Show f rTe Je Serial Ser Gateway to Death By Brett Halliday t Read a new mystery serial complete every week in The Telegram CHAPTER ONE O ONEN OEN N armed sentry stood outside the door i He lie e opened th the door when the rangy detective said Sn Mike Shayne ere were four uniformed men mende mende mende de the room Captain Ott Mili Mill Intelligence sat behind a ai i topped desk Another officer at his right A soldier wear- wear the three stripes of a buck cant stood a little back from front rant of the desk with folded s 5 his bronzed face impassive stood at rigid attention of or Captain Otts Ott's desk He young and he looked fright- fright plain Ott nodded as the door d behind the Miami private live tive He leaned back in his r and said casu casually all This is tain thin Richards And Sergeant ce e. e And Private Carson Mil Mi- Mi l 1 Shayne captain Richards nodded and ted something He had a are are are re harsh face with round inking eyes Sergeant Blake Im pleased to meet you Private Carson said nothing ayne ran knobby f fingers Ugh gh his bristly red hair and past the desk to a chair at left A muscle was jumping c e privates private's tight jaw 1 LED you over Ott told t because we may need your Private Carson killed a man plight fight ight It was in line of duty Jit ate to Carson was walking post ard and last night at one of our f illations Illations on the keys south of At two thirty a civilian ap- ap Ched rh his post Private Carson ed him to stop but the man forward He repeated order and after the third It he added the warning orI or I fire The man continued forand ford for- for d and in the moonlight was to thrust his hand inside his Private Carson fired as was B duty The man fell forward j a got to his knees and at- at fo to o le level l a pistol l. l Carson again agam killing him hayne shrugged and lit a cig- cig tte He must have been drunk pt p pf f or nuts c t would seem so Ott agreed ly He was not drunk He ced down at a notation in nt of him The dead man hasen has hasen en en n identified as Lester Moore Coral Gables Sha Shayne ne frowned down at his arette Dinky Moore Short Ed d slight featured Dark-featured 1 eU Ott glanced at Captain Rich- Rich He nodded That about fits fa doesn't it Sergeant i e e sergeant said To a T. T T Sir e eL L CAPTAIN RICHARDS is comly corny comy com corn ly y Commander Ott explained 1 hd d Sergeant Blake was Ser- Ser nt of the Guard last night hayne crossed one knee over other and slowly exhaled oke His forehead was it f 1 ed cd above e bushy red brows l inky Moore wasn't deaf nor y A cheap punk punk out out for any eked dollar he could get his ds on He shook his head I It It It Iy t see Dinky walking up an Army forty five the curious thing He tint seem at all afraid As dough he was positive there was wasi i iii to real danger Isn't that the impression im im- you got Carson I AYes Yes sir The young private kept ept his eyes straight ahead His voice pice ice trembled He kept right on ming oming Didn't say a word f I Shayne said This post on the keys Is it by any chance the same post ost where practically this same thing happened not more than a month ago It is Ott told him flatly In that case the man approached the front gate which was open He was unarmed but disregarded the sentry's entry's warnings in almost the i same manner It was proved however however how how- ever er that he was quite drunk We considered his death accidental until until until- The Captain spread out bis his hands G I You think theres there's a up tie-up i I T could be coincidence but but but- the Irhe Military Intelligence officer his hands up in fists Since the war there have been perhaps half a dozen such deaths throughout theun the un try Irresponsible youngsters owing off or drunks drunks maybe ts t's pushing coincidence pretty far faro o have two of those deaths occur it t one post under almost al circumstances within a few weeks of each other You think said Shayne care care- ully tally that Dinky Moore thought though he the fix was on Then he tooke took e sentry's warnings as just a expecting expecting another sentry r be on duty 1 Ill Im afraid I am thinking alon along g bat hat line That's why I called yo you gu u Jn Shayne To help with the out jide fide de investigation if you will Do you suspect attempted sa tage 1 I dont don't know what I suspect d d p hayne Ott Ott's Otts s voice was weary jI will Wn tell you you this The military militar k ent in m question is on one e I f our most closely guarded mill mil ary ry secrets So far as 38 I know lou ou are the first civilian to br b bt 0 t r ld that it is 15 in reality a secret t 1 base baser Captain Richard s the infantry compan I E III on detached service to guard the installation The navy personnel for refueling and refitting submarines submarines submarines sub sub- marines live and work underground underground underground under under- ground in carefully camouflaged quarters and shops S HAYNE tugged at the lobe of or his his lis left car ear and nodded slowly Its It's a well-kept well secret I thought it was just a small post for our coastal patrol Captain Ott said what everyone is supposed to think The need for secrecy has been drilled into Captain Richards' Richards infantrymen in- in They are allowed only rare are six-hour six passes off the post which gives them no time for carousing arousing and indiscreet talk in town own No one Is allowed inside the he wire fence at any time woven Close wire Captain Richards put in with the three gates under constant guard day and nd night Shayne transferred his attention attention atten- atten tion ion to the infantry officer How often are the guards changed A new detail every twenty-four twenty hours ours Twelve men with a noncommissioned noncommissioned non- non commissioned officer in charge There here are four posts Captain Richards went on to explain Three men are assigned to each post ost Two hours on duty and four off ff You were in charge e of the detail deail detail de- de tail ail last night Shayne looked at t the sergeant From four o'clock yesterday afternoon How did you select the men menor for or their tours of duty on the various arious posts I HAD them count off by fours as s they lined up for guard mount The he first four took the first hitch four our to six on posts one two three and four in order The second sec sec- ond nd group took the second hitch six ix to eight Shayne considered this for a moment Then their position inline in line ine determined what time they'd be e on duty at which post Could Couldman a man plan where to get in line to o be selected for a certain post at t a certain time Not a chance of it it Sergeant Blake shook his head doggedly Ve We vary the routine of selection very every day just to prevent that Sometimes we count them off by bv threes one one two and three for for Post Jost Number One and so on Sometimes we start at the other end end nd And sometimes we have them pull mil numbers out of a hat hat Shayne shook his head hopelessly hope- hope lessly essly And you dont don't allow any trading trading trad- trad ing ng of posts or tours after themen the themen themen men are assigned No sir That is not is-not not officially Sometimes the men may trade around round a little among themselves The sergeant darted an embarrassed embarrassed embar- embar assed glance at his captain But there here wasn't any of that last night ight I swear there Pr Private vate Carson gave a slight start tart and cleared his throat Captain Captain Cap- Cap tain ain Ott asked Do you want to add anything to what Sergeant Blake has just told us The youthful soldier wet his lips no N sir he stammered I INo INo I 1 No sir Shayne glanced at Ott Is the youngster under arrest No Private Carson carried out his lis orders last night in a soldierly manner As long as the man refused refused reused re re- fused used to halt he had no choice except to fire Shayne nodded and got up Ill nose around and see what I can find ind out about Dinky Moore And Andle he le told Captain Richards Id like ike to look over the ground later and talk to the tho other eleven men who vho were on guard duty Continued Tomorrow Distributed by King Feature Syndicate |