A blackjack wielded by the first mobster slapped Red’s unprotected head.
The bulky officer collapsed without a groan.
“Tha fat spy! I hope ya killed him!” rasped the man whose jaw Red had
cracked. “He made my teeth ache right down to my heels!”
“Shut up and grab hold of his legs, Gimpy!” the other retorted. “If I
did kill him, we got an alibi. He was threatenin’ us with your gun!
Anyway, we’ll shove him in the garage and let the big shots worry about
wakin’ him up.”
To carry Red’s limp body across to the warehouse and through a small
door at one side was a short job. A second telephone call completed the
business. Immediately the pair of mobsters drove away, the bigger one
still groaning about his sore jaw.
* * * * *
Meanwhile, in the living room of the comrades’ quarters, Don Winslow was
getting the real story of the beautiful Scorpion spy, Lotus. The girl
had thrown away all pretense. She said she hated Scorpia and its evil
plots to stir up war among the nations.
As for her own part in it, ever since she had been old enough to know
right from wrong, her girlish instincts had rebelled against a life of
spying and deceit. Yet her fear of Cho-San, and especially of that
mysterious personage who called himself the Scorpion, had forced her to
obey their orders. Even if she had dared to break with their dreaded
organization, she had nowhere to go, no one to protect her from the
vengeance of Scorpia.
At least, Lotus intimated, that was the situation until she had met
Count Borg. André was not the criminal type she had known. He never
spoke of his past life, even after she came to know him well, but he had
evidently been a man of honor and high culture until joining the ranks
of Scorpia.
The lonely girl had fallen desperately in love with him, though he had
never acted as anything more than a kind friend to her. Whenever she
whispered to him her longing to be free from Scorpia, André would show
only a passing interest. Once he had half promised to take her away from
Cho-San’s jealous guardianship, but it never came to anything.
“And now that André is no longer one of Scorpia, he has forgotten me!”
Lotus finished tearfully. “Now I will never be free, for there is no one
who will help me!”
“Nonsense,” exclaimed Don gruffly, trying to hide the feelings her story
had roused in him. “Listen, Miss Lotus! You have a lot more real friends
than you ever had before. I’m one of them, and I know of another right
here in this underground stronghold of Scorpia. When you get clear,
there’ll be others—Uncle Sam’s trusted officers and agents, men and
women—who’ll stand ready to protect you until we’ve wiped the Scorpion
and Cho-San off the slate. You’ll pick up your friendship with Count
Borg on better terms than before. He’ll be needing _you_ this time, Miss
Lotus—needing someone who really cares!”
“Don Winslow,” answered the girl solemnly, “you’ve given me a hope to
live for. That’s something so priceless, something so far beyond any
thanks, that I won’t try to say more. Except that you’re going to stop
calling me _Miss_. Promise me that, Commander!”
“Plain Don, to you!” amended the young officer, gripping the strong
little hand she offered him. “All right, Lotus; we’re shipmates from now
on. In the name of the United States Navy, I welcome you to the ranks of
peace. But remember this, always:—_The things worth living for are also
the things worth dying for!_ You and I and Suzette—yes, she’s a
shipmate, too!—may have to give our lives this very night for the cause
of world peace!”
The young girl’s smile was as fearless as the light that shone in her
dark eyes.
“I am ready, Don Winslow!” she said calmly. “You can count on me to help
or to suffer, as the need may be. Even the tortures of Cho-San’s Lantern
Room could not terrify me now. Am I glad that Suzette....”
As if in answer to her spoken name, the little French maid appeared from
behind the carved Chinese screen. Impulsively she seized her mistress’
hands and squeezed them.
“Suzette is glad also, Mademoiselle!” she exclaimed earnestly. “But,
_hélas_! There is no time to speak of that. I have bad news for
Commander Winslow!”