The odds were with the police, but the frenzy of the uprising gave them no alternative. They shot to kill. When the firing ended, three of Cardona’s men lay wounded. Cardona, himself, was nursing a dangling arm.
None of the police had been fatally injured, but their adversaries had fought to the finish.
Upon the floor, amidst bloodstained cushions, were the members of the crime cult. All but three were dead; and those three were dying.
Stretched before the golden throne of Charn lay Henri Zayata, a bullet through his evil heart. By his side was the dead form of Chandra, the Burmese.
CHAPTER XIX
RETRIBUTION
THE end of the crime cult created a tremendous sensation on the following day. New Yorkers were amazed to learn that such an insidious organization had existed in the heart of their city.
From the start, Cardona’s raid had been spectacular. His men had fought their way into the fire of machine guns, before the gangsters who handled them had managed to resist.
Acting upon some secret information, the star detective had broken into the entrance of the warehouse, and had led his forces through a labyrinth to raid the sanctum of the evildoers.
Somehow, the way had lain open for them. This was attributed to negligence on the part of Zayata. No one knew that The Shadow, familiar with the workings of Zayata’s elevators, had tampered with the mechanism so that the raiders could gain immediate access.