Superman and The Shadow Matchmaker Chronicles Volume 0.5 21/26
Rated PG-13
/ “text”/ indicates telepathic communication
*text* indicates bold
<text> indicates thoughts
{text} indicates over the telephone
Universal Locator designation Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -120 – Prime
Universal Locator designation Alpha 025 x Gamma - 086 x Tau 142 Alt 25 Shadow
Preeviously
The Shadow allowed his agents a lot of leeway in their activities. Some were much more dangerous than others. In this instance, Cliff was in a tremendous amount of danger. One false move and he could be discovered. If that happened, his life expectancy could abruptly be reduced to zero.
Parts of the gang had been formed early on and they had carried out several minor heists to fund their activities while they prepared for a major job.
After Cliff joined the gang, they committed a series of liquor store hold-ups that he had been able to avoid participating in by simply acting as lookout while the actual crime was committed by the other members of the gang. It hadn’t been easy to maneuver Fugit, as he preferred to be called, into giving him that assignment, but he had managed.
Cliff worked to establish a reputation as a solitary, but moderate drinker so it was accepted by the other members of the gang when he went to the local bar. Whenever one of the other members went to the same bar, they always saw him sitting, by himself at the end of the bar, away from the door, nursing a beer and listening to the music or the fights on the radio.
Invariably, Harry Vincent was there also, but none of the other gang members, or anyone else for that matter, ever associated the two. The seat that Cliff chose to inhabit was nearest the men’s room and there was a more or less constant stream of men passing his seat throughout the evening. One of them would be Harry Vincent. Harry would time his trips so that he would have to pause while someone was entering or exiting. That pause enabled him to pass notes with Cliff. The notes he passed to Cliff were on rice paper which was used to wrap a stick of gum. The ‘ink’ used was simply milk. The writing would be invisible until the paper was heated, then the writing would turn brown so that once it had been read, Cliff could simply chew it up and swallow it.
After Cliff had been with the gang for a little less than a month, he got wind of what the big job was going to be. There was a shipment of gold coming into the port of New York. It, along with gold coins accumulated in the recall signed by President Roosevelt, was scheduled to be shipped to the mint in Philadelphia to be melted down into ingots.
Cliff was kept supplied with gum by Harry and once he found this out he used a pen and some milk to write out the details on a gum wrapper. Once he was finished, he announced his intention to go to the bar as he passed through the sitting room where the rest of the gang was gathered. Some were playing poker and others were throwing dice in a corner. The rest were sitting around talking and drinking or listening to the fight on the radio and cheering on their favorite. The gang had reached a respectable size. Along with Fugit and Cliff there were eleven others, all of them hard cases.
Cliff’s habits were so well known that no one even thought to question his departure.
At the bar Cliff and Harry managed to exchange sticks of chewing gum.
Harry immediately passed the word to Burbank. Burbank checked a shipping schedule and called The Shadow. {Burbank.}
“Report.”
{Report from Marsland. The target is a gold shipment arriving at the Port of New York the day after tomorrow. A daylight delivery.”
The Shadow took a few seconds to mull this over and decided how to act. “Orders. Tell Cliff to be prepared to subdue Fugit when I infiltrate the gang’s hideout. Tomorrow night I strike.”
{Understood.}
And now:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Chapter 21 –
1937
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Universal Locator designation
Alpha 025 x Gamma - 086 x Tau 142 Shadow
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
After receiving the report from Cliff and giving orders to Burbank, Lamont hung up the phone. This was coming to a head and he felt that he could use Margot’s assistance. Picking up the phone again he dialed Burbank and said, “Orders. Have Shrevvy pick up Miss Lane tomorrow at ten AM.”
{Understood.}
After he hung up, he dialed another number. {Hello?}
“Good evening, Margot. I hope I haven’t awakened you.”
{No, I wasn’t in bed yet. I was just listening to some music.}
“I believe that we will need to act tomorrow night. Shrevvy will pick you up at ten A. M. Please bring your ‘tools’ with you.”
{What’s happening?}
“We will talk, in person, tomorrow.”
{Okay, I’ll see you in the morning.}
“Goodnight, Margot.”
{Goodnight, Lamont.}
Faux Margot was thoughtful as she hung up the phone. It had been a couple of days since she had seen Lamont. He must have had an important report from one of his agents to cause such precipitous action. It would probably be prudent to get a good night’s sleep. She had been lounging in her pajamas, so turning off the radio and lights, she moved to the bedroom and climbed into the bed.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The next morning, she ordered breakfast and then packed her ‘snooping clothes’ and checked over her ‘tools’ before dressing for the day. She dressed in a navy blue skirt and jacket, pale blue silk top, hose and a pale blue ‘pillbox’ hat with a small veil that covered her bangs. Not for the first time, she lamented the fact that she hadn’t been able to have her hair done. It was reaching a length that would soon require rollers. It was almost the length of the page boy that she had worn a couple of years prior. She was glad that she had an appointment with a hairdresser in just a few days.
After breakfast, she met Shrevvy, around the corner from her door passing the spot that Margot had fallen through the time window that had been opened by Tempus.
As Shrevvy opened the door for her, she said, “Good morning, Shrevvy!”
“Good morning Miss Lane. I picked youz up a poiper. It’s on the seat for youz.”
“Thanks, Shrevvy, that was very thoughtful.”
“I ain’t seen youz in a coupla dayz. How youz been?”
“Oh, I’ve been fine, Shrevvy. I just needed a break. After playing nurse to an unruly patient…”
“I know what youz mean. I’m glad youz was dere. It went a lot better den odder times. Well, you jest set back and relax. Read de poiper and I’ll have you dere in a jiff.”
“Thanks, Shrevvy.”
* * * * * * * * * * * *
A short time later, faux Margot was in the penthouse. As she set her bag down, she asked, “Okay, what’s happening?”
“I got word from Cliff. The job is tomorrow, during the day. I’m thinking that they will have a meeting tonight to go over the details. That should be my opportunity to disrupt their plans.”
“Which gang is it and how many are there in the gang?”
“It’s the Fugit gang and there are eleven plus Cliff.”
“That’s too many for you to handle by yourself.”
“Cliff has been alerted to take out Fugit when the attack starts.”
"That still leaves ten … too many. You need my help.”
“It will be very dangerous.”
“Even more for you if I’m not there. Remember, I can handle myself in a fight.”
“How is that?”
“I’ve studied Tae Kwan Do for a number of years. Tae Kwan Do is a form of martial arts developed in the Philippines. It involves kicks and strikes. I also have my baton, it’s called an escrima. That’s what I used to K.O. Powers.”
“Apparently those skills are very effective.”
“You’d be surprised how effective they can be. Now, here’s what I propose, we go in together. You use your invisibility to get into position then…” She went on to outline her plan.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
That afternoon, Lamont and faux Margot took a drive in the country and out on Long Island. They stopped and had lunch at a diner in Islip. They were near the grounds of a large hospital complex so they stopped and pulling out binoculars pretended to be bird watchers. They were actually close, but not too close, to the gang’s house. They used this opportunity to get a feel for the layout and decided that the most likely place that the meeting would be held was the dining room. Going on the assumption that most main doors open to the living room and that the dining room is somewhere near that, they had a good idea as to how things would go.
They had just returned to the car when the shortwave came to life, {Burbank}
“Report.”
{Message received from Marsland through Vincent. Meeting tonight 8 PM to go over details of job.}
He said to faux Margot, “Just as we surmised.” Keying the microphone, he said, “Report received.”
Faux Margot, said, “Show time!”
Lamont laughed, “I admire your cavalier attitude. You don’t seem to be worried.”
“Why should I worry? You’ll be there, won’t you?”
“Yes, I will be, but these are hardened criminals, for the most part. Some of them are killers.”
“Ah, but they can’t hit what they can’t see and they won’t see either of us. We will both be like ghosts … er … shadows.” She snickered, “They won’t even know what hit them.”
“Just remember, when we begin, most of the gunsils I’ve encountered tend to shoot above waist level, so if you stay low the likelihood of being shot is reduced.”
“That’s a good point. I’ll stay in a crouch most of the time.”
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Lamont had parked around the block from the house so that the car would be out of sight. As the sun was going down, he and faux Margot had changed clothes. Lamont had donned his black slouch hat and cloak while faux Margot had removed her skirt to reveal he black slacks. She pulled on the black sweater over her top and donned her ski mask and gloves. They exited the car and moved to a spot where they could observe the house without being seen.
Once they were there the sun dropped below the horizon and it became darker by the minute. At 7:30 they noted the members of the gang starting to congregate. There were only a couple that did not live in the house on Long Island and they arrived by car.
A couple of the men lingered on the front porch smoking and talking until a couple minutes before 8 PM.
When
they moved inside, Lamont and faux Margot moved closer, staying under cover as much as possible, moving from shrub to shrub, until they were beside the house. They were close under a window and could hear voices within. Knowing that the gang had gathered in that room helped.
As silently as two wraiths the duo moved to the porch. Lamont led the way and when he detected a step that started to squeak as he put his weight on it, he immediately removed his weight and avoided that step. Faux Margot did the same. In this way they made it onto the porch and to the front door.
There was a window to the living room next to the door and Lamont peered in around the drape. He saw no one so he cautiously tried the doorknob. It turned easily. He whispered, “I’m going to go in. When the lights go out in the dining room, they will also go out in the living room. You need to go straight for ten feet and then left, through a doorway.”
“Got it.”
“They will probably start shooting as soon as the lights go out. Stay low.”
“I will.”
As she watched, he seemed to disappear. Opening the door as noiselessly as possible, The Shadow entered the house.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
She waited, impatiently, for the lights to go out, and even before they did, she had the door open. She was just about to step in when the lights suddenly went out, in both rooms. Before they did, she noticed a wall switch next to the archway into the dining room that controlled both lights. Apparently, he had hit the switches as he had entered the room.
As the lights went out, she heard the Shadow’s eerie laugh, “HAhahahahahahahahaha,” peal out from the doorway.
One of the goons shouted, “I’ve heard that laugh before! It’s de Shadow! Get ‘im!”
His laugh rang out again, this time from the far side of the room, “HAhahahahahahahahaha.”
Someone shouted, “He’s over there,” and fired a shot in that direction.”
By this time, faux Margot had made her way into the dining room, her escrima in one hand. In the other she held her mini-recorder. She was crouched low and detected a pair of legs next to her and standing quickly, she swung her escrima and knocked out a foeman. As he fell to the floor, she quickly knelt and depressing the switch on her mini-recorded played the Shadow’s laugh, “HAhahahahahahahahaha.”
The men in the room had heard a body fall and when they heard The Shadow’s laugh, someone shouted, “He’s behind us now!” The rat-a-tat-tat of a Thompson rang out in faux Margot’s direction, but the bullets passed harmlessly over her head.
Someone shouted, “Be careful wid de gats youz mugs! Youz could hit one o' us. And put down dat Tommy gun Jake! Don't use dat ting in here! Youz’d kill us all, you dope!”
As soon as those shots had been fired, there had been the thud of a body falling to the floor, from the other side of the room and The Shadow’s laugh had pealed out again, “HAhahahahahahahahaha.”
The gang turned in that direction again and someone shouted, “How does he move so quick?”
Behind them there was the thud of another body falling to the floor. Immediately, The Shadow’s laugh pealed out again, “HAhahahahahahahahaha.”
There was another shot fired, this time there was a scream of pain and shouted curses, indicative of a gang member being shot. His shouted imprecations were cut short as there was the sound of another body hitting the floor. The Shadow’s eerie laugh pealed out once more, “HAhahahahahahahahaha!”
Panic started to set in, but in the dark the thugs were not sure which way they needed to go and that resulted in them running into each other. When that happened, blows were exchanged until they realized that it was one of their fellow gang members. And then another body would hit the floor and The Shadow’s laugh would peal out, “HAhahahahahahahahaha.”
This misdirection continued until all of the thugs had been accounted for. When all was quiet, the lights snapped on and faux Margot witnessed the carnage they had created. Bodies were strewn all over the floor of the dining room. There was no time to rest on her laurels though; they might start to come around at any time. Lamont had been using a black-jack while she had been using her escrima to knock them all out. She collapsed her escrima and dropped it and her mini-recorder back into her bag and pulled out quantities of sash cord. She, Cliff and The Shadow used this to bind all of their prisoners.
When she came to the final prisoner, after tying his hands and feet, she noticed a chrome-plated Desert Eagle lying on the floor nearby. She gasped in recognition and rolled him over. She called out, “Shadow!”
He came over to her and stared down at the prisoner. Cliff came over and said, “That’s the boss of the gang, Fugit. He never explained that strange gun, but he was never without it.”
She turned to The Shadow and said, “That’s not all he is. Now I know what the ‘T’ stands for. Allow me to introduce, Tempus Fugit.”
The Shadow gasped, and asked, “You mean?”
“Yes, the man that kidnapped me, Tempus. I guess he thought Tempus Fugit, the Latin for time flies, would be a funny name to use. Well, he’s not flying anywhere, anymore, not if I have anything to say about it.”
She searched his pockets and came up with the time window device. Holding it up in triumph, she exclaimed, “Ah
hah, here it is, my ticket home.” As she dropped it into her bag, she asked, “What are we going to do with them?”
“Most of them have outstanding warrants. Those that don’t, I’m sure that there is ample evidence of the recent crimes here to connect them all to them. That should give them all stiff sentences.”
Pointing at Tempus, she asked, “What about him?”
“If he’s everything you say he is, then it could be dangerous to leave him here, in jail or not. He knows too much of our future history to be allowed to stay.”
Cliff was mystified at this exchange, but obviously The Boss and Miss Lane knew what they were talking about and that was enough for him.
Lamont said to faux Margot, “Go get the car and bring it to the house. We will take him with us. The rest we will leave here for the police.”
Faux Margot left on her errand and The Shadow turned to Cliff and said, “Clear out anything that could link you to this gang. Make sure you miss nothing then you and Harry return to your normal routine.”
He said, “Will do,” and headed upstairs to remove his personal items from the shared accommodations.
After he departed, Tempus started to come around. As he did, he struggled with his bonds. From his position on the floor he could see his gang all trussed up on the floor. He gasped out, “What happened?”
The Shadow had directed Cliff to make sure he was near the gang leader and that when the lights went out; he was to knock him out. True to his orders, as soon as the lights went out, Cliff had pulled his automatic and using it as a sap, hit Fugit on the back of the head. He had fallen like a clubbed ox. As he did, Cliff fell on top of him. That way, if the gang won out, he could claim that he was protecting the leader, but in reality it was to see to it that he stayed unconscious. This had all happened even before the first of The Shadow’s laughs had been heard and recognized. As a result, Tempus had been out for the entire encounter.
The Shadow was standing right next to him as he looked around and he answered his question, “The Shadow happened.”
Mystified, because the voice seemed to emanate from thin air, Tempus repeated, “Shadow?”
“Yes, The Shadow. I have brought your nefarious scheme to an end, both schemes.”
“Both? Both what? But, how?”
“The ways of The Shadow are beyond those of normal men.”
“Where are you? I can’t see you.”
“Am I really here? Or am I just a Shadow? Shadows are everywhere … and … anywhere … and anywhen.”
The Shadow stooped down and picked up the Desert Eagle. To Tempus it seemed to float in the air. The Shadow said, “An interesting weapon.” The clip ejected and instead of falling to the floor it floated in the air. “Standard .45 caliber ammunition.” The clip re-inserted itself and the gun pointed itself at Tempus’s head. “What is to stop me from shooting you with your own weapon?”
As well as he could, trussed up as he was, Tempus taunted, “You won’t shoot! You’re just another annoying do-gooder like the one I have had to deal with most of my adult life. Him and that girlfriend of his. Look, I’ll make a deal with you. I know plenty. I can tell you what investments to make in the market. You could be a millionaire!”
“What does
a Shadow need money for?”
Tempus was still staring down the barrel of his own gun which floated in the air, held in an invisible hand and he started to sweat. If he couldn’t make a deal it might be years before he could get away. He was undoubtedly going to jail. He wouldn’t be able to get away until he got his personal property back and that included the time window.
Just then, faux Margot entered. The first thing she saw was the Desert Eagle pointed at Tempus and much as she might desire an end to his meddling she still didn’t want to see The Shadow kill someone. She had found out through their conversations that he rarely took a life. If a criminal died it was usually by their own hand or one of their henchman’s. She was still wearing her ski mask, so her voice was a little muffled as she said, “The car’s just outside. I think we need to load him in and leave.”
“Where … where are you taking me? Aren’t you taking me to the police?”
The voice that replied emanated from the very thin air in front of him, “The police wouldn’t know what to do with you.”
Now Tempus was worried that he wouldn’t be getting his property back and his chance to escape would be lost.
The Desert Eagle disappeared from view with a swish of cloth as The Shadow thrust it into his waistband. “You are right. We must leave the vicinity.”
Hearing footsteps on the stairs, Faux Margot quickly pulled a handkerchief from her bag and used it to blindfold Tempus so that he wouldn’t see Cliff, the traitor in his gang’s midst.
Seeing that Fugit had come around, Cliff approached. Faux Margot put her finger across where her lips were in a signal for him to keep silent. The Shadow said, “Please help me move him."
Cliff grabbed Tempus under the arms and The Shadow took his feet and this way they carried him out to the car, depositing him in the trunk. Before closing the trunk lid, The Shadow said, “If you are not quiet, I will not hesitate to knock you out again, or else silence you permanently.”
Tempus ceased any and all efforts to get loose, instantly. Though he had tried numerous times to kill Superman in his attempts to destroy Utopia, he had no desire to die himself and he could tell that this invisible man that called himself
The Shadow, meant every word he said.
Cliff returned to the house and picked up his belongings. He walked away, arriving at Harry Vincent’s cottage a few minutes later. Harry had been aware of what was happening and had been expecting Cliff. He had already packed his things in his car. It only took seconds for them to load Cliff’s things and drive away.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Before they followed Harry and Cliff, The Shadow tuned his shortwave to the frequency used by the police and keyed his microphone. “I need to be connected to Commissioner Weston, immediately.”
The radio operator recognized the voice as that of The Shadow and said, “I’ll patch you through, immediately. He’s at
The Savoy."
A few minutes later, the strains of Swing music came through the speaker and then Weston’s irritated voice, “This had better be important!”
At the
Savoy, the unmistakable sound of The Shadow’s voice came from the earpiece, “Commissioner Weston, a gang was preparing to take the gold that is arriving tomorrow. They have been responsible for a number of recent robberies. You will find them on Long Island. Just follow the ambulances. A few hurt themselves when they tried to resist capture.”
“How will I be able to prove anything in court?”
“There is ample evidence in the house to prove their culpability.”
“How can I thank you?”
“No thanks are necessary, Commissioner. I’m just doing my part.”
“I also wanted to thank you for solving the Powers murders. This is the first we’ve heard from you since then.”
“I was unavailable for a while, but I’m back now.”
“I, for one, am glad you are. That wire recording you made of your interview with him will be used in court. He may be committed to a mental institution for the rest of his life rather than being executed. It seems like he really didn’t know what he was doing. It was all done under his brother’s influence and because of his mental problems resulting from his experiences in the war. Hearing dead people speak to him in the dark, poor man. It’s a shame.”
After breaking the connection, Lamont started the car and said, “We will take Tempus to Slade Farrow. He can keep him restrained and if necessary, sedated, until we decide what to do with him.
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