Outside, Flash Donegan and Dip Riker had fought a losing battle. The failure of the men at the machine guns had put the chief gangsters in a helpless position. Not knowing what had happened, they resisted to the end; and both died from bullets of the law.
No one knew of the presence of Cliff Marsland. He had remained in his hiding place until after the police were gone. Then he had quietly departed. Nor did any person tell of the three who had left the temple before the police had broken into it: Margaret Glendenning, Harry Vincent, and — The Shadow!
The most important angle of the whole affair was the exposure of the crime cult. The ransacking of the luxurious abode of Henri Zayata was directed by Joe Cardona.
The detective found the Book of Death and other documents that showed the inner secrets of the mysterious organization.
Zayata’s guilt was proven. A link was discovered between him and the racketeer, Flash Donegan. The members of the crime cult were identified. Winthrop Morgan was the most important of the lot.
Three others were men of considerable prominence in New York. The rest of them were all persons of lesser consequence.
Only one was missing — Larkin — and he was already being held by the police. The name of Clinton Glendenning’s secretary was quickly connected with the crime cult. The Shadow had made sure of that; and he had also foreseen that Larkin would weaken under questioning.
When Larkin learned that his master had been killed — that he alone of the cult remained — and that practically all was known, he could not stand the strain. He broke down and confessed completely.
Had he failed to do so, The Shadow doubtless would have seen that the police learned all; but that proved quite unnecessary.
FROM the one man in their toils, the police cleared up the last of the mystery. Zayata, they discovered, was a man with a twisted mind. Raised in India, he had imbibed the doctrine of the Thugs, and had adapted it to his own purposes, making it his life’s endeavor.