“Yes,” replied Jukes slowly. “This is my answer.”
His hand had crept to a pocket in the side of the car. Now he swung his body around and thrust an automatic toward The Shadow.
But Jukes had not reckoned on the alertness of that strange man in black. A viselike grip caught his wrist.
Try as he might, Jukes could not carry the few inches that were necessary to aim it toward The Shadow.
The men locked in a grim struggle. Jukes was determined to kill this enemy — the only man who had ever thwarted the machinations of the Silent Seven. With a quick twist he wrenched free.
Before he could swing the gun into play, a sudden expression of anguish appeared upon his face. He slumped back into the corner of the car. He pressed his hand against his side.
The parting shots fired by Cardona’s plain-clothes man had not been in vain. The wounds which Jukes had received had spelled his doom, although he had at first been almost oblivious to them.
His urge to kill The Shadow had sustained him despite his serious condition. Now, his strength was sagging. The Shadow plucked the gun from his hand and held it before his eyes.
“Answer me!” hissed The Shadow. “Answer me — or die!”
An ugly leering smile came over the features of Professor Jukes. Even in this last moment, the evil leader of the Silent Seven gloated in triumph.