"Eddie!" Lina screamed suddenly. "Look out!"
But he had seen Cadorna wheel around as he watched his image on the screen. At that moment a tentacle was writhing its way around his thick neck. A bullet whistled past Eddie's ear and buried itself harmlessly in the wall.
Then from the blasphemous mouth of the king of gangland there came a shriek of awful fear. The tightening tentacle shut it off in a choking gurgle. Cadorna was captured at last—by a monster he could not see, a monster that struck terror to his craven soul.
It was the work of but a moment to free David Shelton from the grip of the other robot. The tortured man tottered into Lina's arms for support.
Eddie played with Cadorna now, releasing the grip from his throat and pinioning his arms instead. With rapid fingers he manipulated the controls until the screaming gangster was raised high in the air by the unseen arms of the robot.
"Another notch, Al," he chortled.
Cadorna yelled anew as the clamps tightened, "For God's sake, kid, quit it! Let me down. I'll do anything you say."
"Yeah?" Eddie moved one of the rheostat knobs a trifle.
The prince of racketeers was whimpering now, like a baby. The sharp snap of a rib punctured his outcries.
"Another notch," said Eddie grimly.