Rick Brant 9 Stairway to Danger

by John Blaine

  The gangster glared up at him.

  “I’m probably selfish,” Rick stated, “but I’m glad you’re the one who took the fall. And I’m glad it didn’t kill you.”

  “It’s a miracle it didn’t,” said the trooper who was guarding Strade. “He has a couple of broken bones, but that’s all.Nothing very serious.”

  The gangster bared his teeth in a painful grin. “Think you’ve got the last laugh, kid? Well, think different.

  Ever hear of a private eye named Curtis? Pal of yours.”

  “What about him?” Scotty asked quickly.

  “What do you know about Mike?” Rick demanded. He suddenly realized they had heard nothing from the private detective.

  “He found me,” Strade said. He grinned. “He was looking for me and he found me. Only I saw him Page 92

  coming. That’s all I’m going to tell you. Figure out the rest for yourselves!”

  CHAPTER XX

  Find Mike Curtis!

  Rick and Scotty stared at each other, speechless.

  One of the troopers knelt at Strade’s side. “Come on, give! What about this Curtis?”

  Strade grinned painfully. “That’s all you’ll get out of me, Trooper. Don’t waste your time.”

  Rick knew the gangster meant it. He had nothing to lose by keeping quiet. A sentence for attempted murder added to the sentence he had been serving, plus extra time for breaking out, meant more time waiting for him in prison than one man’s lifetime. Attempted murder would be easy to prove, too.

  “I’ll bargain with you,” Rick said quickly. “Tell us about Mike and I won’t press charges for what you tried to do to me.”

  The gangster just chuckled.

  A siren wailed down the road. The trooper who had guarded Strade said, “That should be Captain Douglas.Or maybe an ambulance. I told the barracks to send one while you were on the roller coaster.

  Now we can find out what happened to the troopers who were supposed to be watching the amusement park.”

  That was the first Rick had heard of any troopers. Scotty told him about Captain Douglas’ question,then they compared notes on the yell from the parking area. That yell didn’t sound so good for the troopers, now that they knew a patrol car had been hidden there.

  In a moment Captain Douglas was listening to Rick’s story. He turned to the troopers who had brought him. “Morton, you and Clark get over to the trees behind the parking lot. See if there’s a cruiser there.

  Find out what happened to Patterson and Kosuski. I don’t like what the boys say about a yell. Make it snappy.”

  “Now we have to find Mike,” Rick said urgently. “Soapy won’t tell us anything.”

  “One thing first.”Captain Douglas looked grim. “I want to know what happened to my troopers. And where’s Lefty?”

  Rick had forgotten the phony caretaker. “Golly! I forgot about him. He took off in the motorboat, Captain. I don’t know exactly how long ago, but it can’t be more than a few minutes.”

  “You have a boat?”Douglas asked quickly.

  “Yes, sir.”

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  Scotty spoke up. “Captain, we don’t want to pick up Lefty! Can’t you see? He’s the one who can lead us to Mike Curtis. If we just keep an eye on him, he might lead us right to Mike.”

  Captain Douglas frowned thoughtfully. “It’s a possibility. Rut to keep an eye on him, we have to find him. How do we do that without letting him know we’re on his trail?It’s daylight, and a boat following him could be seen easily.”

  Before the boys could think of an answer, an ambulance came through the broken fence. A white-clad intern got out. “What’s up? We got a call from the barracks to report here.”

  A trooper pointed to the gang leader’s recumbent form. “Meet Soapy Strade. He’s a little banged up.

  Seems he had a little war with Rick Brant and got thrown from up there.” He pointed to the track overhead.

  The intern whistled. “How come he’s still alive?”

  “Takes more than that to damage Soapy Strade,” the trooper said. “He’s a tough customer. Fix him up, Doc. I’ll stick with you until we get him to the hospital.”

  The intern got to work. The ambulance driver brought splints and a first-aid kit from the back of the ambulance.

  Scotty said regretfully, “We could locate Lefty easily if we had your plane, Rick.”

  Captain Douglas snapped his fingers. “That’s it.” He strode to the cruiser that had brought Scotty, leaned in, and picked up the microphone. When he had contacted the barracks, he said, “Rout Gus out of bed. You have his number in the files.” He turned to Rick. “Can he land here?”

  “Yes, when it gets a little lighter. By the time he could fly down here it would be all right.”

  Captain Douglas spoke to the barracks again. “Tell him I need him in a hurry. He can land between the highway and the amusement park. Rick Brant has landed here before. Tell him that. And call the nearest patrol car and have it report to me.”

  As he spoke, two patrol cars came through the gate. In a moment they saw that one was Captain Douglas’ cruiser. The other was apparently the one that had been watching the amusement park.

  Trooper Morton, Captain Douglas’ driver, saw the intern and called, “Doc! Forget Strade for a minute and take a look at Patterson. He’s in the back seat.”

  The boys and the captain hurried over as Trooper Clark, who had gone with Morton, helped the other missing trooper from the second car.

  The doctor quickly examined Patterson,then climbed from the back seat. “Let’s get him out of there.

  He’s okay, but weak from loss of blood. He’s been slugged and knifed.”

  Willing hands lifted the trooper to the ground.

  Kosuski limped up, helped by Trooper Clark.“Sorry, sir. We got taken like a couple of amateurs.”

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  “What happened?” Captain Douglas asked quietly.

  The trooper grimaced. “We were sitting in thecar, Joe had just come back after making a quick trip on foot around the area. Suddenly we heard a hissing. It was air coming out of a back tire. I said, ‘Hey!

  There goes a tire.’ I got out my side and Joe got out on his. He walked right into a knife. He let out a yell, and then they slugged him. I grabbed for my gun and started around to help him,then someone let me have it from behind. It didn’t knock me out, but it almost did. I turned and grappled with the guy that hit me and we wrestled for a minute. He had a knife, and I got it in the thigh. Not serious. Then someone gave him a hand.”

  “Both of them were trussed up and gagged,” Morton reported. “It’s lucky for Patterson that he got tied.

  They cut the blanket from the first-aid kit into strips and used that, and it was thick enough to stop Patterson’s bleed- ing.”

  Kosuski added, “I figure they came in from behind the car, took the valve cap off a rear tire, and then poked in a matchstick or something to let a little air out.”

  Captain Douglas nodded.“All right. I’m glad you’re both alive. What I want to know is,how did Soapy and Lefty know the park was being watched? They must have known just where you were in order to sneak up on you like that.”

  “I don’t know, sir,” the trooper said.

  “We’ll try to find out. Meanwhile, we havework to do.” The captain started issuing orders. He dispatched a car north and another south with instructions to watch for Lefty and to exercise caution so the fleeing thug wouldn’t know he was being watched. One trooper went in each car, leaving two troopers behind in addition to the two wounded men.

  Captain Douglas ordered one of them to go with Scotty and to bring back the guard the boys had captured. The radio in the remaining cruiser sounded, calling the captain. He answered and was told that another car would arrive within five minutes.

  “What’s the plan, Captain?” Rick asked.

  “I’ll fly with Gus. When we spot Lefty, I’ll drop a note to the barracks and they can relay instructions.


  We’ll keep high enough and far inland enough so Lefty won’t know the plane is interested in him. We’ll keep the cars tracking him, and when he lands, there will be a big enough reception committee to take care of him without trouble.”

  “How about Scotty and me?”Rick demanded.

  “You’re going home.”

  Rick shook his head. “Not on your life! We have to see this through to the end. Can’t we ride in one of the cars?”

  Douglassmiled. “I don’t suppose I can stop you. If I try, you’ll probably flag a stranger and talk him into trailing my cruisers.All right. I’ll tell Morton you can ride with him.”

  “Thanks a million!” Rick grinned widely. He didn’t want to be left out now.

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  Captain Douglas walked over to where the intern was working on the two troopers and Soapy.

  Patterson was neatly bandaged now. He smiled up at the captain. “Sorry, skipper.”

  “Forget it. That tire gag was pretty cute. I’d have fallen for it myself.”

  Kosuski was getting a bandage on his thigh wound. “I doubt that, Captain. But we sure fell for it.”

  Strade lay on the ground and watched silently. Rick looked down at his enemy. “Know what tripped you up, Strade? It was passing a red light. Isn’t that a howl? You run a racket for years and commit murder and kidnaping and every other crime invented, and then you go through a red light and end up back in jail.”

  Soapy’s eyes narrowed. “You mean when I bumped that jalopy?”

  “My sister was in it,” Rick told him. “You hurt her, Strade. It wasn’t your fault that you didn’t kill her. If you hadn’t run that light, Captain Douglas wouldn’t have asked me to fly around and locate you. Of course we didn’t know who was in the hit-and-run car. But since my sister had been hurt, I wasn’t going to give up until I found the man responsible.”

  The gang leader muttered under his breath.

  Captain Douglas asked, “Who thought up that rattrap idea, Soapy? Lefty isn’t smart enough, but you are. And didn’t you have a pilot’s license once?”

  Soapy sneered. “What rattrap?Never heard of it.”

  “You watched us setting up the plane alarm,” Rick told him. “That’s why it wasn’t hard for you to disconnect it.”

  He knew they could never prove that Soapy had sabotaged the plane, but it wasn’t necessary. The fight on the roller coaster was proof enough of attempted murder.

  A call came in for Captain Douglas. The trooper who had gone north reported that Lefty’s boat was nearingSeaford and heading out toward the ocean, probably getting out of sight of land.

  “Do you think he’s trying to get out of the area by boat?” Rick asked. “I mean, will he try to reachStaten Island or something like that?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine,”Douglas retorted. “What do you think?”

  Rick had a theory. “Look, Captain. Soapy and company never got by the road blocks, so far as we know. It’s doubtful that they did, because that would mean they left and re-entered the area at least twice. I have a hunch they found a hide-out close by, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was one of the summer colonies. No one would think anything of strangers living in one of the cottages.”

  “Makes sense,” the officer agreed.

  Scotty and the trooper who had gone to the project came through the gate leading the guard, who was handcuffed to the trooper. At the same moment, Rick heard the drone of Gus’s plane. Before Scotty reached the roller coaster, Gus was in sight.

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  Things happened rapidly. Another cruiser arrived. The guard was put into it and dispatched to jail.

  Soapy and Patterson were loaded into the ambulance on stretchers and Kosuski climbed in as both patient and guard. The ambulance got on its way.

  Captain Douglas took off in Gus’s plane, and the two boys got into the back seat of the remaining cruiser.

  As they left the amusement park, Scotty suddenly remembered. “Hey! Our motorboat is still there.”

  Rick grinned, trying to adjust his arm more comfortably. “So is the Tractosaur. Wait until Dad and the others find it in the middle of the amusement park!”

  The cruiser rolled northward. As it passed theSeaford turnoff, the radio broke the silence.“Calling Car 28.”

  The trooper in front acknowledged. “Go ahead.”

  “Captain Douglas just dropped a message. Boat spotted, going north, staying well out to sea. It is now just south of Spindrift. All cars head for Whiteside and await further instructions.”

  Scotty smiled. “Lefty probably thinks he’s safe as can be.If he only knew!”

  Rick pictured the coast line. If his guess about a summer colony was correct, it must be one of those north of Whiteside. He hoped that Lefty would lead them to Mike, but more than that he hoped that Mike was all right. Somehow, he wasn’t afraid that any real harm had come to the detective. Strade hadn’t given that impression.

  There were only two summer colonies to which Lefty might be going. Either of them was nearly a half hour away from Lefty’s present position.

  “Let’s stop at Whiteside for a few minutes,” Rick suggested to Trooper Morton. “We can get to any point on the coast ahead of Lefty. And I need some breakfast. Besides, if the doctor is handy, I’d like to have him take a look at this arm.”

  The trooper nodded. “We can do that. The radio will keep us posted.” He stepped on the gas.

  Within a short time they had eaten a quick breakfast and the doctor, aroused from sleep, was examining Rick’s arm with grumpy impatience.

  “Miracle you haven’t broken your neck before this,” he muttered.“Confounded idiot!Walking around with a dislocated shoulder as though it were nothing!”

  Rick gritted his teeth as the doctor, aided by Scotty, set the shoulder,then bandaged Rick’s arm to his chest with heavy linen strips.

  “That’s to keep you from trying to use the arm,” the doctor stated. “If I didn’t strap it down you’d try to climb a tree or something. Now sit down and let me take a look at that leg.”

  He rolled up Rick’s trouser leg and exposed a bloodstained bandage. Sometime during the fight on the roller coaster, Rick had scraped the leg. He didn’t remember when or how. As the doctor rebandaged it, he said sourly, “You’d better study medicine this fall to learn how to bandage yourself. Now go on out Page 97

  and tear that leg open again.”

  “I’m sorry,” Rick said contritely. “I didn’t do it on purpose.”

  “Humph,” the doctor said.

  The cruiser had waited outside the door. As Rick and Scotty got in, Morton said, “Lefty is opposite Whiteside. He’s moving in toward land.”

  “We’ll get a line on where he’s heading pretty soon,” Scotty commented. “If he’s coming in to shore that means he’s not trying for any points north.”

  Scotty’s surmise was correct. As the prowl car moved back to theShore Road and headed north from White-side, the radio suddenly called, “Captain Douglas is landing at Whiteside airport.Car 31 pick him up. Other cars proceed at once to the summer colony at Beaman’s Point. Boat has passed the colony nearer Whiteside. Proceed with caution. Park cars out of sight and go in on foot. Captain Douglas will take command personally.”

  “Pretty soon,” Rick muttered. He was getting excited now. From all around the area, police cars were closing in. Lefty didn’t know it, but he didn’t have a chance. He would walk right into a solid fence of police guns.

  Their car was the first on the scene. The troopers parked across the road from the summer colony, hiding their car behind a large clump of willow. Scotty looked at Rick. “You’d better not get too near the shooting if there’s going to be any. You’re not as spry as you were, with that arm strapped and a leg bandaged.”

  “Don’t think I’m going to miss it,” Rick said flatly. “Come on.”

  Lefty was in sight, south of the colony. People were beginning to stir, and occasionally a car went by on the road. It was stil
l too early for any but the very early birds, however.

  One of the troopers knocked on the back door of a cottage. He had seen the family inside, having breakfast. A man came to the door. “What’s up, Officer?”

  The trooper explained briefly. “Get under cover and stay there. We’re waiting for a thug to arrive in a motor-boat.May be some shooting.”

  The man disappeared, consulted hastily with his family, and then led them to an inner room.

  Another squad car appeared and vanished behind a screen of trees. Captain Douglas got out with two troopers, joined Rick and Scotty, and issued quick orders. “Get behind houses, on the edges of the colony. As other cars arrive I’ll fill in the gaps. Rick, get under cover. We don’t want a soul in sight when Lefty arrives. Scotty, you go down the road a little way to warn any patrol cars to take cover before they reach the colony.”

  Scotty hurried off. Rick and Captain Douglas put a house between them and the oncoming boat. Rick estimated that Lefty was still about ten minutes from shore.

  Another police car arrived and the captain dispersed its troopers. A local prowl car came and four Whiteside officers-practically the whole force-joined the troopers. “That’s plenty,” Captain Douglas said, Page 98

  grinning. “I’ve fought battles withless men than this.”

  The police had found good cover. Rick looked around and couldn’t see even one. Scotty joined him and the captain.

  “He’s practically here,” Scotty said.

  The colony seemed to hold its breath as Lefty reached the small dock and cut his motor.

  The gangster took a hurried look around, saw no one, and ran for a small cottage on the far side of the colony. Rick watched, peering around a corner. The cottage, a two-room affair, was painted green. A sign over the back door announced Yule-Ike-It. Rick found time to wonder why people strained so hard to give summer cottages such elaborately cute names. He thought that Lefty would probably change the name from you’ll-like-it to something quite different in the next few minutes.