No word would reach the ears of the Bureau of Investigation field office in San Francisco. No longer did the government possess an undercover man in Chinatown.
For the sprawled, pitiful form upon the floor of the windowless room would never move again.
Moy Chen was dead!
CHAPTER XVII
THE FATE OF A TRAITOR
CLEVE BRANCH was cautious as he approached the entrance of the Mukden Theater. He passed the lobby, walking on the other side of the street, and stared at the display boards, which were the only objects in view.
The lobby was deserted, for the performance was now going on in the theater.
The fact that no one was waiting there was not surprising, for it was not quite ten o’clock, Cleve did not expect the messenger from Ling Soo until that time. He crossed the street and shambled by the lobby, in plain view.
By this time, the men summoned by Moy Chen should be in the vicinity. Moy Chen, always exact, would have given them a close description of Hugo Barnes. Cleve knew he could rely on that, for the features of Hugo Barnes were themselves a creation of Moy Chen’s artful hands.
Cleve stopped suddenly when he had passed the lobby. He fancied that he had heard a hissing whistle in the dark, close by. He listened intently, but the sound was not repeated.