Simultaneously, a terrific glare illuminated the entire area. An armored car had arrived at the entrance to the alley. Its searchlight was turned on at the very instant The Shadow sought that direction for escape!
Master of darkness that he was, The Shadow could not elude that brilliant light. His tall form was plainly revealed to the men in the armored car.
Turning, The Shadow looked in the other direction. The alley was a cul-de-sac, ending in a blank wall.
The only way of egress lay by a low window near the rear of the house across the alley.
With swift stride, the trapped superman leaped for the one spot of safety. Scarcely had he gained it when the rattle of a machine gun burst from the armored car. The hail of bullets swept the alley which The Shadow had deserted.
The machine gun stopped its fire as the pursuing soldiers rushed forth into the glare of the searchlight.
Men dashed in from the street, pointing to the direction which The Shadow had taken. Loud cries carried the alarm. Soldiers were arriving from all directions.
Troops were surrounding the building into which The Shadow had fled. It was a partly occupied apartment house, but was kept vacant, by design, upon the side which The Shadow had entered. Other soldiers were entering the house where the Czarists had made their successful attack.
A LARGE, closed automobile drew up in back of the armored car. Three plainly clad men leaped from it and hurried into the building where the Romanoff wealth had been housed. They stopped when they reached the room where the dead bodies lay. An officer, coming from the door to the stairs, approached them.
“There is gas below, Comrade Motkin,” he said.