For answer Bruce shoved him closer to the dynamo. He fought with fresh desperation.
“Don’t do that, Burt! My God—Don’t do that!”
“Then talk—talk! She’s going fast. You’ve got to tell the truth before she stops! Why did you burn out this plant?”
Smaltz would not answer. Bruce lifted him bodily from the floor. In the struggle he threw out a hand to save himself and his finger touched the spring that held the carbons. He screamed with the shock, but the blue flashes were close to his face blinding him before he suddenly relaxed:
“I’m all in. I’ll tell.”
Bruce let him drop back hard upon the floor and thrust a knee into his chest.
“Goon, then—talk!”
The words came with an effort; he seemed afraid of their effect upon Bruce, then, uncertainly:
“I—was paid.”