The shadow merged with the blackness. It was gone.
To Macklin came the incredible realization that the man had gone with it. Before his eyes The Shadow had entered the trap! The phantom shape had been a living man!
Macklin expected to hear the shots of automatics. But he waited in vain. Evidently The Shadow had not reached the four men beside the open window. They would surely have detected his presence. It would have been impossible for the one man to have overpowered the four. Why was there no action?
Minutes were ticking by; The Shadow had not reappeared.
It was then that Gunner Macklin had a flash of revelation. A chance thought entered his mind; it began a chain of ideas that revealed the startling truth.
Unless The Shadow might be foolishly waiting at the opening of the alley, he must have joined the four men by the window. Macklin was positive that his own gangsters were loyal but he suddenly suspected the gunmen from Chicago. He visualized a scene that was remarkably correct.
Bull Goldman and Carver Brill lulled to indifference by the apparent watchfulness of the Chicago gunmen.
The Shadow, creeping down the alley, and entering the low window unmolested.
Macklin suppressed a cry of rage. He had been double-crossed!
As if in answer to his suspicions, a sound came from the alley. It was not the sound of a gun; instead it was a mocking laugh, uttered by some invisible being. Then came shots; and the laugh was repeated.