The Avenger 32 - The Death Machine by Kenneth Robeson Page A

poisoning.”
    “Food poisoning?”
    “Not so loud, dear lady,” cautioned Cole Wilson. “We’re all most chagrined by this turn of events. Particularly since the chef, a cordon bleu man of the first water, is starting to turn a little green around the gills himself.”
    “Well, perhaps we’ll order another cocktail,” said the blonde, nodding at Don Early.
    The young agent sat, rather stiffly, with his back to the magnificent view of the dimmed night city. “Another cocktail,” he said.
    “Might cheer you up.” She smiled up at Cole. “My escort’s in a very glum mood tonight, I’m afraid.”
    “I don’t doubt it.”
    “I beg your pardon?”
    “Having the old whammy put on him by the death machine isn’t conducive to good feelings and overflowing conviviality.”
    Emmy Lou snatched up her purse. Who . . . ?”
    “Cole Wilson at your service, Miss Dennim.”
    She was on her feet. Her chair skidded into Cole.
    He made a grab for her, caught hold of her sleeve for a second but lost his grip.
    Cole appeared to stumble. “Drat and tarnation, she’s eluded me.”
    She went running through the astounded Skylight patrons and out an exit.
    “Almost time to jump,” said Early in a dull level voice.
    “Afraid not, old fellow,” Cole said to him. “Thanks to our timely arrival on the scene and the information your man Willis reluctantly gave us, the scheduled leap of Don Early has been indefinitely postponed.”

CHAPTER XIX

No Medals
    Agent Early blinked. He took a deep breath through his open mouth. “So that’s what the thing looks like,” he said.
    Willis had taken the now turned-off death machine from its suitcase and was holding it out toward him. “Not very heavy, sir.”
    Early made no effort to take the box. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he said, “Appreciate what you did, Wilson.”
    Cole, who’d escorted the then dazed agent back here to the suite Emmy Lou Bennim had occupied, said, “All part of our service.”
    “Now,” added Nellie, who’d joined them there, “maybe you’ll realize there’s no need for competition between Justice, Inc. and your agency.”
    “I wouldn’t go that far,” said Early. “But I’m grateful.” He took another long breath and exhaled. “I remember everything that happened up there in the Skylight Room. Not the way I remember things usually, though, but more as if it’d been a movie I saw. I was there, but I wasn’t.”
    “Do you really think,” asked Cole, “you’d have taken a high dive off the roof?”
    Early said, “Yeah, once she turned that damn box on, I had to do everything she told me. And she told me to jump.”
    “We won’t have to worry about any more suicides, sir.” Willis decided to set the box on the coffee table. “Now we’ve got the machine.”
    “That’s right.”
    “There is,” said Cole, “more than one machine.”
    “More than one?”
    “Dr. Heathcote says the one he’s seen is a copy, which would indicate the scoundrels have devised a way of duplicating the gadgets.”
    Early stood. “How did Heathcote see one?”
    “Oh, have I failed to mention that one was confiscated when Richard and Smitty rescued Dahler and—”
    “So much for the spirit of co-operation,” Early said in the direction of Nellie. Then he snapped his fingers. “Willis, I just remembered. Get on the phone and alert the police and the FBI and our agency about Emmy Lou Dennim. I want her picked up.”
    “Pity the wench eluded me,” said Cole, easing toward the door. “Usually I’m quite good at tackling fleeing females. Only last week on Manhattan’s crowded Fifth Avenue I was—”
    “Wait.” Early’s left eye narrowed. “You let her get away. Didn’t you?”
    “I? Are you suggesting I would aid a suspected foreign agent to—”
    “Where’s the Avenger?”
    Cole replied, “That’s a very good question. I was musing on that myself only—”
    “And the big one, Smitty. Where’s Smitty?”
    “Do you think he could be