The Veiled Lady by Lee Falk Page B

sergeant.

    "All right, Orlando," said Colonel Weeks to the pilot. "What's this all about?"

    "My doctor says I'm not supposed to have visitors."

    "Your doctor also says you had your appendix out over a year ago," the colonel reminded him. He put one big weathered hand on the pilot's shoulder. "Why are you pretending to be sick?"

    Orlando straightened, and ran his fingers through his curly hair. "Oh, I got scared," he said, trying a smile on the colonel and then the sergeant. "When you're a family man you can't, you know, afford to take too many daredevil jobs."

    Colonel Weeks had his big hand still pressing the young man's shoulder. "I don't think you'd dodge us simply because you didn't want to admit to being a coward," he said. "Now you listen to me, Orlando. Right now three people are missing, one of them a woman. I want to know what happened to those three and I'm going to keep at it until I do." He swung his other hand up to clutch the pilot's other shoulder. "This may even turn out to be murder, Orlando."

    "Gabe wasn't going to kill anybody," said Orlando, trying to back away. He was already up against the black-iron bars of the fence.

    "What was he going to do?" demanded the colonel in an even voice.

    Orlando kept his eyes from meeting those of the JP commander. "I don't know."

    "What did he tell you? Why did he want to take Doctor Love's flight into ?"

    "I'm not sure, Colonel, believe me."

    "But Gabe did arrange for you to drop out."

    Orlando licked his upper lip before answering. "Not Gabe, exactly."

    "Someone else?"

    "Look," began Orlando, "I'll tell you what I know, Colonel, but you have to believe me when I say I had no idea Gabe was planning any violence."

"Did they pay you to give him your place?"

    Slowly, Orlando nodded. "Yes, two hundred dollars. With a family, you know, that-"

    "Who gave you the money?"

    "Well, I'm not sure who he was," said Orlando. "A big guy, Portuguese, I think, has a left eye that's always half-closed. He hangs out around the field now and then. I think he might be tied in with one of the shipping companies down by the harbor."

    "Lemos," said Sergeant Barnum, recognizing the man from the description. "That sounds like that

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    guy Lemos."

    "Yes, it could be," agreed the colonel. "Now, Orlando, why did he pay you to quit the flight?"

    "He wanted Gabe to take it," said Orlando. "He knew if I backed out at the last minute Gabe would be the one to pilot Doctor Love and her buddy."

    "Why did they want Gabe to do it?"

    "I don't know, Colonel. I really don't know."

    The colonel studied the pilot's face for nearly a half minute. "Did you talk to Gabe about any of this?"

    "No, sir, I never saw Gabe after this guy-Lemos, is it?-aftar he paid me. I just stayed home, gave the field my sick story," said Orlando. "I never knew, believe me, Gabe was planning to kill them. Is that what he did?"

    "We don't know." The colonel let go of him. "But we're going to find out." He turned, leaving the young man slumped back against the twisted black bars.

    When they were hack in the jeep Sergeant Barnum asked, "Do we look for Lemos?"

    "We do," said the colonel. "I want to find out who he's working for."

    CHAPTER ELEVEN
     
    Down through the giant leaves and petals droned an enormous bee, heading straight for the Phantom.
    Its body was larger than that of a horse, its great whirring wings were several feet in length, and they refracted the afternoon light like stained-glass windows. The bee's deadly stinger was the size of a bayonet. The angry buzzing grew louder as the creature flew toward the Phantom.

    Beside the wreckage of Doctor Love's fallen helicopter, the masked man braced himself. "This has to be what she saw," he said. "A gigantic bee. Their ship must have been attacked by one as they were coming down." He kept his eyes on the bee, Guran's poison-tipped spear ready in his hands.

    The bee dived right for him. The Phantom dodged to one side, thrusting his spear in and out of