This was no time to wonder. Cliff remembered his instructions.
He dashed across the outer room. As he reached the door, he instinctively stopped. He was just in time. The muzzle of an automatic threatened as a fourth gunman leaped from cover. Shots rang out simultaneously.
Cliff staggered in pain as he received a bullet in his shoulder. But his own fire had not missed its mark. The other man was down.
Cliff pulled the light switch in the outer room and swung his body against the wall. It was a wise move, for a fifth man had just appeared in the hallway.
The crippled men in the inner room were firing now shooting blindly in the darkness, toward the open door of the outer room. The newcomer was not visible to them. He leaped through the outer doorway blindly, and fell a victim to the gunfire of his comrades.
Crouching low, Cliff sprang across the body and dashed toward the stairs.
All was well until he arrived in the lobby. There he staggered as the lighted place seemed to whirl. He saw men there; he did not wait to decide whether they were gunmen or merely guests of the hotel. He fired two shots and saw the men scurry, like rats, for cover.
He dashed for the door, firing another shot as he went. Answering reports came from the desk behind him. The clerk tried to stop his flight; but the shots went wide.
FOR an instant, Cliff staggered as he reached the street. He was momentarily confused, not knowing which way to turn. Then the cool air revived him.
He turned parallel with the elevated line, and dashed along the sidewalk. A man rushed in to block his path, but cringed and dropped away as Cliff swung his automatic. Shots came from the front of the hotel, while the corner was still yards away.