“Where are Hotchkiss and Glover?” asked Blake.
“At Matthew Wade’s. They’ve gone there to take care of some affairs for him. He wrote them to be there tonight. My men are watching the place, but it’s safe now. Double Z is dead.”
For an instant the detective was off his guard. In that moment Luke Froy leaped forward and seized Cardona’s gun. Blake never moved. As Cardona made a clutch forward, the Chinaman turned the automatic to his own breast and fired. Luke Froy fell, dying, to the floor.
“Too bad,” murmured Blake as Cardona stood stupefied by Luke Froy’s unexpected action. Blake leaned forward and spoke to the Chinaman. His words were low, and in Luke Froy’s native tongue.
“You did well to tell me,” was his statement.
“He is dead — my master — ” gasped Luke Froy. “He is gone — so — I can speak! I could not — before! Now — he is dead — so I die, too!”
The death rattle was in the Chinaman’s throat. Blake arose and faced Cardona.
“I’m leaving,” he said. “You’ve got the old man and his accomplice. The rest is up to you.”
He caught Cardona’s hand, which the detective proffered in thanks. Then Blake wheeled and strode from the room. He hurried down the stairs and out into the night, where he was swallowed in the blackness.
Terry Blake was Terry Blake no longer — he had become The Shadow!