The Black Master

CHAPTER VIII. SHOTS IN THE DARK

THE elevator stopped at the seventh floor of the Goliath Hotel. A tall man stepped from it and glanced toward the wing where Harry Vincent's room was located.

Then he turned in the opposite direction. He went down the long corridor and stopped outside room No. 738.

The man rapped lightly on the door. He heard a slight sound from within.

"Warfield," whispered the man.

His tone was piercing. It echoed after he had spoken. Despite its low sound, it carried an authoritative note and with it a tone of reassurance.

"This is Arnaud. Henry Arnaud. I must see you!"

The door opened suddenly. The man stepped in. Perry Warfield was standing in his shirt sleeves. He gasped in relief as he recognized his visitor.

Arnaud looked at him steadily, as though surprised by the fear which was inscribed on Warfield's sallow face.

Arnaud came forward and sat down.

"What's the trouble, Warfield?"

The sallow-faced man hesitated. Then, he, in turn, responded with an inquiry.

"Why have you come here?" he asked.

"Because I know you are in danger! I have come to learn why!"

Warfield shook his head.

"You can't help me, Arnaud," he said. "I'm through! That's all! I had a hunch it was coming. Everything stopped — all at once — the day before I met you in Child's office.

"I don't know how or why I realized it; but that morning, I knew my end was due. It was set for me — up there — in that office. I realized it when I read the newspapers that afternoon.

"It was just an accident that saved me — just an accident—"

"You mean an accident that the bomb did not explode?"

Warfield nodded. "You — you — caused it!"

"Certainly. I knew the bomb was there. I found it before you came in."

"Then you — you are — you are the man I am expecting now — the one who is to—"

"The one who is to kill you? No!"

Perry Warfield sat down in a daze. He rubbed his forehead. He stared at the calm face of Henry Arnaud.

He seemed like a man awakened from a nightmare.

"Tell me why you are to die," said Arnaud.

"I cannot," gasped Warfield. "I am afraid — afraid — because of — because of one—"

"Of whom," came Arnaud's undertone. His piercing eyes were staring into Warfield's. For a moment the hunted man's lips trembled as he began to speak; then he seized his head between his hands.

"No!" he exclaimed. "No! I cannot tell! My only hope is silence!" A sudden, insane sparkle appeared in his eyes and he laughed silently but wildly. "It is a trap! You want me to speak. I know why! You are The Master!"

He grinned as though demented, seeming to gain a feeble triumph in this hopeless accusation. Arnaud's response was totally unexpected.

"I understand now," he said, nodding slowly. "You have told me. The man you fear is the one you call The Master!"

Warfield trembled. Unwittingly he had betrayed his secret. Stark terror swept over his face; then he calmed suddenly. His voice was hoarse with restrained excitement.

"If you are The Master," he said cunningly, "I have betrayed you now. You can do what you will. I have no hope. But if you are not The Master" — he hesitated, then smiled shrewdly — "I can tell you all, without fear. But my time is short. Look — there!"

He pointed out the window, where the changing lights of an electric sign flickered above a building.

"Do you see that line of lights — of yellow lights — with one that is blank? Count those that remain. There are only five! That means five minutes more to live! Watch them. The blank will move to the right — and one minute less will remain—"

Arnaud turned like a flash. Warfield had risen from his chair and was springing upon him. With a quick movement of his left arm, Arnaud sent his antagonist sprawling. Warfield clambered from the floor and took a huddled position in his chair.

"I thought perhaps you were The Master," he said sullenly. "I thought perhaps I could kill you! Before you killed me, you know. It was my only chance! My only chance, you know—" His voice was apologetic.

"Warfield!" Arnaud's voice was low and firm. He drew an automatic from his coat. "You must speak all. If I am The Master of whom you speak, you may consider this a command. If I am not The Master, you need not fear me. I am here to protect you. Do you understand?"

Warfield nodded, still trembling.

"Who is The Master?" questioned Arnaud.

"I do not know his name," replied Warfield. "I know him only as The Master — The Black Master. I have met him only at one place; then it has been dark — pitch-dark. I have only heard his voice, and I have obeyed!"

"Why?"

"Because he knew — he knew my secret! He threatened me by telephone first. Then he summoned me! I came to him. Since then I have done his bidding!"

"And his commands concerned your friend Hubert Banks."

"How did you know?" There was terror in Warfield's voice.

"I, too, have been watching you," said Arnaud quietly. "I have been watching four men. Pennypacker, Houghton, Houston — and yourself. Three of them are dead—"

"I know!" exclaimed Warfield. "That is how I found out what The Master meant to do with me! I was to die with them!

"Not one of us knew the others were in The Master's power. Those men were friends of mine — but I never suspected them, until — until they died!"

"And then—"

"Then I tried to escape The Master! I wanted to hide; I thought New York would be the safest place.

But last night I received the summons.

"I left the hotel where I was staying. I came here. Tonight I received a phone call. A voice said: 'Watch the lights from your window. Each one is a minute'—"

Instinctively the man looked beyond Henry Arnaud. His mouth opened as though he were about to cry in horror, but no sound resulted. He pointed wildly through the window.

Arnaud threw a quick glance in that direction. The last light in the row was blank.

Henry Arnaud looked calmly toward Perry Warfield. The man was cowering, trembling, between Arnaud and the door.

Arnaud was a living statue. He stood silent, his keen eyes seeing not only Warfield, but the door beyond.

He detected a slight motion. His watchfulness increased. In the door the key was turning, slowly, noiselessly. The handle of the door began to move. It stopped. The door swung silently inward.

It was then that Henry Arnaud acted. As the door opened, Arnaud's arm came upward from his pocket, his eyes fixed upon the door.

A stocky, hard-faced man stood with leveled automatic in the opening. Before the murderer could fire, Henry Arnaud's finger pressed the trigger of his revolver.

But for the unexpected, the murderer would have fallen. Perry Warfield supplied the unexpected. The door had opened behind his back. Henry Arnaud had momentarily ignored the cringing man.

In the upraising of Arnaud's automatic, only one explanation could come to Warfield's terrified mind. He thought that Arnaud meant to kill him. With a wild scream, he leaped forward and upward as Arnaud's finger touched the trigger.

He struck the arm of the man who was about to save him. The bullets from Arnaud's automatic went wild as he resisted this mad attack. He stumbled as he flung Warfield from him.

In falling, Perry Warfield saw the man at the door. He screamed in sudden recognition.

Before Arnaud could bring his gun into play, the room was plunged into darkness as the man at the door pressed the switch. Then came the roar of the murderer's automatic.

Warfield's screams were broken. The door slammed shut, just as Henry Arnaud fired his parting, futile shot.

Arnaud snapped the switch on the table lamp. He bent over the form of the man upon the floor. Perry Warfield was still alive. He opened his eyes.

He was dying, a victim of his own stupidity; yet in his last moments he had gained a bravery that was heroic.

"It was — Killer Bryan!" he gasped. "I have seen — him — before! He kills — for The Master — for The Black Master! He will kill again. You must — stop him!"

Warfield raised a clenched fist. He sought Arnaud's hand. He opened his fist and dropped a small black object of thin metal. Arnaud thrust it into his pocket.

Footsteps and excited voices came from the corridor. Arnaud remained close beside the dying man.

"He will kill," said Warfield feebly. "He will — kill—"

"Hubert Banks?" came Arnaud's question.

Warfield nodded.

"Later," he said. "Before — before that he will — will kill—"

Arnaud's arm was beneath Warfield's head. The light switched on; men were in the room, seizing Arnaud.

He withstood their clutches for the moment. His gaze was focused upon Perry Warfield's lips. He saw them move as they tried to repeat a name. Slight though the motion was, Arnaud understood. He nodded.

Warfield's head slipped from his arm. The man was dead. His body rolled upon the floor. Five men seized Henry Arnaud and overpowered him.