"Now lay your weapons on the table."
He tossed down a revolver.
The two still faced each other.
"Take off that handkerchief!"
It was a tense moment. Slowly Clutching Hand started to obey. Then he stopped. Kennedy was just about to thunder, "Go on," when the criminal calmly remarked, "You've got ME all right, Kennedy, but in twenty minutes Elaine Dodge will be dead!"
He said it with a nonchalance that might have deceived anyone less astute than Kennedy. Suddenly there flashed over Craig the words: "THE TRICK WILL BE PULLED OFF AT THREE O'CLOCK!"
There was no fake about that. Kennedy frowned. If he killed Clutching
Hand, Elaine would die. If he fought, he must either kill or be killed.
If he handed Clutching Hand over, all he had to do was to keep quiet.
He looked at his watch. It was twenty-five minutes of three.
What a situation!
He had caught a prisoner he dared not molest—yet.
"What do you mean—tell me?" demanded Kennedy with forced calm.