Chapter V

29

STRANGE FISH

Monk and Ham both closed with the other man. The fellow was digging at his clothing, obviously for a weapon. Monk used his fists. Ham struck with the edge of his hand at the fellow's throat. It happened very fast, their blows a rattle of sound. Then the man was sinking.

Doc said, “Run!”

He got the newspaper parcel, tore the newspaper off and found a large new−looking revolver inside. He turned toward the four he had hit with the car. But they were not an immediate danger. In two or three seconds they would be, but not now.

“Run!” he yelled.

Monk and Ham got going.

On the sidewalk across the street and about five doorways east there was one of those sidewalk elevator shafts open. Two iron doors in the sidewalk which open like butterfly wings as the cage rises from below. They were open, but the platform wasn't up. It was a perfect foxhole.

“Into the hole!” Doc said.

They went down into the shaft, jumping because there was no time for formality. They landed on cardboard boxes, and these crushed. Back in the darkness of a basement, a voice began screaming profanity at them. The boxes contained ladies hats, it appeared. By jumping on top of them, they hadn't done them any good.

In the street, gunfire.

“Get in the back,” Doc said.

They scrambled out of the elevator enclosure. In the semi−darkness of the basement, they collided with things.

Down the elevator hole, gunfire.

Doc watched the opening, saw a hand, drew a bead with the gun he had taken from the newspaper. His bullet smashed a hand against the concrete and steel rim of the hole. It also drew a storm of gunfire. At least four guns firing downward.

The fellow doing the cursing stopped that. He said, “Oh, my God!” twice. Then they could hear him getting out of there.

“He's got a good idea,” Monk muttered.

But then the men with the guns went away from the hole.

THE stillness which followed was complete except for a new sound, water running. One of the bullets evidently had punctured or broken a pipe.

Monk said, “I'm going upstairs and see where they went.”