The man withdrew his hand, obviously satisfied. By the hall light Tom could see that he was holding a small metal panel with a red button on it. Several wires dangled free at one end.
With the man intensely absorbed in the device and the beamer lying on the floor beside him, Tom knew this was the moment for action.
He leaped, caught the man off balance, and knocked him to the floor, rolling him away from the beamer. A scuffle followed, but finally both got to their feet.
The masked man swung furiously at Tom and kicked him viciously.
Tom retaliated with three quick uppercuts that staggered his opponent. In desperation the man dived at Tom, slammed him against the banister, and lunged for the beamer.
Tom grabbed his ankles with a flying tackle that sent the masked man sprawling. Bud, with Radnor at his heels, charged up the stairs and grabbed the beamer while Radnor unmasked the man.
“Slick Steck!” Radnor cried.
While the prisoner glared in hatred at his captors, Steck was marched downstairs, where Mrs. Riley was being revived by Dr. Morrow. She opened her eyes and gazed in terror.
THE MASKED INTRUDER 167
“Oh!” she screamed. “That’s the man! It’s that Slick fellow!”
“Start talking, Slick!” Radnor barked at the bank robber.
“I’m not saying a word,” replied the man. “You’ve got nothing on me.”
“Okay. We’ll let the police do it.” Tom turned away.
A cunning light came into the prisoner’s eyes. “I might trade a little information for my freedom,” he said. “Just what is it you’re interested in finding out, Swift?”
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150