret headquarters.I didn't think I'd be able to get here, so I whispered to one of youthat I'd phone. Well, Long Shadow led me here, up the fire escape. Wecame by a rather roundabout route, stopping while he ate. I suspected itwas your room, but I didn't know for sure. He came in. I crouched on thefire escape. Didn't know what would happen, of course. Then we heardvoices. I say we--he didn't know I was here, of course. He hauled aSchmeisser machine pistol from under his coat and slipped a clip in.There was just enough light for me to see the outline. It'sdistinctive."

  A queer little shudder zipped down Rick's spine. A Schmeisser! It wasthe pistol known as the "burp gun," that sprayed slugs like a hose. Nowonder he hadn't recognized the sound! He kept his eyes on Bradley,intent on what the slender JANIG man had to say.

  "I yelled out a warning," Bradley went on, "and jumped through thewindow at him. Didn't dare take time to draw my gun. I kept yelling,hoping one of you would give me a hand. He's wiry as a thuggee bandit.Only I got a lump on the head instead."

  "I'm sorry," Rick muttered.

  "The damage is done and he's gone. Now I'll have to locate him again, ifI can. Meanwhile, write this down. Quickly. I think I hear voices comingdown the hall."

  Scotty whipped a pencil and an envelope from an inside pocket.

  "See the consul general. I've talked with him. He will give you a rubberboat and a Nansen bottle I've picked up. Outfit for the trail, and haveplenty of weapons. Fly to Chungking and check in with the consul there.Ask him to give you a reliable guide. You're going to Korse Lenken.That's in Tibet." He spelled the name. "Chahda has gone on ahead. I'llfollow. That's where the heavy water is coming from, I'm pretty sure.Chahda will check up. You can help him, then make tests to be sure it'sreally heavy water. Maybe you can do something about the source of thestuff. You'll have to see when you get there. I've got part of the storyabout what's being done with the water, but not all of it."

  There definitely were voices outside now. The burp gun had brought thehotel people. In a moment there was a hammering on the door.

  Bradley walked to the window. "You can let them in after I've gone. Anyquestions? Quickly!"

  "What's the Nansen bottle for?" Zircon demanded.

  "I don't know. I only know
that Long Shadow bought five of them."Bradley threw a leg over the window sill and grinned at them. "Leave meout of any story you tell. I need a free hand for the next few days. Andthe less the police know about me the better for all of us." Hehesitated as the pounding on the door grew louder, then a key grated inthe lock. "I can tell you this," he said softly. "You can forget aboutan industrial plant. This is something else we're up against."

  Then he was gone.

  "Open the door," Zircon said. For the first time, Rick saw that the bigscientist gripped his right arm just below the elbow, a red, soddenhandkerchief balled in his left hand.

  "You're wounded!" He jumped to the scientist's side.

  "A scratch," Zircon said. "But it saved our lives. Tell you about itlater. Open up, Scotty."

  Scotty threw the door open and the English night clerk, three Chinesepolicemen, and half a dozen coolies piled in.

  "What's going on here?" the clerk demanded. "What happened?"

  "Nothing serious," Zircon said calmly. "There was evidently a bandit inour room. We opened the door and he fired with his submachine gun. Then,when he saw he hadn't killed us, he fled."

  It wasn't a very convincing story. Rick saw suspicion in the faces ofthe hotel people. He threw in his nickel's worth. "What kept you solong? We've been trying to phone." He had a hunch the switchboard cooliewas one of those in the room. Probably everyone on duty had raced up.

  "We heard nothing downstairs," the night clerk said. "The floor cooliecame down to get us. He took his time about it. Why was your doorlocked?"

  Zircon tried hard to look sheepish. "I guess we must have bolted it inthe confusion. Then, when you knocked, we tried to open it. It was a fewseconds before we realized the bolt had been thrown and the doorcouldn't be opened unless the bolt was withdrawn. And the confoundedthing stuck."

  "Why didn't you yell?" one of the policemen demanded.

  "Possibly you were yelling so loud yourselves you didn't hear us,"Zircon said mildly. "You were making considerable noise."

  The clerk frowned. "The manager will have to hear about this," hestated. "I doubt that he will believe your story. You may even be askedto pay damages."

  Zircon drew himself up to his full height. "The day we pay damages forthe privilege of being shot at in this disreputable dive you fatuouslycall a hotel will be the day Hong Kong sinks beneath the sea likeAtlantis. Now have the goodness to clear out and let us get some sleep."

  The clerk's face was scarlet. Rick tried to hide a grin.

  "You'll have to make a formal statement to the police," the clerksnapped.

  "In the morning," Zircon said. "In the morning we intend to see theAmerican consul. You will hear more about this incident than you expect,my dear sir. Now clear out. We need our sleep. This has been mostunsettling."

  One of the policemen pointed to Zircon's bloodstained sleeve. "But youneed medical attention, sir."

  "I happen to be a doctor," Zircon said. That was true enough, but he wasa doctor of science, not of medicine.

  "You expect to treat yourself?" the clerk asked incredulously.

  "Nothing to it," Zircon boomed. "A trifle. Why, once, when hunting inAfrica, I had my back clawed by a lion. I stitched the wounds upmyself."

  The clerk was on the verge of a stroke. "You couldn't treat your ownback," he almost screamed. "Impossible! How could you?"

  "He turned around so he could see what he was doing," Scotty said. "Goodnight, all." He shepherded them through the door and closed it.

  For a moment there was excited conversation from outside, then theclerk, the policemen, and the coolies retreated down the hall.

  "They'll be back," Zircon said wearily, "but not before morning, Ihope."

  Rick looked at Scotty. "He turned around so he could see what he wasdoing," he repeated. "My sainted aunt!"

  "Sewed up his own back," Scotty gibed. "Professor! You told that niceman a fib!"

  "Great big juicy fib," Zircon said gravely. "Do I wash out my mouth withsoap or do I get a medal?"

  "Medal," the boys said, and laughed heartily.

  "Whatever got into you?" Rick asked the scientist.

  Zircon stripped off his coat and rolled up his sleeve. "He was sopompous and so serious that I just couldn't resist. Besides, if I hadbeen serious, we never would have gotten rid of them. Here, Rick. I'llneed antiseptic and a gauze compress for this."

  The boys looked at the wound. As Zircon had said, it was trivial. Theslug had made a neat furrow across the surface of the skin, just deepenough to cause a good flow of blood. The wound already was clotting.

  As Rick bandaged the scientist's brawny arm, Zircon said, "I recoiledinstinctively when Bradley yelled. But not far enough. One slug justnicked me. But those heavy caliber weapons, like our service .45, willknock a man down anywhere they hit him. This one spun me around and Ipiled into you two. I think that is what saved us all."

  "I didn't know what was happening," Rick said.

  "Neither did I," Scotty agreed. "I've seen Schmeissers before, but I'venever heard one fired until now."

  "And let us hope we don't have to hear it again," Zircon added. WhenRick finished bandaging his arm, the professor went to a suitcase andopened it, drawing out a folded map. "I'm curious about Korse Lenken,"he said. "It's a new name to me. This map covers China and a part ofTibet. We may find it."

  After a long search, Scotty whistled. "Here it is. And look where itis!"

  Korse Lenken was a tiny dot in the vastness of the mountains just beyondthe Chinese border at about 95 deg. east longitude and 32 deg. northlatitude. No other town was noted on the map in the area, but highmountains were, and so were rivers. And Chahda was there, alone! Atleast Bradley had not mentioned any companion who traveled with theHindu boy.

  "We'll need to outfit completely," Zircon said. "Food, warm clothing,sleeping bags, and all the rest. And we'll need a rifle for Rick. We canget American rifles here. Also, I think we had better put in a smallsupply of ammunition beyond what we brought."

  For a short while they speculated on the trip, and on the many thingsBradley had left unsaid. It was unfortunate that they couldn't have hada few moments longer. But Rick could see that his presence in the roomwould have needed explaining, since he hadn't traveled up on theelevator. It was better for him to disappear.

  Before getting into bed, they went to the door and opened it. Across thehall, Long Shadow's burp gun had made a fine mess. Plaster hung inpatches and the laths behind were broken and splintered. Fortunately,the room opposite was a storage closet, so no one else had been in theline of fire. Rick looked at the dozens of holes and shook his head.

  "If we'd been right in the doorway," he said, "we would now be so fullof holes they could use us for mosquito netting--if the holes weren't sobig." He looked at the other two and added, "I'm beginning to think LongShadow doesn't like us."