"Eh, what's that, Dave?" Freddy Farmer grunted in his ear.
He turned and grinned at his English pal.
"I said, this is it, kid!" he chuckled. "The last stop. The end of the line, and—"
But Dawson never finished the rest of that sentence. At that exact instant a fiendish scream of rage rose high above the general murmur of the throngs gathered in front of the Generalissimo's headquarters. A horrible unearthly scream of satanic madness that chilled Dawson's blood, and made his flesh crawl. And in almost the same instant a human body came hurtling through the air. The violent movement was so sudden and so utterly unexpected that Dawson couldn't so much as move a muscle as a berserk jungle beast in human form crashed down on top of him, and drove him hard against the back of the car seat.
For one fleeting tick of a second his brain was a completely stunned blank. And then his eye caught the flash of a thin, gleaming steel blade held poised above him. But instinct was taking charge of him even as his eyes were registering the terrible truth upon his brain. Instinct that made him twist violently and crack up with one arm with every ounce of his strength. And as his upflung arm caught that screaming object under the chin, he brought up his clenched right fist with terrific battering-ram force. Pain from the blow shot clear up his arm to the elbow, but his was the fierce satisfaction of seeing that poised steel blade go flying off into space. And of seeing, also, a hideous face horribly distorted by excruciating pain.
Then in the next second he was not quite sure of just what he did see. Rather, so many things happened, and so fast, that it was practically impossible for one pair of human eyes to follow them in detail. But he did see Freddy Farmer lunge upward and grab for the choking, squealing figure still sprawled on him. And he did see the short, rotund Soo Wong Kai transform himself into a veritable pin-wheel of stabbing lightning. As though by magic, a similar steel-bladed knife appeared in Soo Wong Kai's hand. And as though by magic, also, the blade disappeared straight into the chest of the squealing, gasping figure on top of Dawson. But in the next instant the squealing figure was lifted clear by Soo Wong Kai, and hurled down onto the street beside the car. And the third bit of magic was when Chinese headquarters guards virtually materialized out of thin air and completely circled the car to protect the occupants from the chattering crowds striving to press in close.
"Holy smoke!" Dawson was conscious of his own voice choking out. "What was that? And where in thunder did it drop from? What gives, anyway?"
"A last gasping effort by Satan himself!" he heard Soo Wong Kai tell him. "And praise to all the gods that he failed even in this his dying effort. But his blade did not touch you, Captain?"
"Not—not quite!" Dawson gulped. "But I wouldn't want it any closer. But—My gosh! A Jap!"
Dawson popped out the last as he saw the face of the limp figure stretched out on the street beside the car.