next exercise, and that means I can’t finish my daily dozen. I been trying this every night for a week and still ain’t up to exercise number three.”
“Lieutenant Allen in?” asked the affable young man.
“Sure, Mr. Early. You can just walk on down the hall and knock.” He made another try at his toes.
“Don’t bend your knees.”
“Did I?”
Early went down the pale green corridor and knocked on Lieutenant Allen’s door. Nothing happened. He knocked once again.
Allen pulled the door open. “I said come in.”
“Didn’t hear you. Sorry.”
The mustached lieutenant wandered behind his desk. “What brings you here, Early?”
“What’s that?”
“I said what are you here about?”
“Found out something about the two the Avenger brought in.”
“He didn’t actually bring them in, Early. It was a couple of his sidekicks.”
“Avenger’s behind it all,” said the young government agent. “Anyway. The one who pretended to be Schantz, real name’s Hermansdorfer.”
“What about him?”
“I didn’t hear your question.”
“I said what about Hermansdorfer?”
“Got a pretty positive link between him and the sabotage gang,” said Early. “Meaning the Avenger is after spies, too. He may be pretending something else, but he’s trying to beat me to the punch again. Same way he did out in California. It doesn’t matter where I go any more—New England, the Southern California desert, Long Island. He’s always there.”
Rubbing at his mustache, Allen sat down and put his elbows on his desk. “You got an obsession, Early. I’ve seen it happen before. We had a plainclothes man named Russell here before the war, and he developed the same kind of fix about a cheap hood named Baby Face Ellison. All he thought about. Every crime on Long Island, from a bank job to the robbing of the till at a miniature golf course, he tried to tie it to Ellison. If the war hadn’t come along and put him in the MPs, I don’t know what might have happened.”
“Obsession is a fantasy, Lieutenant,” said Agent Early. “The Avenger is always working on the same cases as I am. What’s worse, he always solves them ahead of me. When I first met him last year, I was known for my easygoing nature.”
“You’re still pretty calm and collected, Early,” said the policeman. “Suppose you forget the Avenger and his gang, tell me about Hermansdorfer.”
“One of my men has seen Hermansdorfer visiting a tobacco shop in Rocky Point,” said Early. “We’re fairly certain the shopkeeper is a foreign agent. Not an important one, just somebody who passes along orders and money now and then.”
Allen gave his mustache a thoughtful tug. “Hermansdorfer’s record shows he’ll hire out to almost anybody,” he said. “Could be he’s working for the sabotage boys and for someone else altogether.”
“Don’t think so.”
“Why?”
“What’s that?”
“I said why?”
Early rubbed at a wrinkle in his raincoat. “Call it a hunch.”
“I got nothing against hunches, but for building theories that hold up, I like facts better.”
“Going to get facts,” said the young agent. “If the Avenger doesn’t beat me to them.”
“You need a vacation,” said Lieutenant Allen in his low voice.
CHAPTER XIV
Give ’Em the Ax
Very few people can keep from flinching when an ax is hurled directly at them.
Gruber couldn’t.
He jerked to one side, but managed to pull the trigger of his automatic.
The slug hit Josh, who’d suddenly tossed the ax that had been resting on his foot. It hit him over a lower rib and drove him staggering back; the black man bumped into one of the round black tables, knocking it over, falling to the floor.
In the seconds while that was happening the unique streamlined blue-steel .22 which Benson had dubbed Mike appeared in his right hand. He fired once.
The shot smacked the weapon from the off-balanced hand of Gruber.
Cole spun and jumped to Josh’s side. “How’re you
“Lieutenant Allen in?” asked the affable young man.
“Sure, Mr. Early. You can just walk on down the hall and knock.” He made another try at his toes.
“Don’t bend your knees.”
“Did I?”
Early went down the pale green corridor and knocked on Lieutenant Allen’s door. Nothing happened. He knocked once again.
Allen pulled the door open. “I said come in.”
“Didn’t hear you. Sorry.”
The mustached lieutenant wandered behind his desk. “What brings you here, Early?”
“What’s that?”
“I said what are you here about?”
“Found out something about the two the Avenger brought in.”
“He didn’t actually bring them in, Early. It was a couple of his sidekicks.”
“Avenger’s behind it all,” said the young government agent. “Anyway. The one who pretended to be Schantz, real name’s Hermansdorfer.”
“What about him?”
“I didn’t hear your question.”
“I said what about Hermansdorfer?”
“Got a pretty positive link between him and the sabotage gang,” said Early. “Meaning the Avenger is after spies, too. He may be pretending something else, but he’s trying to beat me to the punch again. Same way he did out in California. It doesn’t matter where I go any more—New England, the Southern California desert, Long Island. He’s always there.”
Rubbing at his mustache, Allen sat down and put his elbows on his desk. “You got an obsession, Early. I’ve seen it happen before. We had a plainclothes man named Russell here before the war, and he developed the same kind of fix about a cheap hood named Baby Face Ellison. All he thought about. Every crime on Long Island, from a bank job to the robbing of the till at a miniature golf course, he tried to tie it to Ellison. If the war hadn’t come along and put him in the MPs, I don’t know what might have happened.”
“Obsession is a fantasy, Lieutenant,” said Agent Early. “The Avenger is always working on the same cases as I am. What’s worse, he always solves them ahead of me. When I first met him last year, I was known for my easygoing nature.”
“You’re still pretty calm and collected, Early,” said the policeman. “Suppose you forget the Avenger and his gang, tell me about Hermansdorfer.”
“One of my men has seen Hermansdorfer visiting a tobacco shop in Rocky Point,” said Early. “We’re fairly certain the shopkeeper is a foreign agent. Not an important one, just somebody who passes along orders and money now and then.”
Allen gave his mustache a thoughtful tug. “Hermansdorfer’s record shows he’ll hire out to almost anybody,” he said. “Could be he’s working for the sabotage boys and for someone else altogether.”
“Don’t think so.”
“Why?”
“What’s that?”
“I said why?”
Early rubbed at a wrinkle in his raincoat. “Call it a hunch.”
“I got nothing against hunches, but for building theories that hold up, I like facts better.”
“Going to get facts,” said the young agent. “If the Avenger doesn’t beat me to them.”
“You need a vacation,” said Lieutenant Allen in his low voice.
CHAPTER XIV
Give ’Em the Ax
Very few people can keep from flinching when an ax is hurled directly at them.
Gruber couldn’t.
He jerked to one side, but managed to pull the trigger of his automatic.
The slug hit Josh, who’d suddenly tossed the ax that had been resting on his foot. It hit him over a lower rib and drove him staggering back; the black man bumped into one of the round black tables, knocking it over, falling to the floor.
In the seconds while that was happening the unique streamlined blue-steel .22 which Benson had dubbed Mike appeared in his right hand. He fired once.
The shot smacked the weapon from the off-balanced hand of Gruber.
Cole spun and jumped to Josh’s side. “How’re you
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