In the pitch darkness the girl grasped a sleeve of each of the two men. Not until their three heads were literally together, did she reply.
“I can think of jus’ one way to do,” she said tensely. “Somewhere along the next passage is a photo-electric trigger, worked by infra-red light. If we try to pass it, the overhead lights flash on, the machine gunner begin to shoot, and we die with fifty bullet holes in our backs! So this, Messieurs, is my plan. When the lights flash on, I will empty my small pistol through the machine gunner’s loophole. That will keep him busy until you pass beyond the next turn. Before he dare to look again, I follow you, and—”
“Nothing doing, Suzette!” Don cut in abruptly. “That way you’d be sacrificing your life for us and you know it. I’ve got another idea. We’ll silence that machine gun before the lights flash up in the passageway. All I ask is for you to show me that 'pillbox’ loophole in the dark!”
Well trained by the French Secret Service, Suzette knew the voice of authority. Without hesitation she took Don’s hand.
“Come then, Monsieur!” she whispered. “And your friend—he mus’ keep close behind us, but make no sound.”
For the next thirty feet they proceeded at a snail’s pace, careful not to make the slightest sound. At last, however, Suzette halted, to grope for a few seconds at an unseen wall.
Don guessed what she was doing. When the tug came on his wrist, he let his own hand be guided until it touched the edges of a square opening.
The loophole! And protruding from it, Don could feel the ugly steel snout of a submachine gun. The other end, he knew, was held by a ready killer, whose grip need only tighten on the trigger to spray forth a stream of lead and fire!
“I’ve heard of pulling Death’s whiskers,” the young officer thought with a slight shiver, “but this is the nearest I’ve come to doing it yet!”
His next movements were coolly calculated. Fixing the loophole’s position in mind, he took a fresh grip on the unlighted pocket torch. At the same time he drew the snub-nosed .38 caliber automatic from his shoulder holster. Lastly, to steady his aim, he drew a single deep breath.