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It was a short burst -- a mercy pistol.
But it came from the wheelhouse.
Wildly, Doc Savage looked toward his own men crouched nearby.
One was missing.
"Damn it!" Ham yelled. "Mahli isn't here! He must have snuck off while we were listening to the
devil Sown!"
More guns ripped. There was only one choice now.
Really no choice at all.
"Come on!" Doc called and they charged aft.
The mercy pistol stopped abruptly. There was a roar of rage like a wounded bull (obviously Mahli).
Glass shattered and wood splintered somewhere.
More guns banged! A man flew out of the wheelhouse, obviously not of his volition.
Whooping, the brutish Monk promptly clubbed him unconscious.
Other men poured out. They met Doc Savage, Monk Mayfair, Ham Brooks, and Johnny Littlejohn
like waves crashing together.
After that, no guns sounded and there was just the crack of fists on jaws and the grunting of men
engaged in very physical work.
Once, a knife flashed for Monk's face and the Bronze Man broke the wielder's arm deliberately. The
homely chemist looked relieved and fell on a skulking Japanese crewmen with newfound enthusiasm.
"I don't see Sown," Ham yelled above the melee.
He had his sword-cane unsheathed (it had been left in the Helldiver originally and lately recovered)
and was slashing viciously at anyone who came near. He was clearly worked up.
Ordinarily, he would lightly stab an opponent and let the chemical on the blade's tip do its
incapacitating work. But now, he was inflicting damage! Strings of blood poured from open cuts all
around him.
Doc Savage found Mahli. The giant (his name actually meant "small" in Russian) had 2 men in a
bear hug and was concentrating on crushing their rib cages like a Madison Square Garden wrestler. The
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Doc Savage: #186- "The Frightened Fish" XI - Staalemate
men were screaming horribly over-and-over again. Their faces were red and going purple. They bit
their lips in agony, producing foamy blood.
"Mahli, stop!" Doc urged.
But the giant only closed his eyes with renewed effort.
"Cron, Mahli!" Doc shouted, repeated the command in the Russian's own tongue. "Cron!"
When he realized that the giant Russian wasn't going to listen to reason, Doc changed tactics.
"Sown!" he yelled at the enraged Russian. "Where is he?"
Mahli still did not hear the Bronze Man. Or so it seemed.
Your cousin Seryi. Mahli, where is she?"
Mahli gave a last groaning heave and the 2 men went limp in his great arms -- dead.
He dropped them without ceremony. Wild-eyed, he looked about for more enemies and latched onto
another hapless crewman after first relieving him of a wicked marlin spike.
Doc let him be. He was in a killing rage and not too particular about his choice of victims. The
Bronze Man thought he knew why. And the knowledge was a coldness in his marrow.
He went in search of his own answers &
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Doc Savage: #186- "The Frightened Fish" XII - Plenty
XII -- Plenty
Except for a few strays whom his men chased the length of the junk, the fighting had just about
subsided when Doc Savage found Seryi Mitroff's body in one corner of the wheelhouse.
In his heart, the Bronze Man was not surprised. He was surgeon enough to have realized her wounds
must have been fatal ones from the start.
But he had shoved that knowledge into the darkest corner of his mind and kept it there throughout
the last several hours because he did not want to admit the truth. Even to himself.
It had been important to him that Grief not wash over him and cripple his ability to fight Jonas
Sown. Too much had been at stake. He had understood that much without letting the terrible realization
march through his mind.
But it had guided his actions nonetheless. It was the reason why he had not reboarded the junk the
first time although he had stood a fair chance of reconnoitering the vessel undetected.
Stone-faced, the bronze giant knelt over Seryi's inert form and felt for a pulse.
None.
She lay on her side, her chest wetly red and her eyes closed.
Doc was grateful that her eyes were closed. It meant that she had died without prolonged agony.
Even if she had died alone and among enemies.
Her oval face was still calm and composed and strong just as it had been in life. It was the face of a
Madonna -- classic. And in its way -- deathless.
Doc became aware of Mahli hovering over him, calm and in control of himself once more. The
Bronze Man had not heard him approach. The giant Russian had said nothing. He was just there &
like silent Grief given human form.
The others filed in presently. But they said nothing when they found the bronze giant still
kneeling over the body.
Up on the deck, feet whetted wood frantically. There was a splash of a sound coming through the
seasoned cedar hull.
Johnny Littlejohn dashed up the companionway &
& and just as quickly plunged down again, stumbling like a "daddy longlegs" spider.
"Sown!" he yelled breathlessly. "He went overboard!"
Doc Savage -- his face warped in flat planes of grief and anger -- charged for the door, beating [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]