The 38th Golden Age of Science Fiction MEGAPACK

by Chester S. Geier

  CHAPTER IV

  The hotel dining room was filled with the buzz of voices. It was evening, and almost all the tables were occupied.

  Stacey and Norma sat at a table beside one of the windows. They had just finished eating. Norma was gazing pensively through the window, at the lighted signs and storefronts of Grubstake’s main street. Heavy brows fused in a scowl, Stacey brooded into his empty coffee cup, smoke spiraling from the pipe gripped between his teeth. Dejection was a weight that lay heavily over both.

  There no longer was any doubt in Stacey’s mind that Chinook Vervain was actually dead. At first he had refused to believe Haekstrom’s story. He had trusted the man instinctively from the very first moment of their meeting, but Chinook had been his only hope for defeating Devore’s ruthless plans, and he had been reluctant to accept the fact that is should be so swiftly lost. That afternoon, however, Haekstrom had taken Stacey and Norma to Birch Creek, and Stacey had seen the evidence of the burned cabin with his own eyes.

  Knowledge of his helplessness ate at Stacey’s mind like an acid. There seemed utterly nothing that he could do now, nowhere that he could turn.

  Stacey was startled as he felt Norma’s fingers grip abruptly at his wrist. The girl was peering tensely through the window. Following the direction of her eyes, Stacey saw two men passing a lighted store-front on the opposite side of the street. He recognized them at once. Devore and Buck!

  The two carried suitcases and were striding along swiftly and purposefully. They had obviously just returned to Grubstake.

  A cold emptiness spreading through him, Stacey met Norma’s gaze. The girl’s features were drawn with despair. She whispered:

  “Gregg, what are we going to do? If Devore finds out that we’re here, my father will be killed. Father is all the evidence we have against Devore, and Devore won’t take the chance that we might get to him.”

  “We’ll have to take the fight directly to Devore,” Stacey answered grimly. “We’re here, and we certainly wouldn’t accomplish anything by hiding out like a couple of mice. If we act fast enough, Devore won’t have time to do anything about your father.” Stacey’s face tightened with sudden decision. “And I know just how to start. I’m going to follow Devore!”

  “But, Gregg, if something happens to you—”

  “That’s the risk I’ll have to take.” Stacey rose, tossing a bill to the table. “You go to your room, Norma, and stay there until I get back.” Heedless of the girl’s protests, he grabbed his hat and hurried out to the street.

  Devore and Buck were still in sight. Keeping to the side of the street opposite that along which the pair were striding, Stacey followed rapidly in their wake.

  The pursuit led for two blocks along Grubstake’s main thoroughfare. Then Devore and Buck turned a corner. They proceeded for almost a block more, stopping finally before the entrance to a small wooden building. It seemed to be an office, for a sign over the door read Greater Alaska Mines and Metals.

  Stacey drew back into the shadows of a building on his side of the street while Devore produced a key and unlocked the door. Then Devore strode inside, Buck following, and the door closed. Lights sprang on behind the windows in front, but in another moment shades were drawn.

  Crossing the street quickly, Stacey slipped into the dense shadows filling the space between the side of the building and the one next to it. Shades were drawn behind the windows here, too, but at one of the windows further back, Stacey found the shade hadn’t been pulled entirely down to the sill. The bottom of the window was on a level with his chin. He could see without difficulty into the room beyond.

  Devore was standing at a desk a bare five feet away, his sharp olive face visible in profile. Buck’s hulking form was sprawled in a chair nearby.

  As Stacey watched, Devore reached into the inner breast pocket of his suit coat and pulled out an envelope. He toyed with it a moment, smiling exultantly. He said something to Buck, and the giant’s thick lips stretched in a grin. Stacey found, by pressing close to the window, that he could hear almost every word spoken.

  “…best way to get rich but quick,” Devore was saying. “After all, Buck, nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

  “You said it, chief!” Buck agreed.

  Devore went on, “I have the entire map now, and once I file a claim and start mining the gold, I’ll be top man in these parts—financially speaking. And I won’t have anything to worry about. Gregg Stacey’s out of the way, and as for the girl, she swallowed the story about her old man that I gave her, which means she’ll swallow any other story I choose to give.”

  “What about Reddick, chief?” Buck asked.

  Devore drew a finger across his throat. “Reddick would be able to make too much trouble for me. Kidnapping is a serious offense, you know, and the money from the Golden Dream wouldn’t do me any good in jail. We’ll go down to the Trump Card in the morning and see that Reddick is taken care of.”

  Devore toyed with the envelope an instant longer, then turned toward a large safe placed against the wall on the side of the room directly opposite Stacey. Devore’s back hid his manipulations of the dial.

  Stacey waited no longer. He guessed that Devore’s next move, after locking away the envelope, would be to leave the building with Buck. Stacey considered only briefly the idea of waiting until the two left and then tackling the safe in an attempt to regain his half of the map. It would have been merely a waste of time. He was anything but an expert safecracker.

  Leaving the building quietly and cautiously, Stacey strode swiftly back to the hotel. His pulses raced with excitement. Devore had dropped a clue leading directly to Norma’s father!

  At the hotel, Stacey went at once to Norma’s room. The girl opened the door at his knock, and he hurried inside. He checked an eager rush of words as he saw Norma had a visitor. It was Haekstrom.

  “Just dropped in about some business matters that I didn’t think you’d feel like discussing this afternoon,” Haekstrom explained. He gazed at Stacey curiously. “Norma told me about you following Devore and Buck. Did you turn up anything?”

  Stacey nodded and proceeded to relate what he had overheard while eavesdropping on the pair. He finished: “Devore doesn’t know it yet, but he’s furnished us with exactly the information concerning Norma’s father that we want. The reference to the Trump Card in connection with Warren Reddick obviously means that the Trump Card is the place where he’s being kept prisoner.”

  Norma’s small face had brightened with incredulous joy. “That means everything isn’t entirely hopeless after all, Gregg! We now have a chance to rescue my father.” She frowned slightly. “But where and just what is the Trump Card?”

  “It’s an abandoned mine about ten miles out of town,” Haekstrom replied. “I believe Devore holds the title to it.”

  “Think you’d care to take the risk of leading me there?” Stacey asked.

  Haekstrom’s broad features set determinedly. “I don’t see why not. This is my fight as much as yours.”

  Stacey nodded. “Good! If we can get Warren Reddick away from Devore, we’ll still have a fighting chance at the Golden Dream. According to what Devore himself said, Reddick knows that Devore is the person who is keeping him prisoner. By rescuing Reddick, we’ll have a weapon against Devore—force him to return my half of the map or charge him with kidnapping. Devore knows that Reddick’s testimony would form an air-tight case against him.”

  “You can count me in on anything you do,” Haekstrom said. “When do we start for the Trump Card?”

  “Immediately, if possible,” Stacey returned.

  Haekstrom hesitated. “I’ll need a little time to get some things together. It won’t take me long. Besides, there’s a fairly good road leading to the Trump Card, and we’ll be able to drive out in my car.”

  Stacey nodded quick agreement. “I’ll wait for you, then. As for Norm
a, she’ll remain at the hotel while we’re gone.” Norma’s red mouth tightened stubbornly. “I think I have something to say about that, Gregg Stacey! I came this far, and I don’t see why I shouldn’t go any further. After all, Warren Reddick is my father. I ought to have a chance to help him, too.”

  Stacey was about to remonstrate, but Haekstrom shrugged and said, “It’ll be all right for Norma to come along with us. There won’t be much if any danger. Devore won’t be out to the Trump Card until morning, and he can’t have more than two men guarding Reddick.” Stacey gave in, and Haekstrom left with the understanding that Stacey and Norma were to get ready while he was gone.

  Within twenty minutes, Haekstrom returned. Stacey and Norma were waiting for him in Norma’s room. They had both changed into rough clothes.

  Haekstrom grinned. “Took me a little longer than I thought it would.” He had removed his business suit and now wore a wool jacket, corduroy breeches, and laced boots.

  “What did, if I may ask?” Norma inquired. “Gregg seems to understand, but it’s a mystery to me.”

  “We’ll have to persuade your father’s guards to let him go,” Haekstrom responded. “I just went to get a little persuasion. Guns, in other words. I have two rifles and a revolver down in the car.”

  “Oh.” Norma’s brown eyes widened. “Do…do you really think we’ll have to use them?”

  Haekstrom nodded solemnly. “There’s a good chance.”

  “I hope so, for one,” Stacey grunted. “Men who’ll work for a skunk like Devore deserve to get shot.” He gestured toward the door. “All right, let’s get started.”

  They left the hotel unobtrusively, and Haekstrom led the way to his car, a battered sedan parked at the curb outside. A moment later they were moving toward the outskirts of Grubstake.

  The lights of the town dwindled and presently vanished altogether behind a turn in the road. The sedan’s headlights bored into a darkness that was deep and still and menacingly primeval. A wilderness reached out to gather them in. On either side, rugged hills rose out of broad stretches of fir and pine, and in the distance ahead a quarter moon showed the tips of mountains, a vast jagged outline against the sky. The cool air streaming past the car was fragrant with the mingled scents of pine and wild flowers and moist grass.

  Stacey, Norma, and Haekstrom rode in silence, faces grave with thought of the task before them. After a while, Haekstrom turned the sedan into a narrow rough dirt road. They progressed more slowly now, lurching and bumping.

  “Almost there,” Haekstrom announced at last. He drove for several minutes longer, then brought the sedan to a stop. “We’ll have to walk from here. If I drove in too close, the noise from the car would give us way.”

  Stacey and Norma climbed out. Haekstrom joined them after a moment, holding the revolver and two rifles, and a flashlight. Stacey took one of the rifles, and Haekstrom handed the revolver to Norma, who declined it.

  “I have one of my own, thanks,” the girl explained. She produced the little revolver which Stacey had seen back in Seattle.

  Haekstrom chuckled and shoved the extra weapon into a pocket of his jacket. With a gesture, he swung into the lead, cautiously lighting the way with the flashlight.

  They followed the road along a line of low hills on one side and a dense stretch of brush and pines on the other. The road gradually grew steep, curving around to meet the hills and entering them between a narrow pass. Beyond the pass, the road slanted down to the floor of a tiny valley.

  Haekstrom switched off the flashlight. “This is it. We’ll really have to be careful, now.”

  Peering into the valley as his eyes became adjusted to the unrelieved darkness, Stacey saw a number of lights. They came from the windows of a long low wooden building.

  Stacey caught Haekstrom’s glance and nodded grimly. They started down the descent, stepping carefully over the ruts and loose stones of the road. A number of other buildings shortly became visible in the gloom. These were unlighted. The only sign of life was that shown by the particular building upon which they were closing in.

  Presently their objective was only a scant dozen yards away. They crept forward, moving with extreme caution among rocks and clumps of brush. Reaching the lighted building, Stacey, Norma, and Haekstrom slipped up to one of the nearest windows and peered inside.

  The illumination came from two kerosene lamps hanging on wires from the low ceiling. Directly under one of the lamps was a table at which two men sat, playing cards. They were roughly dressed and unshaven. Revolvers lay close at hand on the table before each. Bunks were placed around the sides of the room. In one of these, visible across the table, lay a slim elderly man whose disheveled sandy hair was streaked with gray at the temples. He seemed to be asleep.

  Stacey glanced at Norma. She nodded, brown eyes suddenly filmed.

  Beckoning to Haekstrom, Stacey moved back from the window. He whispered:

  “I’m going in through the door. When you hear me kick it open, knock the window in with your rifle and cover the two guards from your side.”

  Haekstrom nodded, and Stacey crept toward the door. He paused a moment, gathering himself, then threw his shoulder against the panel in a sudden lunge. The door burst open amid a crash of splintered wood. Stacey catapulted into the room beyond. The two guards rose half out of their chairs, hands reaching instinctively for their guns.

  “Don’t!” Stacey warned, leveling his rifle. “Stay just as you were.”

  “It’s no good, son. You’ve walked into a trap.” Warren Reddick had sat up in his bunk, and was regarding Stacey sadly.

  The two guards grinned and completed their act of reaching for their weapons. Stacey stared in dazed incomprehension, Reddick’s words flaming in his mind. Then he realized that Haekstrom hadn’t carried out his part of the strategy. What had happened?

  The two guards had their revolvers now. They turned to Stacey. One of them spoke.

  “All right, boy scout, drop your iron!”

  Stacey swung the rifle the little that was needed to cover the speaker—and pulled the trigger.

  The rifle clicked loudly in the silence.

  Stacey pulled the trigger a few more times, then tossed the weapon aside. It hadn’t been loaded.

  From the doorway came a soft, mocking chuckle. Devore stepped into the room. After him followed Buck, thick lips stretched in a huge grin. Then came Norma, herded forward at the point of Haekstrom’s rifle.

  Stacey gazed at Haekstrom bitterly. “So you were in with Devore all the time, eh?”

  “It pays to be connected with the right people,” Haekstrom said.

  CHAPTER V

  Stacey took a deep breath, fighting down the sickness inside him. “I understand, now. You warned Devore about what I was up to, while pretending that you had to prepare for the trip up here.”

  Haekstrom nodded. “Mark had a ten minute start on us. He told the boys here that you were coming. It was my idea to give you an empty rifle and let you jump through the door. I intended to suggest it if you didn’t think of it yourself. Mark and Buck were waiting behind one of the buildings outside. All we had to do was walk in once you had made a fool out of yourself with that empty rifle. Both were empty, by the way, since I didn’t know which one you’d pick. I loaded mine later.”

  “What about Chinook and the burned cabin?” Stacey asked. “Was that a trick, too?”

  Haekstrom shook his head. “No. I got a tip Chinook was hiding there while Mark was gone. We wanted him bad, as Chinook knew where the Golden Dream was. But when I found the cabin, it was the way you saw it.”

  Devore chuckled. “Satisfied, Mr. Stacey?”

  “As well as I can be, under the circumstances,” Stacey said, shrugging.

  “I thought I finished you in Seattle,” Devore said. “This time I’m going to be more thorough. One of the reasons why this mine was given
up is because the main shaft leads directly into a huge crevice—bottomless, as far as I know. And it happens that the roof at that part of the shaft is faulty. Knocking away just so much as one of the supports will cause a cave in. Which is just what I intend to do—once you, the girl, and Reddick are pushed into the crevice.”

  Norma released a low cry. Heedless of the guns on all sides, she ran to where her father sat in the bunk and buried her face in his chest, sobbing.

  Devore watched in sardonic amusement. “I really hate to add insult to injury, Miss Reddick, but I’ll have to trouble you for your half of the map. Mr. Haekstrom told me about the little deception which was practiced on me in Seattle. Quite clever. I never realized I had been tricked.”

  “You can go to the hotel in Grubstake and get it if you want to,” Norma snapped.

  “Tut, tut! I’m sure you consider the map too valuable to leave in hotel rooms, Miss Reddick. I have no doubt but that you have the map with you right now.”

  “I hid it—and it’s going to stay hid.”

  “I’m afraid you’re forcing me to have Buck search you.” Devore glanced at his giant satellite. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you, Buck?”

  Buck leered. “Sure, chief!”

  Norma looked at Buck and shuddered. She hesitated a moment, then reached into the neck of her blouse. She pulled out an envelope and threw it to the floor. “There! Just keep that monster away from me.”

  Devore was unable to hide his gloating triumph as he retrieved the envelope and examined its contents. “Well, that’s that! Since there now is no longer any reason for keeping you people alive, I suggest that we start for the mine at once.”

  The volcano of fury and despair seething inside Stacey boiled over. He reached Devore in two quick steps, and his fist smashed squarely into the other’s face.