Free ron Goulart - Challengers of the Unknown by Ron Goulart Page B

claw. The head was not human at all; it was the head of a huge reptile. Some impossibly large lizard perhaps, with a quivering pouch of skin at the jaw and great popping eyes. The mouth cut halfway around the head; when it opened there were sharp, twisted teeth showing. It had been out of the water for a time; there were dry, blackening patches blotching its huge body. Walking like a man, moving rapidly toward them, it was nearly seven feet high.
    "Kill it, shoot it," screamed Ortega, using his own revolver.
    Gallegher planted his feet wide, took careful aim and fired the hunting rifle.
    The others shot, too.
    None of it did any good.
    The small man knew the most.
    Slumped in a chair in the back of the Challenger van, with the small gadget of Ace's devising affixed to the base of his skull, he was compelled to tell them what he knew. Wtih eyes shut, the jungle darkness pressing against the window behind him, he answered all the questions put to him by the three Challengers of the Unknown.
    "This laser rifle you tried to use on us," Ace was asking, "where did you get it?"
    "From the arsenal," replied the ambusher in a droning voice.
    "Logical answer," said Prof. "Where exactly is this arsenal, old man?"
    "Underground," was the answer, "at our base."
    Ace Morgan asked, "Base near here?"
    "Five kilometers."
    "How many men there?"
    "We have a staff of one hundred and eight."
    "Who finances it, who's behind it?" inquired June.
    "We brought the money with us."
    "Where from?"
    "The fatherland."
    Blinking, June took a step back. "And when exactly did you arrive here from overseas?"
    "I, myself, did not reach Ereguay," the small man recited, "until the summer of 1947. The underground base itself was constructed in 1944."
    "Who built it?" Ace asked.
    "They're all dead."
    "You mean the workmen?"
    "The safest way to keep it all secret. They were shot, buried in a trench they'd dug."
    "Familiar story," said Prof. "Who designed your little hideaway?"
    "The chief brain behind it was Otto Wenzler."
    Profs eyebrows went up. "Wenzler," he said toward Ace, "was reported killed in an air raid on Germany in 1943."
    "Is Otto Wenzler dead?" June asked the small man.
    "No."
    "Where is he?"
    "He resides some distance from here, in a bleak territory known as Tierra Seca."
    Prof snapped his fingers. "Would he be calling himself Escabar these days?"
    "Yes, that's right."
    "So Red and Rocky aren't on a wild-goose chase at all," observed Prof.
    Ace rested one foot on the lowest rung of the chair the small man was sitting in. "What's the purpose of all this? Why do you have hidden heaquarters?"
    "To stay alive," answered the man, "and to prepare."
    "Prepare for what?"
    "Someday it will be our turn again. Soon General
    Cuerpo will effect his coup, the regime of President Chanza will topple and we will rule this country. Others will follow." "Tomorrow the world," said Prof. June was studying the brain-controlled man's face. "You say you came here thirty some years ago," she said. "But you appear to be a relatively young man. How old are you?" "Sixty-one."
    "You don't look your age. Why?" "It is Wenzler's Process," replied the small man. "One of many brilliant achievements he has brought forth during his long exile."
    "How does it work?" Prof asked. "I do not know the technical details; few of us besides Wenzler do. Every three months we receive a series of injections." "That keeps you looking and feeling young?" "It is a marvelous thing. But then Wenzler is a marvelous man."
    "Comes up with a process the whole world would love to get hold of," said Prof, "and he restricts its use to rejuvenating a clutch of over-the-hill Nazis. Some genius." Ace said, "What about the Monster of the lake?" "We fear him."
    "He's not a creation of yours, not an invention of
    Wenzler's?"
    "No. We know little about the creature, but if he is not stopped soon, too much attention will be drawn to Lake Sombra."
    June asked, "Are you doing anything to find the monster?" "Yes."