Free The Avenger 34 - The Glass Man by Kenneth Robeson

face.
    Grabbing away his automatic, Cole said, “Now let’s fix our matinée idol.”
    “Waxman,” called Konrad’s voice from some distance. “What’s delaying you? Bring them into the house.”
    “He’s about a hundred yards away, on the porch of an adobe ranch house.” Jenny was cautiously looking out through the crack in the open door. “There’s a big garage right behind us, about fifty feet off.”
    “Konrad got a gun?”
    “Tommy gun, no less.”
    Cole, after frisking the unconscious Waxman, joined the girl. “I’ve got our chinless chum’s keys. But I don’t know if we can get around outside and into the cab of this truck without Herr Konrad mowing us down.”
    “He’s started this way.”
    “Then let’s seek shelter in that garage,” said Cole. “Now!”
    Hand in hand they jumped out into the bright morning and ran for the open slant-roof garage.
    They were nearly to the doorway before Konrad noticed them and started shooting.

CHAPTER XVII

Getting at the Truth
    The fat man stared straight ahead. But his small, puffy eyes saw nothing. “Yes, I will answer all your questions,” he said in a dull, level voice.
    The Avenger had broken a capsule of truth gas beneath the captured Hugo’s nose. The fat man could do nothing now but tell all.
    They were sitting on the dry desert ground behind the mesa from which the unsuccessful ambush had been launched. Smitty and Josh, the petulant Fritzi held between them, stood nearby.
    “Who are you working for?” Benson asked Hugo.
    “The glorious homeland.”
    “Are you in charge of this particular operation?”
    “They don’t think I’m good enough for that, although I actually am,” droned Hugo. “I must take orders from Werner Konrad.”
    “Hey,” said Josh, “there used to be a German actor named Werner Konrad.”
    “Is Konrad the actor?” the Avenger asked.
    “Oh, yes. He fancies he’s as good as Veidt or Jannings,” answered Hugo. “He’s been a Nazi agent since 1936, and in this country, secretly, since 1939.”
    “What is your mission?”
    “To kill the Avenger.”
    “I mean your over-all mission.”
    “Our major concern at the moment is to obtain the invisibility formula.”
    “How did you learn of it?”
    “We have a contact at the project base.”
    “Who is he?”
    “Not he, she. Dr. Pearl Coopersmith. She was planted in this country many years ago.”
    “Where is Dr. Dean?”
    “I do not know.”
    “Did you kidnap him?”
    “No, we did not.”
    “Then who did?”
    Hugo said, “That we do not know, nor does Dr. Coopersmith. It is a mystery.”
    “What about Cole Wilson and Jenny Keaton?”
    “They were showing too much interest in the art gallery.”
    “Art gallery?”
    “That is Konrad’s cover. He runs the Rosay Gallery,” said the drugged Hugo. “He dresses in female attire and poses as Madame Rosay.”
    “They used to say Konrad could play anything,” put in Josh.
    “Do you have Wilson and the Keaton girl?”
    “Yes, they are our prisoners.”
    “Where?”
    “Konrad and a young lout named Waxman have taken them to the desert house.”
    “Tell me where that is.”
    Hugo gave Benson detailed directions for reaching the place.
    “How many men do you have there?”
    “Konrad and Waxman, that is all. We do not need large numbers to get results.”
    “Not for the kind of results you guys got today,” remarked Smitty.
    The Avenger asked, “What is to be done with Cole Wilson and Jenny Keaton?”
    “They will be thoroughly questioned,” replied the fat man, “Then they will be executed.”
    “I think not,” said the Avenger.

CHAPTER XVIII

Homecoming
    It was risky, terribly risky.
    But he had to take the chance.
    There was absolutely no chance of getting back to the pueblos ever again. The only other supply of formula fluid was that hidden in his cottage at the project facility. He could make a new supply, but that would take time.
    The important thing was to stay invisible. The last shot would