temporary oblivion.
Something had happened along the balcony. This was the result. How he had arrived in this car was no puzzle; obviously, mobsters had brought him here. The mystery was why he still remained alive.
A roar filled The Shadow's ears; for a moment, he could not identify it. Then it became the rumble of an elevated train, passing above. The Shadow had some idea of his whereabouts. A voice told him more. It was Ludy's voice, whispering to the thug on the other side.
'No chance of anybody tailin' us after we swing off here,' spoke Ludy. 'An' this is goin' to be th' last of them gas jobs - finishin' this mug.'
Ludy nudged The Shadow. The thug on the other side felt the shift of the cloaked shoulders and gave an approving grunt. A shrill whistle cleaved from the corner; somewhere ahead and to the left. It was the cop's signal for traffic to move.
The sedan started forward; its wheels veered slightly to the left. Ludy was on The Shadow's right; as the car swung more sharply, The Shadow's weight shifted in that direction.
NEW thoughts were flashing through The Shadow's brain. The car was cutting across in front of the traffic cop. Once away, it would reach a region where gunfire would not matter. From the ease with which he swayed, The Shadow knew that he was no longer weighted with automatics. His weapons had been taken from him.
If there would be any chance for a break, this was it. Ludy was shoving The Shadow downward in the seat; that gun on the right side had drifted. The muzzle was just clear of The Shadow's ribs; but it would be pressing them within another second.
The Shadow took advantage of that time interval.
With the car still wheeling left, he let himself roll toward Ludy; then, with both hands, The Shadow made a blind grab for the thug's gun hand. His clutch landed, just as the revolver again poked toward his chest.
Ludy wasn't quick enough with the trigger. Chucking monkey wrenches was about the limit of his real ability. The Shadow had shoved the gun muzzle away before Ludy could fire; without relinquishing his grip, the cloaked fighter made another move. Bracing both feet on the floor, he hauled Ludy upward and sideways with one long yank.
Before the sedan had completed its left turn, Ludy was floundering across The Shadow, to sprawl heavily on the thug who guarded from the other side.
Quill heard the commotion; with it, Ludy's snarl and a rasp from the thug on the left. Quill jammed the brakes; at the same instant, The Shadow grabbed the handle of the rear right door.
The Shadow had wriggled from the muzzle of the second gun, and he didn't wait an instant. The door flapped open, The Shadow's weight behind it. In a long, reckless dive, The Shadow hit the street, close beside an 'el' pillar.
A gun blasted while The Shadow plunged; it was a shot from the thug on the left. But Ludy's flop ruined the gunner's aim. The bullet buried itself in the arm cushions of the rear seat.
The Shadow took a bad jolt when he hit the cobbles. Half groggy, he had made a blundering dive. He rolled over, trying dizzily to reach the shelter of the steel pillar only a few yards distant. Out of that whirl, he sighted the halted sedan.
Ludy had recovered. Turning about, the fellow was on the running board, aiming for The Shadow. Ludy had the target that he wanted; he was ready to riddle The Shadow's out-sprawled form. Defenseless, The Shadow could provide no counter-thrust.
There was intervention, though, upon which The Shadow had depended. It came at that needed instant.
NOT only had the traffic cop seen the sedan's sudden stop; he had also heard the shot from its interior.
He had pulled a revolver of his own, by the time that Ludy poked from the car door.
The officer didn't see The Shadow; he hadn't looked soon enough to spot the whirl of black that had dived from the open door. But he saw Ludy, and caught the gleam of the gun that the savage thug aimed.
The policeman fired. Framed in the car door, Ludy was a perfect target. The slug found its mark; Ludy pitched to the street. His own gun sailed from his fingers, clattering ahead of him.
From hands and knees, The Shadow scooped the weapon on the bounce, then managed a turnabout toward the elevated pillar.
Other guns began to talk; their bullets were useless. Crooks had a fleeting target, gone before they could take accurate aim. After that, their shots pinged the steel pillar. The Shadow was beyond it.
The traffic cop joined fire, but he couldn't clip the low-crouched crooks. Profiting by Ludy's fate, they were staying inside the sedan.
Quill gave the car a sudden start, intending to round the pillar and get a new shot at The Shadow. He couldn't make the turn he wanted, for it would bring him broadside to the traffic officer's fire. Instead, he wheeled the car for the side street, halted it beside a fire-plug.
As the mobsters looked back from their car, they saw a new crisis strike. Roaring down the avenue, the second sedan was bearing squarely for the traffic cop. He heard the advance fire of guns, swung about too late.
In the very middle of the crossing, the officer was flat-footed in the new car's path. He was due to take a crushing impact before he could budge.
A gun stabbed from an angle; its quick-fire reports were as timely as the shot that the policeman had given to save The Shadow. This time, The Shadow was returning the favor that the cop had unwittingly bestowed.
From beside the big pillar, The Shadow had the very bead he wanted. The angle gave him a human target: the driver of that oncoming car. He handled Ludy's .38 with a precision that would have amazed the gun's former owner, had Ludy been in a condition to appreciate it.
Literally, The Shadow's bullets picked the driver from the wheel, tilted him askew. The fellow caved sideways through the window, his arms flopping with him. His hands lost the grip with which he had started to veer the car toward the trapped policeman.
Even then, the cop had no time to shift; but he didn't need it. The sedan swerved, uncontrolled; missed the officer by a one-foot margin. Its far wheels crunched across Ludy's body, crushing the life from the wounded thug.
Then, jounced by the human obstruction, the sedan made another veer. Sideswiping the pillar where The Shadow stood, the roaring car ricocheted to another post, to halt there with a head-on crash.
THE driver was dead; but the other three were lucky. With the accelerator no longer pressed, the car had lost some of its momentum when it hit the final pillar. Three men leaped from the wreck; headed by Bosco, they dashed for Quill's car.
When the sedan glanced the pillar beside him, The Shadow had flung himself clear. He was coming to his feet, but he had no time to harry Bosco and the fleeing men. Quill and his pals in the first car were opening fire in The Shadow's direction.
This time, to use the pillar as shelter, The Shadow had to leap to the middle of the avenue. As he took that spring, crooks gave a gleeful shout. They saw The Shadow's figure suddenly outlined in the glow of big headlights.
A truck was pounding along the avenue; its driver had heard the shooting and wanted to get past the corner. He gave the air brakes when he saw The Shadow in his path. It was too late for a short-notice stop.
Crooks saw The Shadow flatten, as though pitched forward by the truck's bumper. The huge vehicle lumbered a dozen feet farther obscuring the black-cloaked figure from view. It was Quill who spoke the thought that flashed to every man with him.
'The Shadow got it!' rasped Quill. 'Just like Ludy did. This is where we scram!'
Bosco and the others were now in the car. Quill gave the sedan the gas. The traffic cop, rounding the front of the big truck, was too late to spot anything except the twinkle of tail-lights.
'You gummed it swell!' the officer told the shaky truck driver. 'What'd you stop here for? I'd just gotten another bead on that mob.'
'There was a guy in front of me,' gulped the truck driver. 'I didn't want to run him down.'
'You mean him?' The officer pointed to Ludy's body. 'He was bit already.'
'No, it wasn't him.' The trucker shook his head. 'It was a guy that just looked like something black. He took a dive, just as I hit him. He's under the wheels, right now!'
