Chapter XIV SPECIAL AGENT NINE *
As Bob clawed his way through the dense shrubbery there was a sharpexplosion behind him. Whether it was a shot or the exhaust of the sedanwas something he didn't stop to find out.
When he was finally clear of the barberry, Bob found himself in a small,open yard in front of the house, which was heavily shuttered andevidently unoccupied. But Bob wasted no time in reconnoitering the house.He kept on going, running around to the rear.
The iron fence enclosed the whole property but there was a gate and hemade for this. A heavy padlock secured the gate, but Bob scrambled overwithout tearing his clothes and dropped into the alley.
From far behind on the other street he could hear the heavy roar of anexhaust and he ducked into a half opened garage on the other side of thealley for he had no intention of being caught out in the open.
When the noise of the exhaust finally died away, Bob went back into thealley. A walk of a block and a half brought him to a thoroughfare and hehailed a passing cab, directing that he be taken to the Department ofJustice building.
Once inside the cab, Bob sat back to take stock of the damage which thethorns of the barberry had done to his hands. There were half a dozen rawangry scratches and innumerable little snags in his suit from the pricklystuff.
When he thought of what had happened in the last few minutes, Bob franklyadmitted that he was at a loss to account for it. Why should he besingled out for an attack by a couple of hoodlums? Why should someoneattempt to enter his room in the night? Perhaps his uncle would have thekey to answers when he met him.
The cab pulled up in front of the Department of Justice building and Bobpaid the driver and stepped out. Several pedestrians going by looked athim curiously and he realized that he looked strangely unkempt.
Bob stepped inside the building. His hands were smarting and he took outtwo clean handkerchiefs and wrapped them around his hands. There wasstill a little time before his appointment and he turned around and wentto a nearby drug store where he explained that his hands had beenscratched by barberry. A clerk recommended an antiseptic solution and Bobwashed his hands thoroughly in this and then wrapped the handkerchiefsaround them again.
Back in the Department of Justice building, Bob was whisked to an upperfloor and a boy guided him to the room he inquired for. There was no nameon the glass panel of the doorway and Bob stepped inside, wondering justwhat kind of a reception he was going to have. There was no one in theroom when he entered and he sat down in a chair near a window to wait.
The door opened again and Tully Ross stepped in and stared at Bob. Thesurprise was mutual.
"I didn't expect to find you here," exclaimed Tully, and there was nopleasure in his words.
"Guess that goes for me, too," replied Bob.
Tully took a chair a few feet from Bob and conversation ended right thenand there. For at least ten minutes no word was spoken until an innerdoor opened and Merritt Hughes entered.
"Hello, Bob. Hello, Tully. You're right on time. Mr. Edgar will be herein a few minutes."
Bob had seen Waldo Edgar, chief of the bureau of investigation of theDepartment of Justice several times, but he had never been introduced tohim. Through the exploits of the bureau in recent months in tracking downsome of the nation's most notorious criminals, Edgar had become an almostlegendary figure for it was from his office far up in the Department ofJustice building, that he directed, by telephone, telegraph and radio,the great man hunts for the violators of the law.
Merritt Hughes looked at Bob's hands.
"Hurt your hands in the fight last night?" he asked.
"Nothing like that," replied Bob. "I got tangled up in a barberry hedge afew minutes ago and the thorns almost got the better of me. Guess I'veruined this suit."
"What under the sun were you doing in a barberry hedge?" the federalagent wanted to know.
"Trying to get away from a couple of plug-uglies who seemed to want mycompany more than I wanted theirs."
"No!" exclaimed his uncle incredulously.
"Yes!" retorted Bob with equal insistence. "I was taking a short-cut whena sedan pulled alongside me and one fellow got out and asked about anaddress. It was just a stall to get near me, but I had seen the carparked earlier just opposite the apartment. I was suspicious and when Ithought he got insistent I let him have a couple. The driver startedafter me and when I thought he was reaching for a gun I went over thefence and dove through the barberry."
Merritt Hughes whistled softly.
"This is serious. Have you reported it yet to the police?"
"No. I thought it was best to come right here and tell you. I didn't getthe number of the car for I was too busy trying to crash through thatblamed barberry."
"That's not important. They've either abandoned the car or changed thelicense plates by this time. Can you describe the men who were in it?"
Bob supplied a detailed explanation and his uncle jotted the facts downon a small card.
"This will give us a lead to work on. Later we'll go over to the bureauof identification and run through some pictures of red heads and men withscars on their foreheads. Maybe we can pick up some real clues there."
Bob was tempted to relate the incident of the early morning at his roomwhen someone had tried to gain access, but he hesitated to tell this infront of Tully. It sounded a little like a fairy tale or the work of anoverwrought imagination.
The door to an inner suite of offices opened and a dapper, well-built manof about 38 stepped into the room. Behind him was Condon Adams.
Bob felt his pulse quicken for even before their introduction herecognized Waldo Edgar, ace of all the federal manhunters and chief ofthe bureau of investigation.
Edgar looked at the handkerchiefs on Bob's hands and smiled quizzically.
"Fighting?"
"No, just plain barberry thorns," replied Bob.
"Then I take it you weren't strolling on the barberry just for the fun ofthe thing," said the federal chief.
"Well, it wasn't exactly a stroll," grinned Bob. "It was something liketrying to do a hundred yard dash in nothing flat through half an acre ofbarberry. It was a good place to hide, but a poor place for running."
Waldo Edgar's eyebrows went up questioningly and he turned to MerrittHughes.
"Does this tie in with what happened last night?" he asked.
"Apparently. Bob was trailed by a couple of hoodlums in a car. When hewas alone on a side street they waylaid him, but he knocked one out andjumped over a fence and ran through a barberry patch to escape. He camehere directly after that happened."
"Anything else happened since last night?" The question was from thethin, straight lips of Waldo Edgar and Bob told in detail what had takenplace during the early hours of the morning.
"Why didn't you tell me about this, Bob?" exclaimed his uncle.
Bob flushed. "Well, it seemed like I'd been having enough excitement forthe last twenty-four hours and this sounded sort of crazy."
"I'll say it sounds crazy," snorted Condon Adams and Bob caught asupercilious sneer flit across the lips of Tully Ross. It was plain thatneither Adams nor his nephew believed the story and Bob turned back tothe federal chief.
"There's nothing crazy about this story. It only confirms our realizationthat some tremendously powerful force is after these radio secrets. Weknow now that only a part of the secret papers were taken from the filelast night. The others had not been sent over from the radio engineeringdivision of the War Department."
"But how could those papers get out of the office last night?" put inCondon Adams.
"That's for you and Hughes here to determine. You're on this case, butI'm going to add a couple of special agents to help you out. It isn'tthat I think you're not capable, but I believe several inside men in thearchives division will be tremendously helpful to you and I don't want tohave outsiders go in there."
Waldo Edgar turned toward
Bob and Tully and looked at them throughsearching eyes. His scrutiny of Bob was fairly brief, but he appeared tobe making a more careful appraisal of Tully, and Bob thought he saw justa flicker of doubt in the federal chief's eyes.
"It is decidedly irregular for this division to take on additional men,and especially very young men, but when we feel a case merits unusualattention, we do not hesitate to cut away the red tape and employ theindividuals we want to serve us. Bob, would you consider joining thebureau of investigation as a provisional agent, working directly out ofmy office and solely upon this radio case?"
Bob's heart went into his throat and he choked in answering.
"I'd like that very much, sir. I'll do my best."
"I feel sure that you will. Tully, how about you?"
"Great stuff. Count me in."
Waldo Edgar nodded.
"I thought you would both agree. Wait just a moment."
The federal chief left the room and when he returned he had a Bible inone hand and several small leather cases in another.
"Place your left hands on the Bible and raise your right hands," hedirected. Then he read a brief pledge, which they repeated after him.
The pledge administered, Waldo Edgar handed one of the leather cases toTully and the other to Bob.
"You will find your identification cards in there as well as a small goldbadge. Further instructions will be given you later in the day. I'mexpecting a great deal from each of you."
After shaking hands with each of them he hurried away and Bob looked downat the identification card in the leather case. He was now Bob Houston,Special Agent Nine.
Agent Nine Solves His First Case: A Story of the Daring Exploits of the G Men Page 14