As originally published in “The Shadow Magazine,” November 1931
CHAPTER I
A DESPERATE FLIGHT
A TAXICAB stopped at a corner in upper Manhattan. As it pulled to the curb, the passenger thrust his hand through the open window beside the driver and pressed a ten-dollar bill into the taximan’s glove.
“Keep the change,” came a low, quick voice with a foreign accent. “Keep the change, and drive away. Tell no one that you brought me here.”
Before the astonished driver could reply, the passenger was gone. The taximan caught a glimpse of his back as the man hurried across the sidewalk and turned the corner.
It was one of those strange episodes which occur nightly in New York. The taxi driver shrugged his shoulders as he pocketed the ten-dollar bill.
As the cab drew away from the brightly lighted corner, a sedan pulled up alongside of it. The two vehicles ran along together, while unseen eyes from the sedan peered into the cab, as though seeking some one.
Then the large automobile stopped; and as the cab went on, the driver of the sedan turned his car down the street where the stranger had gone.
The block was a long one. The sedan had arrived in less than a minute after the passenger had left the cab. There was little chance that the pedestrian could reach the next corner before the pursuing car overtook him.