OCR Text |
Show Sylvia Taylor w., wk THE STORY SO FAR: Joan Leland Is trapped, when her employer, Karl Miller, Mil-ler, with whom she Is In love, shoots his business partner, Eric Strom. He asks her to pick up the gun, then threatens threat-ens to accuse her of the murder unless she continues her work and remains silent. si-lent. She is horrified when he confesses he Is a German spy and has a wife In Germany. Warned against Karl by her sister, Sybil, and Karl's manager, Paul Sherman, Joan bad blindly defended the man she felt in love with. Paul reveals be is really Paul O'Malley, an FBI agent trying to trap the Nazi spy ring. Sybil Is missing and Paul believes Karl Is holding her as a hostage. Karl dines with a beautiful young girl hired as a singer, in reality Paul's young run-away sister, Patricia, who Innocently betrays Paul's identity. Joan and Paul discover a secret foreign radio transmitter belonging be-longing to Karl, with bomber plans, but are captured by Karl, who Imprisons Impris-ons them on a boat. They announce their love to each other and meetThomas, another victim of Karl's. Paul succeeds suc-ceeds In altering the bomber plans, then decides to try and get a radio message through the ship's set. Now continue with the story. CHAPTER XV She had scarcely uttered the words when Karl Miller's powerful figure loomed in the doorway. He held a pistol. It was less than half an hour later when Thomas returned saying, "Come on deck. It's here!" They followed him to the rail. The misty rain and gray sky and sea made it difficult to focus their vision vi-sion but Joan suddenly saw the periscope peri-scope of a submarine rising slowly from the water. j "There it is! -I see it!" "Yes. That is it," Paul said Quietly. Qui-etly. Karl appeared from the captain's quarters. They could see him descending de-scending the narrow flight of stairs. He was dressed in uniform and called sharp commands to three sailors sai-lors who stood at the rail preparing to lower a small boat. "Is Karl going to the submarine?" Joan asked. "Probably they will come to the ship," Paul said speculatively. "Yes, that's right," Thomas put in, nodding his head. "I've seen them do it before. Karl gives them the papers and they're gone again." "You don't think Karl has found out that you changed those plans?" Joan said nervously. "He doesn't seem to." Men appeared from the hold of the ship. All stood at attention as the hatch of the submarine opened and two officers appeared. As Thomas Thom-as had predicted, the boat carried them to the ship and they all went to the pilot house. "What will they do now?" Joan asked. "Gjt the papers and go back." "Ana all those plans will be used?" "Yes. Not only plans for bomb- hand instinctively touched the gun in her coat pocket. "Karl won't kill anyone," Paul said, calmly lighting a cigarette. Joan had already noticed that Paul had the faculty of inspiring trust Thomas seemed to be relieved by his assurance, vague and indefinite indefi-nite though it was. Joan, too, felt some inner faith, some conviction that Paul could master any situation. situa-tion. It was a little after seven when Thomas motioned them to come outside. out-side. Karl and the officers were on the lower deck. They watched as the officers descended de-scended the rope ladder and were rowed back to the submarine. In the darkness it was hard to distinguish dis-tinguish them. It was like some evil mirage, as their vague shapes disappeared dis-appeared down the hatch, then slowly slow-ly the submarine submerged. "It's the most terrible thing I've ever seen," Joan said, moving closer clos-er to Paul. "It's symbolic of all the bidden terror in the world today." "And it's my job to do all I can to stop it," said Paul. "You'll never stop Karl and his kind. There are too many of them," Thomas said sadly. "It would take years." "We'll stop them all right, no matter mat-ter how long it takes, and every little bit helps. If we can get to the bottom of this unit, it will frighten fright-en the others. Every man in the FBI is working day and night tracking track-ing down these people. We'll catch up with every one of them eventually." to die, you are wrong," Paul said calmly. "To die for a purpose like this could almost be called a pleasure." pleas-ure." Joan wondered how he could tall! like that at a time like this, but Karl had a faint glimmer of approval ap-proval in his cold eyes. "I admire your courage, Mr. O'Malley. Too bad that you fight on the wrong side. If you had joined with me, we might have gone far together." His hand raised the pistol, his finger was pressed against the trigger. Joan saw Thomas motion to her and she knew instantly what she must do. She snatched the gun from her pocket and fired it directly at Karl Miller. With an expression of complete incredulity, he crumpled to the floor. The gun fell from Joan's hand as she stared with unseeing eyes before be-fore her. "I've killed him," she whispered. Paul's arm was about her. "Don't think about it. We're getting out of here." Thomas took a timid step forward. "It served him right," he declared with satisfaction." "Where did she get that gun?" Paul demanded. "I gave it to her." "I've killed him," Joan repeated. Paul motioned to Thomas and together to-gether they helped her from the cabin. Outside complete darkness, a slight wind and the misty rain. "Do you think you can get those papers from the safe?" Paul asked Thomas. "I'll wait here with Joan." Thomas looked fearfully over his shoulder. "There's nothing to be afraid of now," Paul said. "Go quickly before be-fore the others find out what has happened." Paul and Joan waited under the narrow ledge of canvas. Large drops of rain splattered down on the deck. Joan clung to Paul's arm unable to speak. "It won't be long now, honey," he said. "Try to bear up just a little while longer." Thomas returned almost instantly with the papers and handed them to Paul. "I didn't see anyone," he reported. "This all seems too easy." . "Never mind that," Paul said. "Do you think we can lower a boat?" "Sure. But we'll have to go down to the boat deck and one of them will see us. They all know what's what. They'd shoot us down like Karl would have. We haven't a chance of getting oil this boat." "There's no time to argue," Paul insisted. "I know what I'm doing. Now let's go." As they descended the stairs there was no one in sight. The boat used to take the officers back to the submarine sub-marine was still in the water. "What luck!" Thomas said. Ing planes, but formulas for explosives explo-sives and poison gas. This spy ring has connections in every part of our country. It's a powerful organization organiza-tion and the leader's the one we want. Getting Karl alone wouldn't do any good. If he were in jail the rest of his life, it wouldn't stop the rest of them." "How terrible!" Joan shuddered. "That isn't the worst of it," Paul went on. "They intimidate people who have relatives in Germany, threatening to harm them unless money and aid is given. Many people peo-ple are drawn into it this way." "Yes!" Thomas cried. "That's what happened to me. Karl told me my wife would be put into a concentration camp if I didn't give him five thousand dollars. She was still in Germany, you see, so I tried to raise the money but I couldn't. So Karl offered to put it up for me if I would come on this ship. But I've never heard from my wife since." "We may as well go inside," Paul said. "Apparently this conference is going to take some time." "I don't like the look of it," Thomas Thom-as insisted. "Usually they're here only a few minutes." "Do you really think anything is wrong?" Joan asked anxiously as Joan's heart was full of pride in his words. Paul caught her glance and smiled. She was clutching her purse and gloves, ready to depart, as he had said, "at a moment's notice." "We're not going to get out of this as soon as I thought," he told her now as they went back into the lounge. "May as well sit down and relax." "Not me," Thomas insisted. "I'm going to stay on deck. If Karl does come, I don't want to make things look any worse than they already are." "Odd that Karl trusts you here with us," Paul meditated. "He trusts me," Thomas declared, "because he knows I'm afraid of him." But though neither Joan nor Paul would admit it, both thought that Karl was too clever to overlook the possibility that Thomas might aid Karl's prisoners. Had he deliberately deliber-ately planned it this way? "Drink your tea, dear," Paul advised. ad-vised. "This may be the last food we'll have for quite a while." They smiled, sending each other a message of courage. The ship lay quietly. They had not moved since the arrival of the submarine. she and Paul went into the lounge. "It doesn't look too good," Paul admitted. "Be ready for anything. If you want your purse, you'd better bet-ter get it now. We may be off the ship before another hour passes." Automatically Joan went into her cabin and gathered up her things. It seemed fantastic that they could escape from a boat in mid-ocean. "All set?" Paul said as she stood resolutely before him. "Ready for anything!" Joan said bravely. But almost an hour passed and nothing happened. The ship rested tranquilly by the side of the submarine. sub-marine. The rain continued. Thomas Thom-as watched from the deck. Paul smoked endless cigarettes as he paced the length of the cabin. "I don't like this delay," he admitted. "Things aren't going as I had planned." Thomas came into the cabin where Joan and Paul waited, with tea and toast. "There must be something wrong," he whispered. "Karl must have found out about those plans." Paul frowned but said, "Not necessarily." "But if he has. what then? How will we ever escape?" Joan put in. Thomas poured the tea and his hand trembled. "He'll know I helped you. He'll kill me." Joan, remembering Eric Strom, was filled with a vague terror. Her Thomas stood patiently outside. The rain on his slicker gleamed in the darkness. "I think he's more worried than we are," Paul commented. Thomas' shuffling footsteps came suddenly to their ears; also a hard tread ascending the stairs. "It's Karl!" Joan whispered. She had scarcely uttered the words when Karl Miller's powerful figure loomed in the doorway. He held a pistol. Paul and Joan faced him silently. Behind his back Joan saw the terrified terri-fied eyes of Thomas. "You amaze me, Mr. O'Malley," Karl said coolly. "A man in the government service should be more clever than you have been." "Meaning what?" Paul inquired with assumed indifference. "Do you really think me so stupid?" stu-pid?" Karl smiled. "Do you think I would hand over important papers without checking them first?" "Sorry to disrupt your little plan. You could see for yourself that they are quite worthless now." "Quite." Karl said coolly. "But I feel that your government would have preferred to lose the plans and have you alive." "No!" Joan screamed, sensing his meaning. "Shut up! I will deal with you later. Perhaps you will learn that death is preferable to some things." "If you imagine r1- I am afraid "Not luck," Paul replied. "It's there for a purpose. You go down first and I'll help Joan." Thomas disappeared over the side. "Do you think you can make it, honey?" Paul asked Joan, looking anxiously into her white face. "I'll go first and you follow me." Tremulously Joan obeyed. The ladder swayed with her weight and the rope scraped her hands as she grasped it fiercely. Step by step she went down until at last she felt Paul's arms lifting her to safety. Thomas loosened the rope that held them to the ship. "This won't work, Mr. O'Malley. They'll shoot us like dogs. We haven't a chance." But he was wrong. They rowed away unmolested. The ship was like a ghost; not one of the crew was in sight Later fatigue held her prisoner and with her head buried in her arms she fell into a deep sleep . . . When she awoke it was to brilliant bril-liant sunshine streaming from a blue cloudless sky. Her muscles were stiff and cramped. Paul watched her, smiling. "Feel better?" She sat up and stretched her aching ach-ing back. "I don't know how I could have slept like that." "If you want the truth," Paul grinned, "I put a sleeping powder in your tea late yesterday afternoon. I figured on something like this." (TO BE CO. TlUED) |