Doc Savage - The Freckled Shark Part 16

"Exactly. He is aided by his daughter. Also by another rascal named Jep Dee. And by a villainous group of men headed by a man known as Horst."

"Horst is working for Tex Haven?" Doc asked.

"He was."

"What do you mean-was?"

"They have fallen out. Quarreled. Now they are fighting over the loot."

Doc inquired, "What loot?"

"The Tex Haven gang has stolen a lot of money from Blanca Grande," Senor Steel explained grimly. "They have seized prominent people and are holding them somewhere for ransom. That is the loot."

"I see," Doc said.

"I want you," Senor Steel told Doc Savage, "to help me wipe out the Havens, Jep Dee and Horst.""My services are never for hire," Doc Savage explained.

"I know that. My government will donate a million dollars to any charity you wish to name."

Doc Savage considered what had been said. It sounded truthful. It was all reasonable, too, since the more violent kind of modern politicians had been known to do such things. And Senor Steel's voice certainly had a ring of truth.

"Care to go with me?" Doc Savage asked.

"Of course."

THIRTY minutes later, Doc Savage cautiously approached the spot where Rhoda Haven was guarding Monk and Johnny during the absence of Henry Peace, who, as far as the girl knew, was still on his trip to fetch Jep Dee. Neither Doc nor Senor Steel showed themselves, at the bronze man's suggestion.

Monk was doing some loud talking, probably in hopes of attracting help. It was sure he was not getting enough information to pay him for the breath he was wasting.

"Let us loose!" Monk yelled.

"Not so much noise!" Rhoda Haven ordered grimly.

"Who is this Henry Peace?" Monk persisted in a loud voice. "I don't know who he is. Doc Savage don't know. Who is he, anyway?"

Rhoda Haven came over and poured a palmful of sand in Monk's large mouth. This discouraged his noise.

Doc Savage touched Senor Steel's hard-muscled arm, and they withdrew in the night until they were out of earshot.

"I don't understand," Senor Steel said. "Those prisoners are two of your men, Monk and Johnny."

Doc explained, "They are being Rhoda Haven's prisoners deliberately in hopes of learning something of importance."

Senor Steel thought that over. He chuckled suddenly.

"The real ident.i.ty of this Henry Peace is a mystery?" he asked.

"Somewhat," Doc said.

Which was the truth-somewhat.

The bronze man now explained quietly that they would go and get Jep Dee, adding that they would then return to this spot and seize Rhoda Haven, after which he hoped they would be fortunate enough to clear up the entire affair.

They went to the tourist cabin where Jep Dee lay.

"Do not speak," Doc warned Senor Steel. "Jep Dee must not hear your voice. He might recognize it."

Jep Dee was stronger. He was sitting up in a chair, and replacing the bandage across his eyes, a painful operation because of his nailless fingertips.

Doc Savage said, "I'm the man who got you out of the hospital. We were none too soon. Horst's men arrived soon afterward."

Jep Dee was satisfied.

"I can't see," he said. "I took the bandage off my eyes, and I can't see."

"It is night," Doc reminded him.

"I know. I found a match and struck it. I could just see a faint glow. d.a.m.n! Did my eyes hurt!"

Senor Steel went to an open window, looked out, shrugged to indicate there was no one in sight. He remained at thewindow, leaning out frequently, on sentinel duty.

"Who's that?" Jep Dee demanded.

"Fellow helping us."

"Oh."

Doc Savage said, "Horst and his men have seized Tex Haven and carried him away on a boat. Do you have any idea where they would take him?"

"To the island, probably," Jep Dee said grimly. "To that h.e.l.l-hole."

"Where is the island?"

Jep Dee's expression showed plainly that he was not going to answer that. But he thought it over for a moment.

"You say you're working with Rhoda Haven?" he asked.

"Yes."

"I'll tell her where the island is."

"You-"

"I'll tell Rhoda," Jep Dee said emphatically. "n.o.body else."

"All right," Doc told him. "We'll join Rhoda Haven."

Senor Steel arose from the sill of the open window, where he had been sitting. They left the tourist camp and headed for the spot where Rhoda Haven was guarding Monk and Johnny.

Doc Savage had reached a decision. He was going to get the whole group together, disclose the fact that Henry Peace was really himself, Doc Savage. He had an idea that was the best way. Jep Dee, he believed, would then reveal the location of the island to which Tex Haven and Ham had been taken. Jep Dee might give that information freely. If he didn't, there was such a thing as truth serum.

But they met Monk Mayfair running wildly along the beach.

"Horst himself!" Monk yelled. "He grabbed Rhoda Haven and Johnny! I got away!"

Chapter XV. SHARK WITH FRECKLES.

IT was impossible. Horst could not have known the whereabouts of Rhoda Haven, Johnny and Monk. Or maybe he had. Maybe- Doc Savage made, for a brief moment, his low, exotic trilling sound, and this time it was an unconscious reaction to mental shock. Shock because of the impact of a suspicion that he had been duped, had overlooked an important possibility. He did not do that often. He had lived through many dangers in the past because he made it a practice to overlook no possibilities, to prepare against every eventuality.

Monk was explaining how it had happened-an unexpected rush out of the darkness, a furious fight in the night. And he, Monk, had escaped only because he had previously succeeded in loosening his bonds.

"And it was just after Habeas Corpus and Chemistry came around," Monk finished. "Two pets must have trailed us."

The pig and the chimp had come up in the darkness. Chemistry chattered uneasily a time or two, and Habeas emitted one forlorn grunt.

They left Jep Dee for the moment, and moved quickly, the three of them, back to the spot where Rhoda Haven and Johnny had been seized. There was no trace of them; only a trail that led to a road some distance away, and in the sand that had blown over the road, tracks of a car.Monk looked at Senor Steel. "Who's this?"

Senor Steel told who he was. He also repeated the story about the Havens and Horst and Jep Dee all stealing loot and kidnaping in Blanca Grande, then falling out among themselves.

"We've still got this Jep Dee!" Monk snarled. "Where's he?"

Doc Savage warned, "Make Jep Dee think we are working with him, so he will tell us the location of the island."

They went back to Jep Dee.

"Did Horst really get Rhoda, too?" Jep Dee asked grimly.

"Yes."

Jep Dee wasted no more words.

"The quickest way to that island," he said, "is by plane."

"We have a plane," Doc told him.

Jep Dee growled, "That piece of shark skin had a map showing the location of the island, also the spot on the island where the cache is situated."

Monk snapped, "There was nothin' on that shark skin! Just freckles!"

"Who is this squeaky-voiced guy?" Jep Dee demanded.

"Another man helping us," Doc said.

Jep Dee, satisfied, went back to the subject of the bit of shark skin. "You say there was no map on it?"

"You were in the water after you drew the map?" Doc asked.

"Yes," Jep Dee admitted. "I swam for hours, escaping from that island."

"Then the map must have washed off the shark skin, except for spots which resembled freckles," Doc suggested.

"Why-sure! Sure, that's what happened! The water washed the berry-juice ink I used off the shark skin. I've been blind as a bat since I was picked up, so of course I didn't know the drawing had soaked off."

THIRTY minutes later, Doc Savage's fast little plane-the craft which he, as Henry Peace, had stolen from Monk, Ham and Johnny on the way south-sent a roaring sound over the golf course where the bronze man had landed when he came to Key West. The little craft picked up its tail, angled past a sand trap, took the air. Doc handled the controls. He cut the exhaust into the efficient m.u.f.flers, and the plane became a dark ghost that hissed.

Jep Dee resumed talking, went on describing, as best a blind man could, the location of the island.

Monk listened intently, poked a pencil point speculatively at a chart that showed the myriads of islands composing the Florida Keys.

Senor Steel remained silent in one of the cabin seats. He had not spoken at any time, had given Jep Dee no chance to identify the Senor Steel voice.

The sky in the east was faintly promising sun. But on the plane there was still nothing but moonlight, and below it, silver moonbeams that crested the beach surf with lactescence. The sea was a dark infinity, the islands darker spots like moss.

"We haven't long until daylight," Doc said gravely.

"But the island isn't far," Jep Dee said.

The plane rocketed on, in a direction generally northward. It was climbing; Doc Savage intended to have plenty ofalt.i.tude, and then coast down silently when they came near the island.

Already below them were the keys, some of the strangest islands in the world. First, the water was shallow, so shallow that it was possible to step out of a boat in some places and wade, if one felt so inclined, as much as fifty miles; and in only a few places would the sea be more than neck-deep. The islands themselves were low. Hurricanes swept over some of them at times. Few of them had white beaches; sh.o.r.es of naked, mud-colored coral were more frequent. From the high night-flying plane, of course, it was impossible to tell just how grim and unpleasant the islands were.

Monk gave flying directions in a low voice.

Finally, "How much farther?" Doc Savage asked.

"If this is an island I've got my pencil on, about fifteen miles," Monk said. "If it's a fly speck on the map-I don't know."

Doc Savage used night gla.s.ses-binoculars with lenses of extremely wide field, so that they gathered much light-on the sea below. Shortly, he saw a boat.

"We'll drop down a little," he said, "with the motors m.u.f.fled."

The plane sank in the sky. The engines were expertly silenced, the propeller of a special design to eliminate much of its natural roar. Doc examined the boat.

"Two-masted schooner," he said, "running faster than any conventional schooner could run."

"Recognize it?" Monk asked.

Doc Savage said, "That is the boat on which Ham and Tex Haven were taken."