The Scorpia Menace by Lee Falk Page B

media?"
Colonel Crang coughed discreetly for the second time that afternoon.
"You have mistaken my meaning, sir. Perhaps my choice of the word 'disappear' was a clumsy one. But if Miss Palmer were to die . . ."
He lifted his stubby hands toward the silent figure of Baron Sojin at the desk before him.
"To die in a manner which suggested, unequivocally, that her death was an accident"
The words appeared to hover in the air between the two men.
"Then the world would have to accept the facts of her death as an 'accident,' " concluded the Colonel with quiet triumph.
The Baron put the picture down abruptly at his elbow.
    "What other information do you have on Miss Palmer,
Crang? I understood you to say there was a dossier."
"I have it here, sir."
Crang slid the folder across the desk to the Baron. He opened the cover with his thin, strong fingers and proceeded to examine its contents. Crang sat at ease in the chair, busy with his own thoughts. Half an hour passed without cither man speaking. It was a silence compounded of mutual respect and trust. Finally, the Baron closed the folder with a grunt of satisfaction. He glanced at the picture again and put it in the folder with the other material.
"As I said, the girl has not only beauty, but brains and courage," he told Crang.
"An unusual combination in this modern age."
He got up and went to the window and stared moodily down at the panorama of cliff, sea and jungle. Crang watched him without expression.
The Baron turned to face him once more.
"She doesn't frighten easily," he said. "That is most unusual in itself. I don't care how you do it. Bring her here!"
Crang was on his feet, almost without knowing it. Dark blood suffused his cheeks as he replied.
"Do I understand you correctly, sir? We've never done anything like that before. Surely, it would be more politic to get rid of her quietly as I suggested?"
Baron Sojin's blue eyes were suddenly drilling into the Colonel's own. He lapsed into silence. An oppressive atmosphere seemed to have descended on the great room. Crang felt a rivulet of sweat run down his collar. He stood at attention.
"I prefer to believe that you did not make those remarks, Colonel Crang," said the Baron icily. "Do not let me have occasion to refer to it again."
He came up closer to the Colonel.
"You have your orders. See that they are carried out. Bring her here safely and without a scratch."
He crossed over to his desk and sat down on the edge of
it.
"She's a pilot," he said. "I will dictate the method to be used. One that will convince the world of its genuineness."
"Very good, sir," said Crang crisply. "I await your instructions."
Once again he was a loyally functioning machine.
He saluted and went out.
The Baron hardly heard him go. He reached over and opened up the folder. He studied the photograph for the third or fourth time.
"Brains, breeding and courage," he breathed to himself. "Things I've waited for for a long time ... all in one person, Diana Palmer."
He smiled his crooked smile. He felt strangely content
11
NIGHT KIDNAP
Rain was coming down steadily. Mrs. Palmer looked with surprise as Diana came to the drawing-room door. She had on a white slicker and a head-scarf. Mrs. Palmer frowned. She put down the expensive, color volume on flower arranging and shook her head.
"You're surely not going out tonight, Diana? You haven't a class this evening."
Diana Palmer smiled. "No, that's true, Mama, but I thought I'd go down to the library for an hour or two. I'm taking a car."
"That's all right, then," said Mrs. Palmer, slightly mollified. "You'd certainly get drowned if you were walking."
She picked up the book, thought better of it and laid it on the couch beside her. She smiled at her daughter.
"I suppose there's no point in asking you to forget Scorpia for one evening?" she said gently.
Diana shook her head, but there were sparks of amusement in her eyes.
"Don't worry, Mama," she said. "This may come to an end sooner than you think."
Mrs. Palmer got